“The allegation of violating the Labour Law against him has been proved. It appears that the allegation has not been barred by limitation (either),” said labour court judge Sheikh Merina Sultana while pronouncing the judgment, according to PTI.

Along with Muhammad Yunus, three other executives of Grameen Telecom, a social business company he founded, were awarded six months of simple or non-rigorous imprisonment. They were immediately granted one-month bail after furnishing bonds of Taka 5,000 each.

“This verdict is unprecedented,” Abdullah Al Mamun, a lawyer for Yunus, told AFP. “We did not get justice.”

It is reported that the convicted individuals are expected to appeal the verdict in the High Court.

Yunus’s supporters have described the charges against him and the firms he founded are a result of his protracted row with Sheikh Hasina’s government. Hasina accused him of “sucking blood” of the poor. The charge against Yunus and three colleagues from Grameen Telecom is that the firm violated labour laws by failing to create a workers’ welfare fund in the company. Yunus is facing as many  as 100 other charges in connection with the same.

Yunus, the 83-year-old Nobel Prize winner, who won the award in 2006, has been acclaimed for lifting millions out of poverty through his anti-poverty campaign through the Grameen Bank, a mode which was replicated across continents.

However, since 2008 when Hasina assumed power, Yunus’s nearly 50 social business firms have been through several investigations for allegedd violations of several laws. In August, 160 global figures, including former US president Barack Obama and ex-United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, published a joint letter denouncing “continuous judicial harassment” of Yunus. The letter, which was also signed by over 100 Nobel Prize winners, said they feared for “his safety and freedom”.

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Black scientists lack role models who look like them. pathdoc/Shutterstock

Every year, the annual October Nobel Prize announcements coincide with Black History Month, which is a painful reminder that of the more than 900 Nobel laureates, only 14 (1.5%) have been black and none in science. Almost all black laureates have been awarded for work in the fields of peace (ten) and literature (three). During that time the closest a black scientist has come to winning has been social scientist Arthur Lewis for his work economics in 1973.

By contrast there have been over 70 Asian laureates, the majority in the sciences, and since 2000 that number has significantly increased. This is partly due to the increasing influence and power of Japanese, Chinese, Korean universities and the success of the Asian American academy. To win a Nobel Prize for science, it helps if you are in a prestigious institution and in a position to lead big expensive science.

The main reason why no black scientist has won a Nobel prize is simply a matter of numbers. Not enough bright young black people are choosing science. Alongside the more limited opportunities for black Africans, black people in Western countries are less likely to study science, less likely to achieve a top degree and less likely to progress to scientific careers.

To even be considered as a possible Nobel laureate you must become a principal investigator or a professor in a leading institution. Yet, once a black science graduate makes it to the first rung on the academic ladder they face the same challenges as any other black academic around access to promotion and access to resources. For example, we know black scientists in the US are less likely to receive funding for health research.

Black people are less likely to study or work in science. Shutterstock

To become a professor you need support from your institution and to find at least four existing professors at other institutions who will support your application and certify that you are a leader in your field with an international reputation. This requires building large internal and external networks. For many reasons, not enough black academics work in institutions where such reputations and networks are made, significantly reducing the possibility of being promoted to professors.

This is also something of a circular problem. It seems highly likely the perception that black people don’t reach the highest level in science has in some ways affected the success of black people in science. Research suggests female role models can encourage women to pursue careers in science, and the same seems likely to be true for black people. Having a black Nobel laureate would inspire more black students to become black professors, which in turn would inspire more young black people to study science.

During my own undergraduate studies, many courses began with a professor describing the inspirational work of a Nobel laureate, who was usually a white man. These individuals were elevated to superhuman status, people we should aspire to be like because their work had transcended the field. This clearly appealed to me as it reinforced my desire to become a scientist.
But at the same time, as a black student, achieving that level of success or even anything along that path appeared far more distant as there was never a black laureate on the list. Although I was not deterred by this fact, I have no doubt it had an impact, not just on me but on my fellow white students and more importantly my tutors, and later my university employers and those awarding research grants. A black Nobel laureate would have made it easier for them to see me as a potential high achiever and treat me accordingly.
 

Why we need action

More black scientists wouldn’t just be a victory for equality but would benefit wider society. For example, conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer and many others have a higher incidence in people of black or African heritage. Yet research is often biased towards studying white people. More black scientists, especially in leading positions, could bring greater focus, understanding and different insights to investigating these conditions. They could also help lead the decolonising of science, again with wider advantages to society.

So how can we increase the chances of a black scientist becoming a Nobel laureate? We cannot wait for Africa to have the same political and economic power as Asia. Looking at the 49 women Nobel Prize winners, of which only 21 were scientists and only three in physics, we see a similar challenge. But with the advent of many successful campaigns backed by political action to increase the number of women in science, particularly in the leading institutions and in leading positions, the number of women laureates is likely to increase significantly. If we want more black scientists and eventually Nobel laureates, then similar direct strategic action is urgently needed.

