Nine Americans were awarded a Nobel Prize in 2009. The previous recored for American Nobel laureates was in 2001 with a total of eight laureates. The unveiling ceremony is an annual event, however due to the recored number of laureates this year the ceremony was co-hosted by Jonas Haftrom, the Norwegian ambassador to the United States and Swedish Ambassador Wegger Strommen. The names of the laureates were unveiled by Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe.
The laureates whose names were added are Charles Kao, Willard Boyle and George Smith, who received a Nobel Prize for physics; Venkatraman Ramakrishnan and Thomas Steitz, who received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry; Elizabeth Blackburn, Carol Greider and Jack Szostak, who received the prize for medicine; Elinor Ostrom and Oliver Williamson who received the prize for Economics and President Obama who received the Nobel Prize for peace.
Three of this year's laureates and a few past laureates attended the ceremony.
The Nobel monument was erected in 2003 in a joint project initiated by the consulate General of Sweden in New York and the Department of Parks and Recreation. The monument honors all 317 American Nobel laureates, as well as the founder of the Nobel Prize, Alfred Nobel.
