Nobelitis

Noun

Nobelitis (uncountable)

1. (derogatory, humorous) An overriding or obsessive desire to win a Nobel Prize.
   • Relations between research labs in Cambridge England and Cambridge Massachusetts have been under considerable strain during the past few months. The strain has been said to derive from Nobelitis, a disease common in high-powered academic circles during the summer months. And the point at issue...1974 September 19, Roger Lewin, “Transfer RNA researchers argue about 'borrowed' data”, in New Scientist, page 738
   • Privately, many scientists were critical. "Hill has 'Nobel[-]itis,'" said an astronomer who prefered^([sic]) to remain anonymous. "He wants the Nobel so badly that he is jumping the gun."1982 June 27, Chicago Tribune, page 149
2. (derogatory, humorous) Grandiosity or hubris in a Nobel laureate.
   • But I certainly don't agree with critics of the late Faulkner who implicitly side with Phil Stone's comment that Faulkner got "Nobelitis in the head," and that his public life in the fifties is a direct expression of an inflated and preening sense of himself as having been certified Wise and so...1985, Noel Polk, “'Polysyllabic and Verbless Patriotic Nonsense': Faulkner at Midcentury–His and Ours”, in Donald M. Kartiganer, Ann J. Abadie, editors, Faulkner and ideology, page 313
   • There has descended on me since I have found myself brought willynilly into the presence of the great ones of the earth an orotundity which I have come to define in my own mind as Nobelitis. The pomposity born of the fact that one is treated as representing more than oneself by someone conscious of...1985, William Golding, An Egyptian Journal, unnumbered page
3. (derogatory, humorous) The tendency of some Nobel laureates to advance pseudoscientific or fringe ideas, or to claim knowledge beyond their field of expertise.
   • There are many examples of laureates who seem to suffer from Nobelitis, and I can mention here a few, to make the point. […] One of the most versatile minds of the 20th century, Linus Pauling, a double Nobel Prize winner, claimed that he could cure cancer with mega-doses of vitamin C and was...2013, Eleftherios P. Diamandis, “Nobelitis: a common disease among Nobel laureates?”, in Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, volume 51, number 8, →DOI, page 1573
   • The Nobel Prize is a tremendous honour and a reflection on the exceptional work done by the recipients, but it doesn’t confer ‘general expert’ status upon those of us lucky enough to be so recognised. Don’t expect that of us, and fellow laureates don’t begin to believe it or you will be in danger...2013 October 11, Paul Nurse, “Attention, Nobel Prize winners! Advice from someone who's already won”, in The Independent

   Synonyms:

   Nobel disease