Can someone get the Nobel Prize after death?
In 1974 the Nobel Foundation decided that a prize cannot be awarded posthumously, unless death has occurred after the announcement of the Nobel Prize.
Prior to 1974, the Nobel Prize was awarded posthumously only twice: to Dag Hammarskjöld (Nobel Peace Prize 1961) and Erik Axel Karlfeldt (Nobel Prize in Literature 1931).
Following the 2011 announcement of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, it was discovered that one of the medicine laureates, Ralph Steinman, had died just three days earlier.
The Board of the Nobel Foundation examined its statutes, and an interpretation of the purpose of the rule led to the conclusion that Ralph Steinman should continue to be a Nobel laureate, as the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet had announced the 2011 Nobel Prize laureates in physiology or medicine without being aware of his death.
