At the first Nobel Prize Award Ceremony, the king of Sweden distributed the first Nobel Prizes, in accordance with the will of inventor Alfred Nobel. The day was the anniversary of Nobel's death. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences had decided on 10 Nov 1901 to award the first Nobel Prize in Physics to Wilhelm Röntgen for his discovery of X-rays and the first Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Jacobus H. van't Hoff for his work on rates of reaction, equilibrium and osmotic pressure. The first Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was given to Emil von Behring, for his work on serum therapy, particularly for its use in the treatment of diphtheria. His Nobel diploma was dated 30 Oct 1901, signed by staff at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm.

To determine if a pilot could eject from an airplane at supersonic speed and live, Lt. Col. John Paul Stapp, a flight surgeon, rode a rocket sled to 632 mph. The Sonic Wind was the rocket powered sled that Stapp rode at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico. The sled's rocket motors generated 40,000 lbs. of thrust and he reached a speed of 632 mph in five seconds. At the end of the ride Stapp was stopped in 1.25 seconds which subjected him to 40 Gs. It was the equivalent of hitting a brick wall in a car traveling at 120 mph. Data from 29 increasingly harsh rocket-sled rides during the 1950s proved invaluable in the design of improved helmets, arm and leg restraints, better aircraft seats, and stronger safety harnesses.