History
Jakob von Uexküll sold his valuable stamp collection to create a prize. He made one million US-dollars which provided the initial funding of the award. Before establishing the award in 1980, von Uexkull had tried to interest the Nobel Foundation in a new prize to be awarded together with the Nobel Prizes. He suggested the establishment of two new prizes, one for ecology and one for development. Like the Economics Prize, this would have been possible by an amendment to the Nobel Foundation statutes and funding of the prize amount completely separate from Nobel's fortune. The Nobel Prize amount was 880,000 Swedish kronor at that time, which corresponded to 195,000 US dollars. However, as a result of the debate that followed the establishment of the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel (first awarded in 1969), the Nobel Foundation had decided not to associate the Nobel Prize with any additional awards, so von Uexküll's proposal was rejected.
The award states that, in the 21st century, the "greatest benefit to mankind" may be found in different fields than in the traditional sciences or in strict categories: the vast majority of award winners work for grassroots non-governmental organisations in their countries. The foundation understands its awards as a complement to the Nobel Prizes.
Since 1980, the foundation has presented, as of 2010, awards to 141 individuals and organisations from 59 countries. Its purpose is both to bestow prizes and to publicize the work of its recipients' local solutions to problems that also exist worldwide.
Read more about this topic: Right Livelihood Award
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“American time has stretched around the world. It has become the dominant tempo of modern history, especially of the history of Europe.”
—Harold Rosenberg (1906–1978)
“History is more or less bunk. It’s tradition. We don’t want tradition. We want to live in the present and the only history that is worth a tinker’s damn is the history we make today.”
—Henry Ford (1863–1947)
“It may be well to remember that the highest level of moral aspiration recorded in history was reached by a few ancient Jews—Micah, Isaiah, and the rest—who took no count whatever of what might not happen to them after death. It is not obvious to me why the same point should not by and by be reached by the Gentiles.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)