Why does the Nobel committee not award prize to collaborations?

In paragraph 4 of the statutes, it restricts the price to be only awarded to two works and to a maximum of 3 individuals. But it also says, that it can be awarded to an institution or organization. Which has been done with the Nobel Peace Prizes to the EU.

A prize amount may be equally divided between two works, each of which is considered to merit a prize. If a work that is being rewarded has been produced by two or three persons, the prize shall be awarded to them jointly. In no case may a prize amount be divided between more than three persons.

[…]

Each prize-awarding body shall be competent to decide whether the prize it is entitled to award may be conferred upon an institution or association.


Apparently, there might have been an internal dispute behind Nobel physics delay, on the possibility of including the CERN as a recipient. However, according to this article, some members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Science hint that it was not possible with the current rules:

  • “It was discussed a lot. But we must follow the (Nobel’s) will as I see it. There is nothing in it about institutions so in that way the decision was dead simple,” said Hans Ryde, professor of physics at Lund University.

  • The chairman of the prize committee, Lars Brink, defended the decision, saying it was a “theoretical prize”.

  • “Research is changing. If you go back a hundred years it was about a single person doing experiments and making discoveries. And today it’s 6,000 or so people – a sort of collegial research situation,” said Academy member Per Carlson, professor of elementary particle physics at the Royal Institute of Technology.

    “I don’t know if the Academy will open up the possibility to give the prize to organizations in the future – it’s a possibility,” he suggested. “In my view it should be possible.”

So even though a Nobel Prize can be awarded to an organization, it seems that the Royal Swedish Academy of Science does not consider this possibility yet.