It’s not just the award for peace that is presented by the Nobel committee – there are six categories, and they are widely regarded as the most prestigious awards for intellectual achievement in the world.

The winners are being confirmed this week and several have already been announced.

The physics prize was given to Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier. The research demonstrated a way to create extremely short pulses of light that can be used to capture and study rapid processes inside atoms.

Norwegian author, playwright and poet Jon Fosse claimed the prize for literature. The Nobel committee said Fosse’s work focused on “anxieties, insecurities, questions of life and death”.

The prize in physiology or Medicine was awarded to Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman, who developed the technology that led to the mRNA Covid vaccines, such as those produced by Pfizer and AstraZeneca.

And lastly, the prize for chemistry was awarded to three scientists for their work in developing what are called quantum dots. These tiny crystals can be found in QLED TV sets where the nanoparticles create colour.