Arts and humanitiesThe Limit of a strong Lobby: Why did August Bier and Ferdinand Sauerbruch never receive the Nobel Prize?

- Bier and Sauerbruch were two of the most influential German surgeons.
- In 1937, Adolf Hitler prohibited all German citizens to accept a Nobel Prize.
- Bier and Sauerbruch were jointly awarded Hitler's alternative Nobel Prize.
- Their research was not evaluated as Nobel Prize-worthy.
- Political factors did not play a major role according to the protocols.

August Bier (1861-1949) and Ferdinand Sauerbruch (1875-1951) have remained two of the most influential figures during the first half of the 20th century in German and even in international surgery. They were jointly awarded Adolf Hitler's German Science Prize in 1937, but never the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, although no other German surgeons were nominated as often as Bier and Sauerbruch for the prestigeful award from 1901 to 1950. This contribution gives an overview of the reasons why and by whom Bier and Sauerbruch were nominated, and discusses the reasons of the Nobel Prize Committee for not awarding them.