Alex's Asteroid Astrology

At first glance, it may seem odd that the inventor of dynamite, one of the most destructive forces known to man, should go on to establish one of the world’s most prestigious awards, focused on acknowledging contributions for the betterment of mankind, but Alfred Nobel was many things.  Born 21 October 1833 (no time available), the Swedish chemist, inventor, engineer and businessman, holder of more than 350 patents, was a man of many hats, who on his death in 1896, donated his considerable fortune to a foundation to fund the Nobel Prizes, which annually recognize those who “conferred the greatest benefit to humankind.”  So it’s no surprise to find his 27 Libra Sun is involved in a T-Square, opposed Jupiter (philanthropy) at 0 Taurus and squared Neptune (humanitarianism) at 26 Capricorn.

What might be rather more surprising is the placement of asteroid Nobel 6032, named in his honor.  At 21 Gemini, Nobel trines his Sun, and is embedded at station, signifying his continued impact.  The Nobel Prizes are awarded every December 10^th, the anniversary of his death, in Stockholm, Sweden, which means that every year, Nobel’s Nobel is once again highlighted, by the Sun in opposition, from 19 Sagittarius, just as his eponymous prizes (with a purse of $1 million per category, usually split among several honorees) are distributed to global attention.

Nobel Prize winners are known as laureates, a word deriving from the ancient Greek custom of crowning victors with wreaths of laurel to denote excellence.  Asteroid Alfreda 1375 (feminine form of Alfred) at 13 Libra opposes an exact pairing of asteroid Laurel 2865 with Pluto (transformative energy) at 11 Aries, in a T-Square with asteroid Sverige 11870 (Swedish for “Sweden,” Nobel’s country of origin, where the awards are presented) on the fulcrum at 5 Capricorn.  As well, asteroid Stockholm 10552, named for the city of his birth, and the locale still most associated with Nobel via the awards ceremonies, falls at 4 Scorpio, within orb of the Sun.

All that is no more than might be expected, for anyone familiar with how asteroids operate and the fine details they reveal.  But surely, this pattern of activation can’t continue with all the Nobel laureates!  Or can it?  Obviously, to analyze all the recipients of the 123-year-old award would be beyond the scope of this article, but if this year’s honorees are any indication, then yes, the pattern holds.

The Nobel Prize in Physics for 2024 was shared by John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton, “for foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks.”  That’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) to you and me.  Briefly, John Hopfield created a structure that can store and reconstruct information; while Geoffrey Hinton invented a method that can independently discover properties in data and which has become important for the large artificial neural networks now in use.  (And as my old granny would have said, “now I know as much as I did before.”)

Born 13 July 1933 (and to save time here, let’s just stipulate up front that birth times were not available for any of the honorees), a hundred years after Nobel himself, John Hopfield sports asteroid Nobel at 17 Virgo, hugging philanthropic, gift-giving, fame-inducing, doors-opening Jupiter at 18 Virgo, and sextile the 20 Cancer Sun.  Nobel is widely squared by asteroid Victoria 12 at 27 Gemini (named for the Roman goddess of victory), and lies on the midpoint of a square from asteroid Laurel at 2 Leo and asteroid Stockholm at 6 Scorpio, semisquare to each.

Geoffrey Hinton (born 6 December 1947) has asteroid Nobel at 13 Virgo exactly squared the 13 Sagittarius Sun (also squared Jupiter at 9 Sag), in a wide Grand Trine with asteroid Nike 307 (named for Victoria’s Greek counterpart) at 6 Capricorn and asteroid Stockholm at 16 Taurus.  This pattern becomes a Kite with the inclusion of Nike (which further conjoins Venus at 7 Capricorn – the prize money!) in opposition to a pairing of asteroids Sverige and Victoria at 3 and 6 Cancer, on its String.

