STOCKHOLM, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Nobel Prize award ceremony was held on Monday in the Swedish capital, with the absence of U.S. scientist Arthur Ashkin.
Ashkin, laureate of the Nobel Prize in Physics, was absent, citing "health reasons ". His son Michael Ashkin received the award instead.
This years' laureates, Gerard Mourou and Donna Strickland of physics, Frances H. Arnold, George P. Smith and Sir Gregory P. Winter of chemistry, James P. Allison and Tasuku Honjo of Physiology or Medicine, and William Nordhaus and Paul Romer of economics, also received their award in the Concert Hall.
The Nobel Prize in Literature this year was not handed out because of a crisis which started in late 2017 when a cultural figure who had close links to the Academy was accused of sexual harassment by a number of women.
Addressing the laureates, Professor Carl-Henrik Heldin, chairman of the Board of the Nobel Foundation, said: "Science offers a countermovemont to the isolationistic and fact-resistant tendencies we see. It has no borders and scientists often move between countries. Science is our time's lingua franca, and can form bridges between countries and cultures."
"The importance of research is therefore not only limited to the generation of new knowledge, but it serves a more general role providing a common ground for interactions between people all over the world," he added.
Heldin also said that modern science does not only involve sceptical inquiry, but is also often led by an ethos of openness and tolerance.
The concert hall awards ceremony is followed by a lavish evening banquet in the Stockholm City Hall.
The Nobel prizes have been presented annually since 1901. The announcement each year is in October. The annual Dec. 10 awards ceremony marks the peak of the Nobel Week, where laureates participate in a series of seminars and events in Stockholm.
