In Liu of A Prize...Jail Time

It's that time of year again...everybody gets all excited to see who the latest winners are and see what the international repercussions will be. Who gets the gold, and who gets the shaft? Yes, it's Nobel prize time again.
Many of us who were not among the finalists in any one of the six categories had forgotten all about it...something like a World Series matchup between the Texas Rangers and the San Francisco Giants. When I didn't see my name on any of the lists of finalists, frankly, I stopped paying attention. But the, the madcap Royal Swedish Society went and gave the peace prize for this year to Liu Xiaobo, and the response was thunderous. No, that's not applause you heard: it's the protests of the Chines government...see, Xiaobo is a dissident spending his days and nights in the crowbar hotel someplace in China. I guess the government feels that a guy wearing pajamas with horizontal stripes on them should not be so honored, but that's their problem. The bigger problem is how does he get the money, can he spend it in the prison canteen, and does this make him a target to become somebody's...well...you know.
As the story slowly became bigger than the Brett Favre sexting story, I wondered about all the past winners, indeed, the history of this award. Yes, I do have a bit of time on my hands at times. Because I have piqued your curiosity at this point, here's the skinny:
Named after Alfred Nobel, a Swedish inventor to give accord to a person every year who made "the greatest benefit to mankind," Nobel prizes have been awarded to more than 500 people over the last 109 years. The youngest recipient was 25, and the oldest was 90.
Five countries have garnered most of the awards given out in the categories of peace, medicine, chemistry, physics, economics and literature. Sweden is at number five, having been granted 28 such awards to individuals. France comes in at number four with a total of 57 prizes given. Germany holds the median spot in out=r countup with 103 of its citizens being so honored. The UK assumes the runner-up spot with 117 awards to its citizens/ credit, and the big numero uno...the big dog...with 323 awardees...the United States. A breakdown by category is impossible for me because a) I don't have a prize and, thus, don't much care beyond this point and b) the BBC report I read didn't go further than to list the top five countries and note that a paltry41 of those who won were women.
So...for whom does the Nobel toll? (sorry). not for me.