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2024 was shared by three honorees:  David Baker, Demis Hassabis and John Jumper.  This year’s awards focused on contributions in the field of proteins, life’s ingenious chemical tools.  David Baker has succeeded with the almost impossible feat of building entirely new kinds of proteins; Demis Hassabis and John Jumper have developed an AI model to solve a 50-year-old problem:  predicting proteins’ complex structures. John Jumper has no available birth data beyond “1985” (hardly a worthwhile jumping-off point), but the other two fit the pattern nicely.

David Baker (born 6 October 1962) has asteroid Nobel at 25 Leo, conjunct Victoria at 23 Leo, trine Nike at 23 Sagittarius, semisquare the Sun at 12 Libra, and widely opposed Jupiter at 3 Pisces.  Demis Hassabis has asteroid Nobel at 29 Taurus, conjoined Jupiter at 26 Taurus, exactly semisquare Victoria at 14 Cancer, and sextile the Sun at 4 Leo.  Nobel is also squared asteroid Laurel at 4 Pisces and widely squared Stockholm at 20 Leo.

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for 2024 was shared by Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun, for “the discovery of microRNA and its role in post-transcriptional gene regulation.”  MicroRNAs are a new class of tiny RNA molecules that play a crucial role in multicellular organisms, including humans, fundamentally important for how these develop and function.

Victor Ambros (born 1 December 1953) has asteroid Nobel at 27 Pisces, squared Jupiter at 23 Gemini, sextile Victoria at 29 Capricorn, opposed Sverige at 24 Virgo, and trine Stockholm at 0 Leo.   Gary Ruvkun (born 26 March 1952) has asteroid Nobel at 22 Virgo, squared Nike at 23 Sagittarius, inconjunct Jupiter at 22 Aries, and opposed Laurel at 20 Pisces.

The Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded solely to Han Kang, a South Korean author, “for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.”  Born 27 November 1960, Han Kang has asteroid Nobel at 10 Capricorn, in a powerful stellium that includes Jupiter (celebrity, fame), Victoria (winning), Venus (cash prize) and Saturn (career), at 6, 11, 14 and 15 Capricorn respectively.  Nobel is also in a T-Square with Laurel at 6 Aries and Nike at 8 Libra, and sextile Mercury (writing) at 15 Scorpio.

The Nobel Peace Prize for 2024 went to Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese anti-nuclear arms organization, “for its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and for demonstrating through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again.”  Founded on 10 August 1956 in response to the atomic bomb blasts in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Nihon Hidankyo’s asteroid Nobel at 22 Libra conjoins Nike at 17 Libra, semisquare Jupiter at 6 Virgo, and sextile its Sun at 17 Leo.

The Nobel Prize in Economics is a relative newcomer to the scene, established in 1968 by the Sveriges Riksbank in memory of Alfred Nobel.  This year’s laureates are Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A. Robinson, honored for “studies of how institutions are formed and affect prosperity.”  Their work offers insights into why there are such vast differences in prosperity between nations, based on persistent differences in societal institutions, and offers possible solutions to that problem.

James A. Robinson is another birthdate refusenik (offering only 1960), but Daron Acemoglu (born 3 September 1967) has asteroid Nobel at 12 Libra, semisquare Jupiter at 21 Leo and Mars at 25 Scorpio, and opposed Saturn at 11 Aries.  Simon Johnson (born 16 January 1963) has asteroid Nobel at 10 Virgo, conjunct Uranus at 4 Virgo and an exact pairing of Pluto with Victoria at 11 Virgo, also opposed Jupiter at 11 Pisces and sesquiquadrate the Sun and Nike at 25 and 27 Capricorn.

Summing up the field, all 2024 Nobel Prize honorees share a prominent asteroid Nobel, most in connection to Jupiter (fame, positive outcomes), a “winning” asteroid (Nike or Victoria), or the Sun (self-identity), often to all three.  Alfred Nobel’s stationary asteroid Nobel ensures that his memory will live on, affecting the lives of those well-connected to it in ways that enrich humanity.