People love prizes, and the Nobels are akin to the Oscars of science. Like the Oscars, they seem more redolent of popularity contests than of true merit. In addition to the scandalous omissions you note in your article, Fred Hoyle (the man who showed how nucleosynthesis in the sun could achieve carbon and beyond) likewise should have been awarded the Nobel prize but instead it went to the leader of the team who, after being pressed by Hoyle relentlessly, simply ran the experiment Hoyle proposed and thereby showed that Hoyle was correct. So I think anyone who believes the Nobels are a true reflection of merit probably needs to reset their expectations.