Search

Showing results for “Nobel Prize”

Jump to a topic

Nobel PrizeThe Nobel Prizes are among the most prestigious awards in the world, with each winner receiving a gold medal, a Nobel Prize diploma, and a monetary award valued at more than $1M. Five prizes honor people who have made important contributions to physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and world peace. A sixth prize—given for advances in economics—is technically not a Nobel Prize but is typically included in the group. Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, left the equivalent of more than $200M upon his death to establish the awards. The winners are selected by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the humanities-focused Swedish Academy, Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee. Nobel Prizes cannot be awarded to someone who has died before being selected and cannot be shared by more than three people, with the exception of the peace prize.Explore Nobel Prize

Marie Curie Bob Dylan Santa Barbara Rosalind Franklin Solar Power Silicon Valley Blood Pulitzer Prize

What we've found

The 2011 Nobel Prize in physics was awarded for the discovery of dark energyThrough the use of standard candles—objects whose brightness is well-known—astronomers can determine distances by recognizing that the same phenomena will dim in predictable ways with increasing distance. By observing the same type of bright stellar explosion at various locations, Saul Perlmutter, Brian Schmidt, and Adam Riess identified that the universe's expansion was increasing. The Nobel Prize The 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded for lithium-ion battery developmentStanley Whittingham developed the first functional lithium battery in the early 1970s, while John Goodenough doubled its electrical potential in 1980 by replacing the cathode, thereby enhancing its commercial viability. Five years later, Akira Yoshino developed an anode using carbon material, reducing the risk of flammability. Nobel Prize The 2017 Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to LIGO's foundersRainer Weiss, Kip Thorne, and Barry Barish won the award for their contributions to the detector a year after the discovery of gravitational waves was announced. Acknowledging the Nobel statutes limited the prize to no more than three people, Thorne stated, "our marvelous discovery is the work of more than a thousand." Caltech Some allege that Dylan plagiarized his Nobel Prize lectureThe speech bore striking similarities to entries on SparkNotes, a summary site that's often used by students looking to skip assigned reading. Neither Dylan nor his management commented on the matter, though some critics suggested it was just another part of Dylan's career-long performance. the Guardian In 2017, researchers won a Nobel Prize for their work controlling fruit fly circadian rhythmsThis detailed circadian rhythm infographic breaks down a day in the biological life of a fly, providing a peek at some of the groundbreaking work that elicited a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Scientific American Nobel Prize winner William Butler Yeats was fascinated by magic and the occultThe Irish poet and 1923 winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature laid out his beliefs in a 1901 essay, entitled "Magic," and was a member of several organizations dedicated to occult and mystical practices. JSTOR Daily Bob Dylan asked Patti Smith to perform in his place at the Nobel Prize ceremonyDylan didn't attend the ceremony, citing "other commitments," and asked Patti Smith, the legendary poet and punk pioneer, to perform in his place. Smith sang "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall," accompanied by an orchestra, though she had to request to restart one verse after stumbling over Dylan's dense lyrics. Nobel Prize Non-Nobel Prize awards recognize topics outside of chemistry, physics and medicineEstablished in 2002, the Abel Prize awards $750,000 to a mathematician for pioneering scientific achievements, while the $1M Turing Award honors contributions in computer science. Additional prizes in earth science, engineering, environmental science and policy, astrophysics, nanoscience and neuroscience have also been established. The New York Times Jean-Paul Sartre rejected his Nobel Prize for literatureSartre won the award in 1964, but refused it, explaining, "The writer must therefore refuse to let himself be transformed into an institution, even if this occurs under the most honorable circumstances, as in the present case." Open Culture The 2018 Nobel Prize in physics was awarded for creating tweezers out of lightAt 96, Arthur Ashkin became the oldest person to win a Nobel Prize in Physics for demonstrating how lasers can hold and measure objects, a technique that has since been used to explore microbiological environments. The award was also given to Gérard Mourou and Donna Strickland for developing a method of creating optical pulses. Sixty Symbols Penicillin’s pioneers were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1945Alexander Fleming, Howard Florey, and Ernst Chain received the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering and developing penicillin. NobelPrize.org As of 2025, only five people have won two Nobel PrizesMarie Curie's awards in physics and chemistry and Linus Pauling's in chemistry and peace are the only pairs in different fields. Awards to Curie's daughter and sons-in-law have made the Curies the most awarded family in history. The Conversation Marie Curie's research in radioactivity made her the first woman to win a Nobel PrizeOvercoming social and academic barriers, Curie's realization that radiation resulted from an intrinsic property of atoms reframed scientific understanding of the phenomenon. Her subsequent work in discovering two new elements—polonium and radium—earned her a second Nobel Prize. TED-Ed University of California Santa Barbara produced 6 Nobel prize winnersThe public school system is ranked as the eighth best by Forbes, and 56 of its faculty are members in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. See more figures on the school here. UC Santa Barbara Despite the rules, a Nobel Prize in medicine has been awarded posthumouslyRalph Steinman, whose work revealed how dendritic cells activate immune responses, passed away just days before being named a Nobel laureate. Although Nobel Prizes cannot be awarded posthumously, the committee made an exception because they believed he was alive at the time of the decision. The Guardian Nobel Prizes in science have heavily favored male, North American, and European scientistsMost science