Less Razzmatazz, but Nobel Prizes Go Ahead Amid Pandemic

A bronze bust of Alfred Nobel is pictured before the Nobel Prize ceremony at Stockholm Concert Hall, in Stockholm, Sweden, on Dec 10, 2019. Claudio Bresciani/TT News Agency via Reuters

STOCKHOLM—The winners of this year’s Nobel Prizes will miss out on a swanky gala in Stockholm surrounded by royalty and Sweden’s glitterati, but 2020 will at least not be added to the war years when no awards were given.

Yet as the coronavirus pandemic rapidly enveloped much of the world earlier this year, that was far from certain.