I am spending the 1998/99 academic year at Uppsala University in Sweden courtesy of the Fulbright Commission. One of the perks of my Fulbright appointment was an invitation to attend the ceremony at which the Nobel Prizes are awarded. The ceremony is held on December 10th, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death in 1896, at 4:30 in the afternoon (by which time it has already been dark for two hours in Stockholm) in the Grand Auditorium of the bright blue Concert Hall in the center of Stockholm. It is a glittering and solemn ceremony. The dress is white tie and tails and ball gowns. Even members of the audience must conform to a dress code - long dresses for women and dark suits for men. I spent a small fortune on my dress, which had to be worn with boots because of the winter weather.

The invitation to the ceremony includes strict instructions that everyone must be in their seats 4:15 because no one may arrive after the royal family. So, all decked out in our best, and having checked our heavy boots and winter coats, we were in our seats early. The Grand Ballroom of the Concert Hall is designed to suggest an ancient Greek temple. It seats 1800, and every seat was filled. This is the hottest ticket in town. Swedish television treatment of Nobel Day festivities rivals U.S. coverage of the Super Bowl. Even the dinner and ball are broadcast with color commentary from the sidelines and interviews of the principles and their families.

Seated on the stage of the Concert Hall were the members of the groups who had chosen the winners: the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute, and the Swedish Academy. By my count, about 10% are women. Across the front on the stage are empty chairs for the Nobel laureates and three members of the royal family. The hall is filled with flowers donated by the town of San Remo, Italy where Alfred Nobel died.

Last December, the official starting time of 4:30 came and went without the royal family appearing. A questioning buzz filled the hall. An announcement was made from the stage saying that the king was stuck in traffic which caused titters and a few jokes about Swedish egalitarianism. Newspapers the next day revealed that true cause of the delay was a bomb threat. About 15 minutes after the scheduled starting time the king, the queen, and the king's aunt - all of them looking storybook regal - took their seats as the orchestra located above the stage played the Royal Anthem. Then the prize winners were escorted to their seats and the ceremony began with a speech by the Chairman of the Board of the Nobel Prize Foundation. This, and the other speeches are in Swedish, but everyone was given a booklet with English translations.

Then the big moment arrived. The prizes are awarded in the order that they are mentioned in Nobel's will: Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature. The prize in Economics is a latecomer, having been established just 30 years ago by the Swedish central bank, and so the "Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel" is awarded last. The Peace Prize ceremony was held earlier the same day in Oslo.

All is hushed as the presenter of a particular prize comes to the podium. There were three winners of the Physics prize. They stood and listened as the presenter, a member of the Royal Academy, read an explanation in Swedish of the reasons why their contributions merited the prize. Then, at the end of the speech, he turned to the winners and addressed them directly in their own language inviting them to "step forward and receive your Prize from the hands of His Majesty the King". What followed was a thrilling and dramatic moment. The first winner after accepting the award from the king with a handshake, stepped back and bowed deeply to the king. Then he faced the Academy members at the back of the stage and bowed. Finally he turned to bow to the audience and accept their standing ovation.

This ritual was repeated nine times by three winners in physics, one in chemistry, three in medicine, one in literature, and then finally by Amartya Sen for economics. Each time the third bow to the audience brought an intake of breath and prickles at the back of the neck. Then it was over. The orchestra played again, the royal family left, the winners hung around on stage talking to well-wishers. I was astonished to run into a colleague from my home university in the coat check line - a physicist who is a close friend of one of the winners, and left thinking how small the academic world really is.

In the week following the award ceremony the new laureates travel to Swedish universities to give talks and be feted. December 13 was Uppsala University's turn to play host to the traveling Nobel show, and I went to hear Amartya Sen. He seemed tired, but he did look like he was having fun.

I will remember attending the Nobel Prize ceremonies as one of the highlights of my year in Sweden. It was a good show, and I hope to attend again some day. The next time, however, I hope that some of the winners and presenters are women.