The beautiful little islands that have produced the most Nobel prize winners per capita
Given that the Nobel Prize, which recognises contributions in the fields of chemistry, economics, literature, medicine, physics and peace, was established by a Swede (step forward Alfred Nobel), and is voted for by institutions in Sweden and Norway, it will come as no surprise to learn that the two Scandinavian nations have supplied more laureates per capita than almost every other country or territory.
Sweden has produced 31 such worthies, most recently Tomas Lindahl, in 2015, for chemistry (though, it should be noted, he is a naturalised Brit). With a population of just under 10 million, that works out at one for every 315,465 residents.
Norway is a little way behind with a total of 13 - that's one per 400,843 residents, while Iceland, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark and the UK also make the top six.
But ahead of them all are three unlikely minnows.
Luxembourg, which has produced a pair of Nobel prize winners (Jules A. Hoffmann and Gabriel Lippmann, of course); Saint Lucia, which also has two (Derek Walcott and W. Arthur Lewis); and the Faroe Islands – an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark that gave us Niels Ryberg Finsen, winner in the field of medicine in 1903.
Most Nobel prize winners per capita
Faroe Islands - one per 48,199 residents
St Lucia - one per 92,499
Luxembourg - one per 283,555
Sweden - one per 315,465
Switzerland - one per 319,179
Iceland - one per 329,425
Norway - one per 400,843
Denmark - one per 436,083
Austria - one per 406,885
United Kingdom - one per 497,813
Ireland - one per 586,058
East Timor/Timor-Leste - one per 592,382
Israel - one per 672,003
Germany - one per 747,116
Hungary - one per 758,078
In terms of total number, the US is streets ahead. It has supplied a colossal 377, from Theodore Roosevelt and William Faulkner to Martin Luther King Jr and - in 2016 - Bob Dylan.
Next up is the UK, with 130, including Rudyard Kipling, Alexander Fleming and Bertrand Russell, followed by Germany, France, Sweden, Japan and Switzerland.
Most Nobel prize winners
United States - 377
United Kingdom - 130
Germany - 108
France - 69
Sweden - 31
Japan - 28
Switzerland - 26
Canada - 26
Russia - 25
Austria - 21
Netherlands - 21
Italy - 20
Poland - 14
Norway - 13
Denmark - 13
Hungary - 13
Israel - 12
Australia - 12
Belgium - 11
South Africa - 10
India - 10
More reasons to visit the Faroe Islands
Nobody visits somewhere based on the Nobel credentials, of course. So why should you go to the far-flung Faroes? For outdoor adventures and solitude, says Tim Ecott, who went earlier this year for Telegraph Travel.
“Walking here is a joy, like the best of the Lake District without the crowds,” he explains. “It doesn’t get as cold here as in Reykjavik, say, and serious snow is confined to winter. But the Faroes have what is optimistically called ‘changeable’ weather, meaning regular doses of rain and some ferocious winds – especially in winter. In 2016 the Faroes clocked the highest wind speed ever recorded in Europe: 166 mph, which is definitely a hurricane.
“With these extremes of weather come extreme beauty and the chance to enjoy dramatic scenery alone, or better still with a local guide. Mine was a young mountaineer called Johannus Hansen, who was the first to ascend several of the archipelago’s sea stacks and regularly guides some of the world’s top rock climbers.”
The most photographed spot in the Faroes is undoubtedly Gasadalur, a dramatic village with a spectacular waterfall that shoots from a vertical cliff face and plummets into the crashing surf below.
Atlantic Airways (atlantic.fo) flies direct to the Faroe Islands from Edinburgh on Mondays and Fridays, with return fares from £189.