Winston Morgan, Reader in Toxicology and Clinical Biochemistry, University of East London

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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A postage stamp printed in Norway showing an image of Alfred Nobel, circa 2001. catwalker/Shutterstock.com

The annual prizes are Sweden’s most sacred holiday, bringing out royalty in the arts and sciences and a worldwide audience of millions to witness an event featuring the pomp and circumstance typically associated with the naming of a new pope. Indeed, the prizes are so important to Sweden’s national identity that the king of Sweden recently took the unprecedented step of canceling the Nobel Prize in literature for 2018. What would cause King Gustaf to take such an extraordinary step? Simply put, he did so for the same reason that Alfred Nobel founded the awards to begin with: public relations.

Chemist and inventor Alfred Nobel was once called “the merchant of death” for his arms dealership’s role in “killing more people faster than ever before.” To rehabilitate the Nobel name, Alfred created the eponymous prizes with a mission that the awards be “for the benefit of mankind.”

The 2013 Nobel Prize winners from left to right: Francois Englert, physics; Peter W. Higgs, physics; Martin Karplus, chemistry; Micheal Levitt, chemistry; Arieh Warshel, chemistry; James E. Rothman, medicine; Randy W. Schekman, medicine; Thomas C. Sudhof, medicine; Eugene F. Fama, economics; Lars Peter Hansen, economics; Robert J.Shiller, economics, at the Nobel Prize award ceremony, Dec. 10, 2013, in Stockholm, Sweden. TT, Fredrik Sandberg/AP Photo

King Gustaf wisely decided that the literature Nobel take a one-year hiatus to investigate the allegations of horrific sexual misconduct by a key member of the committee that awards the prize in literature. This “stand-down” period will hopefully also allow for a reevaluation of the process by which the prizes are awarded.

While the two science prizes, in chemistry and physics, have so far not succumbed to scandal, they have had their fair share of controversy. (See Haber’s chemistry Nobel for the invention of, and later advocacy for, chemical weapons.) Still, I believe it might behoove the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to take a year off as well.

As an astrophysicist and an invited nominator of Nobel laureates in years past, I have studied the prize and the organization that awards them. My investigations revealed a bevy of biases that still remain within the esteemed physics prize (my specialization). If it were to “stay the course,” I fear the prestige of the Nobel, and perhaps the public’s perception of science itself, could be irreparably harmed.
 

Eyes on the prize

The AGA lighthouse ‘Blockhusudden,’ close to Stockholm, was set up in 1912. The lighthouse was driven by a sun valve that was invented by Nils Gustaf Dalén. The sun valve allowed the lighthouse to conserve fuel by turning on only at night. This lighthouse worked continuously on the sun valve until it was electrified in 1980. Photo by CEphoto, Uwe Aranas, CC BY-SA

To win science’s top prize an individual must meet three main criteria, according to Alfred Nobel’s will. First they must make the most important invention or discovery in physics or chemistry. Secondly, it should be made during the previous year. And the final requirement is that it benefits all of mankind. This last outcome is the most nebulous and subjective – and frequently violated. How can the degree of the worldwide beneficence of a scientific discovery be adequately judged?

For example, given the enormous stockpiles of nuclear weapons around the world, is nuclear fission, the winning achievement of the 1944 Nobel Prize in chemistry awarded to Otto Hahn, and not to his female collaborator Lise Meitner, of sufficient benefit to warrant a Nobel?
And what about the lobotomy? This discovery, rewarded with the 1949 Nobel Prize in physiology, caused widespread and disastrous outcomes until it was banned a decade later. Gustav Dalen’s lighthouse regulator, awarded the prize in 1912, didn’t exactly enjoy the longevity of many subsequent prizes.

Even some recent prizes have raised eyebrows. Corruption charges brought up in 2008 threatened to sully the reputation of the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine after drug company AstraZeneca allegedly influenced the selection of that year’s laureate for its own gain.

This points to another issue with the prize: It can misrepresent the way science is done. Science is a team sport, and no one truly goes to Stockholm alone. Yet the current restriction to at most three laureates distorts the perception of science by reinforcing the layperson’s impression that science is done by “lone geniuses” – typically “white, American males” – working without vast support networks behind them.

And what if, in contrast to these scientific innovations, the Nobel Prize itself harms rather than helps mankind, or at least the slice of it devoted to the sciences?
 

Nobel-worthiness?

