Controversial History of the Nobel Prize and Its Notable Refusals by Inventors

On 6 November 1915, a Reuters news agency report from London had the 1915 Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla; however, on 15 November, a Reuters story from Stockholm stated the prize that year was being awarded to William Henry Bragg and Lawrence Bragg for their services in the analysis of crystal structure by means of X-rays. There were unsubstantiated rumors at the time that either Tesla or Edison had refused the prize. The Nobel Foundation said, 'Any rumor that a person has not been given a Nobel Prize because he has made known his intention to refuse the reward is ridiculous'; a recipient could decline a Nobel Prize only after he is announced a winner. There have been subsequent claims by Tesla biographers that Edison and Tesla were the original recipients and that neither was given the award because of their animosity toward each other; that each sought to minimize the other's achievements and right to win the award; that both refused ever to accept the award if the other received it first; that both rejected any possibility of sharing it; and even that a wealthy Edison refused it to keep Tesla from getting the $20,000 prize money. In the years after these rumors, neither Tesla nor Edison won a Nobel prize (although Edison received one of 38 possible bids in 1915 and Tesla received one of 38 possible bids in 1937).