Niels Ryberg Finsen M.D.
Niels Ryberg Finsen M.D.
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1903
Name:Niels Ryberg Finsen
Birth: 15 December 1860, Thorshavn, Faroe Islands (Denmark)
Death: 24 September 1904, Copenhagen, Denmark
Affiliation at the time of the award: Finsen Medical Light Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark
Prize motivation: “in recognition of his contribution to the treatment of diseases, especially lupus vulgaris, with concentrated light radiation, whereby he has opened a new avenue for medical science”
Field: Dermatology, radiology
Had early education in Denmark. Rector, “Niels is a very nice boy. His gifts are small but he’s devoid of energy.” Cause: fagging for older pupils. He was moved to a school in Iceland. He succeeded despite not knowing the language.
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The Nobel Prize award ceremony was held in Stockholm on December 10, 1903. Finsen, having been chronically unwell was in a wheel chair at home. Innumerable people he knew were congratulating him on being awarded the Nobel Prize. At that time, Finsen announced that he would donate 50,000 crowns of the Prize money to the Finsen Institute. He would also donate 60,000 crowns to a sanatorium for heart and liver diseases which too he had founded.
Finsen’s donations immediately lead to his two main donors also donating 50,000 crowns to the Finsen Institute.
Therefore, despite Finsen’s poor health, the Prize helped spread Finsen’s ideas and it helped his Finsen Institute.