14 DAY TRIAL // "The winner takes it all". Including the longer life. Scientists confirm it. A new research made at the University of Warwick in England investigated the cases of 524 nominees for the Nobel Prizes in physics and in chemistry between 1901 and 1950 and it revealed in the Research Papers in Economics that the 135 winners lived about 2 years more than the losers did.
It seems that the social status spurs the health of the cerebrally minded, too, without being linked to money. It's clear that being rich and famous makes one live better and longer, but whether or not social status leads to a longer lifespan remains a puzzle. "Status seems to work a kind of health-giving magic. I was quite surprised to find a clear effect on longevity within this elite sample of scientists.", said lead researcher Andrew J. Oswald.
The average lifespan for the overall nominees was 76 years, but the winning competitors lived 1.4 years longer on average, and the discrepancy went to 2-3 years when winners and non-winning nominees were coming from the same country.
The winners receive money, of $1-1.5 million, but most of them donate the money, at least partially, to charity and academia. The team adjusted the data for the variations of the real value of the prize during the 1901 to 1950, and this did not influence longevity, thus just the status conferred by the award spurred longevity. "They are obsessive thinkers. They are mostly not hugely interested in dollars, per se.", Oswald told LiveScience.
The analysis did not found a connection between the number of nominations for a Nobel and longevity. "Actually winning the Nobel was what counted," said the authors. "My research consistently shows that money does not matter for health and this paper confirms it," James P. Smith, an expert on social status and health at the RAND Corporation told LiveScience. "Other research shows that status matters, an equally controversial conclusion. But their research is well done, so it will add to the debate."
"The status from a Nobel Prize could amount to even more today than it did early in the previous century. If anything, the global society has made the super-star phenomenon more intense. I imagine in 2007 you get a bigger status boost from winning the Nobel Prize than in 1907.", said Oswald.
Another issue: choose physics! You'll live almost one year more than chemists...just in case you win the Nobel.