EARLIER today, the Nobel committee at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden named 71-year-old Yoshinori Ohsumi the recipient of this year’s Nobel prize in medicine. In the next seven days, scientists, economists and peace advocates rumoured to be on the selection committee’s shortlist will also be waiting for a special Nordic phone call. Over the years, the committee has been bestowing the honour on older and older recipients—except for the peacemakers.

No one under the age of 50 has ever been awarded the economics prize. A mere nine of the 112 literature winners have been younger than 50. For middle-aged scientists, the chances are relatively rosier, but have still been declining over time, partly because they begin their research careers later than they did in the 20th century. Since 2000, only 8% of the award-winners in chemistry, physics and medicine were under 50, compared with 36% of those who won the prizes in the last century. Partly because discoveries nowadays are more often experimental than theoretical, selection committees are waiting longer for a researcher's discoveries to truly revolutionise a field before giving the award. Faced with a long list of contenders, the Nobel committee may also prefer to pick those who are older first, if only because the awards cannot be given posthumously.

The peace prize is the exception. Unlike their scientific peers, prize-winning peace advocates do not require advanced university degrees. Its recipient in 2014, 17-year-old Malala Yousafzai, is the youngest person to ever win a Nobel. The oldest, economist Leonid Hurwicz, was 90 when a Swede called with some splendid news.