Greying of the Nobel laureates

By THE DATA TEAM

EARLIER today, the Nobel committee at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden named 71-year-old Yoshinori Ohsumi the recipient of this year’s Nobel prize in medicine. In the next seven days, scientists, economists and peace advocates rumoured to be on the selection committee’s shortlist will also be waiting for a special Nordic phone call. Over the years, the committee has been bestowing the honour on older and older recipients—except for the peacemakers.