The Nobel Prizes are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind. He died in 1896. In his will, he bequeathed all of his "remaining realizable assets" to be used to establish five prizes which became known as "Nobel Prizes." Nobel Prizes were first awarded in 1901. ,P> This year, there were 287 candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize - 208 individuals and 79 organizations, the Nobel committee said. Last year, the institute received 338 nominations.

Nobel Prize laureates receive a diploma, a medal and a document detailing the Nobel Prize amount, which this year is 12 million Swedish kronor, or about $1.2 million in current exchange rates. Continue reading

Nobel Prize in medicine awarded to trio for technique that helps decode mysteries of the brain. Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann, and Georg Nagel received the prize for their pioneering work in optogenetics - meaning a "light-sensitive switch," allowing scientists to map which cells are responsible for which function in the brain.

Nobel Prize in physics awarded to Francis Halzen for his work detecting ghostly cosmic particles called Neutrinos. Halzen is a pioneering Belgian astrophysicist whose work developing a massive observatory in Antarctica to detect ghostly cosmic particles laid the foundations for an entirely new type of astronomy.

Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry for unraveling mystery of of how molecules exist in non-identical mirror images of each other. Their work has been revolutionary for chemists who develop reactions for the manufacture of pharmaceuticals, flavors, scents and new materials.

Anne Carson, the genre-bending Canadian writer, wins the Nobel Prize in literature. Carson, 76, is an accomplished classicist who has taught at multiple colleges in the US and Canada.

Video: Nobel Peace Prize goes to South African jurist human rights pioneer Navi Pillay The South African was integral to the anti-apartheid movement, served as a judge on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and recently led the UN commission that concluded Israel committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.