I thought this was how Nobel Prizes sickened fields.

Mathematicians believe we're lucky to have been spared the Nobel Prize. While some repeat a discredited story this was because Gösta Mittag-Leffler was sleeping with Nobel's wife, it is generally felt that mixing ego and the possibility of a Nobel Prize has toxic effects on a field.

We now have both the Fields Medal and the Abel Prize, but both pass over the midlife period when ego eclipses talent.