The social status associated with winning a Nobel Prize, first awarded in 1901 from a funded created by Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, adds an average of almost two years to the life of recipients, according to British researchers.
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LONDON: Scientists who have won a Nobel prize live nearly two years longer than those who are merely nominated, suggesting that social status confers "health-giving magic", British researchers say.
According to the researchers, there is evidence linking health and status in monkeys, but until now, it has been difficult to show a link in humans because status often brings more wealth, which improves living standards and medical care. In this study, though, the researchers controlled for wealth.
"Status seems to work a kind of health-giving magic," said Andrew Oswald, an economist at Warwick University in England who conducted the study with Matthew Rablen, a former Warwick postgraduate researcher who is now a government economist.
"Once we do the statistical corrections, walking across that platform in Stockholm apparently adds about two years to a scientist's life-span. How status does this, we just don't know," he said.
The study, entitled "Mortality and Immortality," published this month, focussed on Nobel prize winners "as an ideal group to study as the winners could be seen as having their status suddenly dropped on them," it said.
They were easy to study because they could be directly measured against those who were nominated for a Nobel prize but did not actually win one, according to the paper.
The researchers studied 524 men (135 winners and 389 nominees) in the competition for the physics and chemistry prizes between 1901 and 1950 - the cut-off point because the full list of nominees are kept secret for 50 years.
They looked at one sex only to avoid differences in life span between sexes. The total had been 528, but they dropped four who died in war or from other causes that were not natural.
The average life span for this group was just over 76 years. Prize winners lived 1.4 years longer on average - or 77.2 years - than those who were nominated for the award, but did not win.
"When the survey was restricted to only comparing winners and nominees from the same country, the longevity gap widened even more - by around another two thirds of a year on average," the researchers said.
Though the prize money increased with time, the actual amount had no effect on the longevity of the recipient, according to the paper, "suggesting that it is the sheer status boost of the award that is important in extending lifespan."
The researchers also tried to determine whether the number of times a scientist was nominated for a Nobel Prize had any effect, but found none. "Actually winning the Nobel prize was what counted," the paper said.
Intriguing
This is a very interesting theory (i still don't believe the tests are valid. What i would like to know is whether this follows through with awards such as oscars or grammies (:D). And also does it have the same effect on the average person. (characteristics wise)
Jez 14