The Nobel Prizes are the most highly regarded of international awards. They are conferred annually by four institutions (three Swedish and one Norwegian) from a fund established under the will of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish chemist and industrialist who invented dynamite and other explosives. The first Prizes were awarded on 10 December 1901, the fifth anniversary of the death of the founder, whose will specified that the awards should be made annually "to those who, during the preceeding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind".

Five prizes were established by his will: Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature and Peace. A sixth award, the Prize for Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, was set up in 1968 by the Bank of Sweden.

Each award consists of a gold medal, a diploma bearing a citation and a sum of money. In the first century of Nobel Prizes a total of 94 UK citizens have been honoured as laureates. Among these are some of the most illustrious names in their respective fields, from JJ Thomson to TS Eliot, from Dorothy Hodgkin to Ernest Rutherford, as well as unique organizations such as Amnesty International.

CHEMISTRY
Touch the stamp image of a Carbon 60 module: heat from the finger reveals an ion trapped within.

ECONOMIC SCIENCES
Feel the texture of the intaglio printing of the Earth.

PEACE
The dove of Peace is embossed in the design.

PHYSIOLOGY OR MEDICINE
Scratch the green cross to release a eucalyptus scent.

LITERATURE
Read the poem using a magnifying glass.

PHYSICS
Tilt the hologram to watch the electrons orbiting in a boron molecule.