While it’s true that Nobel’s titular prize bequeathed a fortune to scientists, activists, physicians and writers, scientists are rarely impelled to their trade for personal enrichment. In fact, science prizes such as the Templeton and Breakthrough are worth far more than the 9 million Kroner, or about US$983,000, cash purse of the Nobel Prize. Some physicists speculate that every winner of these more munificent awards would gladly forgo the extra cash for a Nobel. But Alfred Nobel’s intent wasn’t to swell scientists’ wallets. Instead, he wanted to bring attention to their beneficial work and incentivize new inventions. In this regard, the Nobel Prize has vastly exceeded Alfred’s modest expectations.

It wasn’t always this way. When the inaugural Nobel Prizes were first awarded in 1901, Wilhelm Röntgen, who won the physics prize for his discovery of X-rays, which surely improved the lives of billions around the world, was so unmoved by the accolade that he didn’t even show up to collect his medallion.

Yet, by the mid-1900s, Burton Feldman claims science became “increasingly incomprehensible to the public…when the media began its own expansion and influence.” These factors conspired to elevate the stature of the Nobel Prize along with the prominence of the laureates who are bestowed it.

Generally, most of my colleagues believe that Nobel winners in chemistry and physics deserved their prizes. Yet, is it the scientist laureates, all mankind, or the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences – the entity charged with laureate selection – that benefits the most from the Nobel Prize?
 

A noble vision

The 1994 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to (from left to right) PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Many people were angry that the prize was awarded to Arafat. Government Press Office (Israel), CC BY-SA

The Nobel Prizes have seen many radical changes in nearly a dozen decades since they were first awarded. Despite their lofty status, my investigation into the history of the Nobel Prizes shows that they have not always lived up to the objective of benefiting mankind.

Some science laureates, such as William Shockley, have used their fame to promote odious agendas such as eugenics. By Chuck Painter / Stanford News Service, CC BY-SA

A lawsuit by Alfred Nobel’s great grandnephew, Peter Nobel, alleging use of the Nobel name for political purposes forced a name change: The prize formerly known as “the Nobel Prize in Economics” – a prize not endowed by Alfred – bears the winsome new title “The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.”

Peace prize winners have sued the Nobel Foundation over grievances in the awardees past, including leaders considered by some to be terrorists, such as Yassir Arafat, or to be warmongers like Henry Kissinger.

Rosalind Franklin, the physicist who helped reveal DNA’s double helix structure using X-ray crystallography. Contemporaneously, James Watson and Francis Crick were coming to a similar conclusion but didn’t have the hard data to support their claim. Unbeknownst to Franklin, Watson and Crick got access to Franklin’s data, allowing them to complete their model of DNA. Later the duo, along with Franklin’s male collaborator Maurice Wilkins, went on to win the 1962 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine. Jewish Chronicle Archive/Heritage-Images

While the two physical science prizes have not been plagued by the horrific allegations being brought against the literature prize, they are hardly the redoubts of gender equality: Fewer than 1 percent of the prizes in the sciences have gone to women.
I suggest that it’s time that all the Nobel Prizes, including the science prizes, take a year off to reevaluate and reflect on Alfred Nobel’s lofty vision.
 

Resurrecting the Nobel

How can a yearlong hiatus restore the Nobel Prizes to their past luster? First off, a reevaluation of the mission of the prizes, especially the stipulation that they benefit all mankind, should be paramount.

The 1944 Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded to Otto Hahn and not to his female collaborator Lise Meitner. Briggs, C.A

We need to revise the statutes, untouched since 1974, to allow for new prizes and rectify past injustices. This could be achieved by allowing both posthumous Nobels, and prizes for past awards that failed to recognize the full cohort of discoverers. Unless we do so, the Nobels misrepresent the actual history of science. Examples of such omissions, unfortunately, abound. Ron Drever died mere months before he likely would’ve won the 2017 Nobel Prize in physics. Rosalind Franklin lost her fair share of the 1962 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine. Lise Meitner was denied her status as a 1944 Nobel Prize winner in chemistry for nuclear fission, which was awarded solely to her collaborator Otto Hahn. Jocelyn Bell, discoverer of pulsars, lost her Nobel Prize to her Ph.D. advisor. Many others – mostly women – living and deceased had also been overlooked and ignored.

To initiate the reform process, with help from colleagues and interested laypeople, my colleagues and I have established a new online advocacy forum that encourages the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to rectify past wrongs, prevent old mistakes from causing new harm, and more accurately reflect the broad panorama that is modern science. The Losing The Nobel Prize forum is open to scientists and nonscientists alike to submit proposals to reform and improve the Nobel Prizes.

Thoughtful action now is crucial and has tremendous potential far beyond academia. Revisiting and revising the Nobel Prize process, correcting past mistakes and making the process more transparent in the future will redound to the benefit of all mankind, reinstating the Nobel to its legendary stature.
 

Brian Keating, Professor of Physics, University of California San Diego

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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