Monday, October 3, 2011

Nobel Winner's Death Raises Issues

"One of the recipients of this year's Nobel Prize in medicine died just days before the winners were announced, after extending his own life using a kind of therapy he designed.  The news -- which the Nobel committee was unaware of when it announced the winners Monday -- presents a unique quandary for the prestigious organization. Nobel rules prohibit awarding a prize posthumously unless the winner dies after the award is announced."

In addition to the tragic facts themselves, I thought these three sentences, which began THIS article on CNN.com today, were fascinating because the first sentence unintentionally raises one of those Rorschach-like questions of self-reflection (i.e. "Would you rather win the Nobel prize but die before the award, or not have your life's work recognized and live an extra three years?"); and the second two sentences detail how this has raised one of those bizarre legal issues which only come up when incredibly unlikely real-life events conflict with otherwise crystal clear law and practice.

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