Revisiting A Voynich Prize

[Mark Knowles]

There was a thread on this topic from some time ago, but it has long since been closed.

I was reading about the many prizes that there are in Mathematics and my thinking came back again to why there shouldn't be a prize for Voynich decipherment.

Maybe some people believe that prizes should not be awarded in Mathematics or any field and likewise should not be rewarded for Voynich research. But if one thinks that it is right to have them in Mathematics, but not in Voynich research then one has to ask why.

It is often suggested that a prize would attract the wrong kind of people and just lead to more nonsense theories wasting researchers time and distracting from good research. However does this happen with Mathematical or other prizes? I don't doubt they also receive plenty of nonsense theories. Why do they have prizes if prizes are such a bad idea?

From a personal point of view if I manage to decipher the manuscript and there is no financial reward of any kind at the end of it I will feel cheated. I have put a lot of time into it and it has been enjoyable, but that shouldn't preclude some financial benefit. Academics doing research in many areas make a living from it, so it does not seem radical that people researching in this area should be precluded from making any money out of it.

Ultimately any such prize would have to be funded from public donation or by a private individual. But if such finance existed it does not make sense to me for it to be turned down.

I am aware that there is strong opposition to this idea, nevertheless I thought I would reintroduce the question and I daresay I will raise it again in the future.