The 2018 Nobel Prize in physics was awarded for applications in laser physics, including the creation of light-based tweezers.

The 2017 Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to LIGO's founders

Of the 736 Nobel Prizes in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, and economics awarded through 2023, more than 95% went to the same academic family.

As of 2025, only five people have won two Nobel Prizes, with Marie Curie the only person to do so in two different sciences.

As of 2026, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, which advises the pope on scientific matters, has included 90 Nobel laureates among its members.

With rules established when scientists worked in small labs or in isolation, the Nobel Prizes have struggled to reflect the collaborative nature of modern research.

The Nobel Prizes are among the highest science honors, though they have long been criticized for their limited scope and representation of disciplines and minorities.

The 2011 Nobel Prize in physics was awarded for the discovery of dark energy, which has driven the accelerated expansion of the universe.

Various awards have been established to honor contributions in science, technology, and mathematics beyond the disciplines honored by the Nobel Prizes.

Read more about the backstory on the 2025 Nobel Prize for immune system work

The first Nobel Prize ceremony, which honored the discovery of X-rays and the cofounder of the Red Cross, occurred five years after Alfred Nobel's death.

The first circular particle accelerator was narrower than the average cereal bowl

Credit for inventing the laser was fought over for nearly three decades

Explore a list of Nobel Prize winners supported by National Science Foundation grants.

Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier received the 2020 Nobel Prize in chemistry for showing how the CRISPR-Cas9 system enables precise gene editing in living cells.

In 2011, the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine was awarded to a deceased scientist, which is forbidden under the Nobel Foundation's rules.

View the winners of the 2025 Global Physics Photowalk contest

Since 1901, the Nobel Prizes have honored major global achievements in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and peace efforts.

Known for his theories of relativity, Albert Einstein's Nobel Prize in physics was for his discovery of the photoelectric effect, which makes digital cameras possible.

The Pius XI Medal—named after the pope who rebranded the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in 1936—has been awarded every two years to a promising scientist under 45.

The 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded for lithium-ion battery development

The 2008 Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded for discovering and developing uses for green fluorescent protein—a biomolecule found in some Pacific Northwest jellyfish.

Drs. Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier discuss CRISPR

During his 'miraculous year,' Albert Einstein published four groundbreaking papers, including the postulates of special relativity.

Rosalind Franklin’s work led to Nobel Prize-winning discoveries in DNA and virology

Random lasers can be created from biomaterials, such as peanuts and birch leaves

The Ig Nobel Prize—a satirical version of the Nobel Prize—aims to engage broader audiences by spotlighting scientific achievements that make people laugh before they think.

While associated with digital storage and the reading of CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray technologies, lasers are widely used in industrial, medical, military, and retail settings.

Lasers, semiconductors, medical imaging, and atomic clocks rely on quantum mechanics

In 2018, hours before his 13th birthday, Jackson Oswalt became the youngest person to achieve nuclear fusion.

Penicillin's pioneers were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1945

A 36-year-old Russian physicist survived a particle accelerator beam to the head

A laser energy system has allowed scientists to achieve fusion ignition

Lasers result from electrons in a material's atoms being excited into a higher-energy, metastable state and then dropping back down, producing identical particles of light.

How lasers have become a go-to in archaeology

Before 1932, when particle accelerators were first used for nuclear research, scientists relied on naturally radioactive substances to advance their understanding of the atomic nucleus.

Nobel Prizes in science have favored male, North American, and European scientists from established academic institutions, with only 11 female winners in the 20th century.

As of 2023, the world's smallest particle accelerator is smaller than a penny

The origin of LASIK eye surgery, from a lab incident to federal funding and widespread use

The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences was not among the prizes in Alfred Nobel's will but was established by Sweden's central bank in 1968.

Light therapy was widely used as a medical treatment for various maladies in the late 1800s before it was replaced by antibiotics.

Scientific breakthroughs funded by NASA, the NSF, and the NIH include GPS, sign language, bladeless LASIK surgery, and quantum dots—tiny semiconductor crystals used in many modern televisions.

Rather than measuring the rising and falling of the sun or pendulum swings, optical clocks track the passage of time using the vibrations of atoms.

How Nobel Prize-winning research unraveled why the immune system doesn't always attack itself

Lasers can be used to reduce the motion of atoms because particles of light—photons—can collide with particles of matter, as billiard balls do, to slow them down.

The discovery of neutron stars by Jocelyn Bell Burnell, who was not awarded the corresponding Nobel Prize

As of 2025, the most cited papers in science include a review of graphene, methods to improve image recognition, streamlining electron density calculations, and optimizing protein studies.

Marie Curie's research on radioactivity made her the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and the first person to win awards in two sciences.

For his 1922 Nobel Prize in physics, Niels Bohr was awarded a lifetime of free beer by Denmark's Carlsberg Brewery.

Photodynamic therapy is one current treatment for age-related macular degeneration.

Take a quiz to learn about the women who have won the Nobel Prize through 2025.