First woman at the helm of Nobel Prize institution

The names of the Nobel Prize winners in the categories physics, chemistry and economics will be announced by a woman in 2026 for the first time in history.

At the start of the year, Belgian-born Ellen Moons will take up her post as the new secretary general of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (KVA) in Stockholm, which awards the Nobel Prizes in those three categories every year. She is the first woman to hold this office since the academy was founded in 1739.

Moons was elected at the KVA's general meeting in mid-November to succeed the previous secretary general, Hans Ellegren. Moons has lived in Sweden for over 25 years and has been a professor of physics at the Karlstad University since 2011. The 59-year-old has been a member of the Nobel Committee, which selects the Nobel Prize winners in physics, since 2022.

Public face of the Nobel Prizes

As well as announcing the winners in the Nobel Prize categories of physics, chemistry and economics, the secretary general also manages the activities of the academy and its secretariat; and is the managing director of the KVA.

Formally, she is second only to the president of the academy, who, however, makes far fewer public appearances than the secretary general.

The KVA is one of four institutions that announce the various Nobel Prize winners at the beginning of October. The Nobel Prize in Medicine is awarded by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and the Nobel Prize in Literature by the Swedish Academy.

The Nobel Peace Prize is the only one of the awards that is not presented in Stockholm, but in Oslo, where the Norwegian Nobel Committee is responsible for selecting the winner. — dpa