Why Albert Einstein never received a Nobel Prize for relativity
Albert Einstein won the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics, but not for relativity—the theory that made him famous. This article unpacks why the Nobel committee hesitated: Alfred Nobel’s rules, distrust of radical theory, doubts over experimental proof, and institutional caution. The prize went instead to the photoelectric effect, revealing how scientific revolutions are often recognised only after consensus catches up.
Albert Einstein won the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics, but not for relativity—the theory that made him famous. This article unpacks why the Nobel committee hesitated: Alfred Nobel’s rules, distrust of radical theory, doubts over experimental proof, and institutional caution. The prize went instead to the photoelectric effect, revealing how scientific revolutions are often recognised only after consensus catches up.
