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ARCH OPHTHALMOL/VOL 117, MAY 1999
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Gullstrand is the only individual who both received and also declined a Nobel Prize. (Rarely has a Nobel Prize been declined. Russian author Boris L. Pasternak declined the Nobel Prize for literature in 1958, French writer JeanPaul Sartre declined the Nobel Prize for literature in 1964, and Le Duc Tho, of North Vietnam, declined the Nobel Prize for peace in 1973.) In 1910 and in 1911, Gullstrand was nominated for the Nobel Prize in physics. In 1911, the Nobel Committee for Physics, of which he was their prize; Gullstrand declined the Nobel Prize in physics in favor of the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine 5(pp73-74) The Nobel statutes require committee deliberations to be kept confidential. So what transpired during the committee meetings in 1911 has never been made public. We do not know if Gullstrand excused himself during the discussions.
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Albert Einstein, PhD (Figure Z), (1879-1955) was nominated for the Nobel Prize in physics many times and was awarded this prize while Gullstrand was a member of the Nobel Committee for Physics. Gullstrand was a strong personality and a powerful force on the committee. He wrote 2 harsh opinions against giving the prize to Einstein, in 1921 and 1922. Einstein did receive the Nobel Prize in physics in 1921, which was not awarded until 1922.
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The following year Einstein was again proposed, and Gullstrand was asked to provide an updated report on relativity. Another committee member was asked to reevaluate the photoelectric effect. Gullstrand was again negative concerning relativity. However, this time the report on the photoelectric effect was laudatory. The committee resolved the dilemma by proposing Einstein for the 1921 prize, and the academy voted favorably. The prize was finally awarded for the photoelectric effect, not for relativity.
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Inheritance of intelligence:
When Dagmar (daughter of Gullstrand's brother Edvin) was a teenager she asked Uncle Alvar why he had no children. (The only child of Alvar and his wife Signe died as a child). Dagmar said that it was a pity that such an intelligent man had no successor. Uncle Alvar replied: " I have studied the principles of inheritence of brain quality. I know that my own children can not inherit my intelligence. I know that it will pass via my brother. If my brother has a dauhter (Dagmar !) and if she gets boys they will inherit the brightness of my brain"
Dagmar married Lauritz Thrap-Olsen and they had three boys, Einar, Hans and Olav.