The position of the Nobel prize as a repository of the pretensions of science has left it open to ridicule in the form of the Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony, held on Oct. 8 in Harvard's Sanders Theatre.
Even so, the institution of the Nobel prize retains significance for science because of the exposure it receives in the general public.
"Ideally, the prize popularizes the important scientific developments of the day. It has a large propaganda value," Glashow said.
Glashow also defended the Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony, which he participated in, when it came under attack in 1996 for trivializing serious scientific research.
"It increases awareness that science can be fun. Contrary to the stereotype in movies, scientists can enjoy their work, and do, in fact, have a sense of humor. At least most of them," Glashow said in an article that appeared in the journal Nature after the ceremony.
Scientific research is a much larger industry today than it was a century ago, Mendelsohn said. Much of today's leading scientific research is conducted outside of traditional universities.
Mendelsohn pointed to biotechnology and microelectronic engineering firms as new sources of the "stimulus for scientific inventiveness."
This change in the organizational structure of science has made prizes for individuals less relevant as incentives to research, Mendelsohn said. But he said that, for Nobel laureates, the prize is still meaningful.
"The larger picture is it doesn't matter who gets it; its the message that's important," Herschbach said.
The stipulations of Nobel's will which prevent the prize from being divided among more than three people in each category each year force the prize to focus on the achievements of individuals.
Though the nature of science may have changed since the inception of the Nobel prize, the meaning of the prize for the general public has remained the same.
"[The public] sees the winners [as] being rewarded for genius," Mendelsohn said. "In the scientific community, [Nobel laureates] are regarded as peers who were particularly clever."