He used his influential position to arrange Nobel Prizes for his friends (Jacobus van 't Hoff, Wilhelm Ostwald and Theodore Richards) and tried to prevent his enemies (Paul Ehrlich, Walther Nernst, Dmitri Mendeleev) from receiving them.
Usebenzise isikhundla sakhe esinethonya ukuhlela imiklomelo kaNobel yabangane bakhe (uJacobus van 't Hoff, uWilhelm Ostwald noTheodore Richards) futhi wazama ukubakhumbula ezitheni zakhe (uPaul Ehrlich, uWalther Nernst, uDmitri Mendeleev).