The Nobel Prizes may have been created at the turn of the last century, but they still make headlines today. Part of the reason is that from its very beginnings it has been surrounded by secrecy, myths and controversies. I’ll explore a selection of the most interesting and debated stories over the decades – from Alfred Nobel’s will itself to the three-person selection dilemma in the world of big science projects – and show how they reveal as much about the evolving nature of scientific progress as they do about the nature of the prize.

Simon Frantz is the science and technology features editor at BBC.com, creator of the Nobel Prize Watch blog and until recently was a senior editor of Nobelprize.org and Nature Publishing Group.
The Nobel Prizes are announced in the next few weeks following Simon’s talk.