laureates come from established academic institutions, and limited outreach and nomination rules have biased against researchers from low- and middle-income countries. As of 2024, China ranks among the world’s top scientific contributors, but has only won 10 Nobel Prizes in the sciences. Nature Rosalind Franklin’s work led to Nobel Prize-winning discoveries in DNA and virologyHer X-ray diffraction imaging helped uncover the structure of DNA, which earned James Watson, Francis Crick, and Maurice Wilkins a Nobel Prize. The same techniques enabled virus imaging, contributing to Aaron Klug's Nobel Prize in chemistry. ScienceDirect Marie Curie pioneered radioactivity research, for which she won two Nobel PrizesMarie Curie and her husband isolated polonium and radium despite poor lab conditions and financial hardship. President Harding, on behalf of the women of America, presented her with one gram of radium in 1921 in recognition of her service to science. Nobel Prize Eugene O'Neill is the lone American playwright to win the Nobel PrizeThe writer was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1936, with the prize committee noting "the power, honesty, and deep-felt emotions of his dramatic works, which embody an original concept of tragedy." the Guardian Despite the discovery of dark matter, Vera Rubin never won a Nobel PrizeIn the 1970s, Rubin and collaborator Kent Ford revealed that galaxies rotate in a way only explainable by vast amounts of unseen mass, now known as dark matter. The transformative discovery did not warrant a Nobel Prize, which was only awarded to two women in physics from 1901 to 2017. Astronomy Magazine In 2016, Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize for his lyricsRock legend Bob Dylan’s 2016 Nobel Prize was a surprise in the literary world. A rock lyricist had never been awarded the distinction. Dylan explains his affection for literary giants like Herman Melville and Homer, connecting his writing, and the rock ‘n’ roll of his youth, to the literary tradition. Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes honor global achievements in science, literature, and peace effortsEstablished by Alfred Nobel’s will, the Nobel Prizes have been awarded since 1901 to individuals and organizations making major contributions to humanity. Although often grouped with the five original prizes, the economics award was added later by Sweden’s central bank in 1968 and isn't technically a Nobel Prize. 1440 Experience games that explore Nobel Prize-winning workInspired by the educators who set laureates on their path, the Nobel Foundation has created a library of interactive activities for the general public. These allow users to make groundbreaking discoveries, showing that such work is accessible to all. NobelPrize.Org The Ig Nobel Prizes honor scientific achievements that make people laugh, then thinkThese prizes show that even seemingly trivial work can gain attention, build momentum, and connect with broader audiences when presented engagingly. Winners include creating a toilet that analyzes your poop and understanding why scientists lick rocks. BioLab Collective Gender bias in science’s past still echoes in today’s Nobel Prize talliesAlthough women make up half the global population, they’ve won only 49 out of 923 Nobel Prizes from 1901 to 2022. Nobel committee members say historical gender bias has limited female representation, but they plan to promote more diverse nominations. Quartz Critics say Nobel Prizes need updating to reflect how science and society work todayThe rules still favor individuals over teams and may reflect outdated views on who does science. In 2013, the Nobel Prize in physics went to two theorists, even though over 5,000 scientists helped confirm the Higgs boson. Be Smart Only allowing three recipients causes the Nobel Prize to overlook team discoveriesWhile science has grown more inclusive and collaborative, the Nobel Prize system still struggles with outdated practices, such as secrecy and a rigid limit on awardees. This restriction sidelines many deserving scientists, especially in complex projects like the human genome or gravitational waves. CNN Explore the full list of Nobel Prize winnersSince 1901, about 1,000 individuals have been awarded Nobel Prizes. The Nobel Foundation provides biographies of every winner and concise descriptions of their accomplishments, as well as interviews and videos with more recent winners. NobelPrize.com X-rays earned the very first Nobel Prize in physics for revealing hidden worldsIn 1895, Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovered X-rays, which could pass through solid objects and make unseen structures visible. Today’s X-ray tools continue to advance science and medicine, including capturing real-time images of proteins. DW News The Nobel Prize remains science's top honor despite limits and inequitiesEach October, a few scientists gain global fame when told they’ve won a Nobel Prize—a century-old award founded by Alfred Nobel to recognize major achievements. While the prizes boost attention and prestige for winners, they exclude many deserving scientists due to rigid rules. Science News Explores The discovery of insulin led to a controversial Nobel Prize in 1923For centuries, Type 1 diabetes was fatal. The 1920s "discovery" of insulin netted two of its creators—Frederick Banting and his boss, John Macleod—a Nobel prize. Separately, the German doctor Georg Zuelzer synthesized an effective version of the life-saving drug years earlier but was interrupted by World War I. The Conversation A French Army surgeon discovered that malaria is a parasitic disease in 1880—but scientists were initially skepticalCharles Louis Alphonse Laveran won the Nobel Prize for his work "on the role played by protozoa" in causing diseases. His work included discovering and reporting the malaria-causing parasite in the blood of a patient suffering from malaria. The Nobel Prize The mosquito's role in the transmission of malaria was confirmed in 1897The English army surgeon Ronald Ross, who later won the Nobel Prize for his work, was the first to describe the transmission of malarial parasites by mosquitoes. He had lab mosquitoes suck blood from malaria-infected people and separately found the malaria parasite inside a mosquito's gut, confirming the bug's role in malaria transmission. The Nobel Prize Innovative novelist Don DeLillo wrote an erotic hockey novel under a pseudonymThe acclaimed writer—known for books like "White Noise" and "Underworld"—published "Amazons" in 1980 under the pen name Cleo Birdwell. The story claimed to be a memoir, written by a woman who secretly joined an NHL team. The ruse went beyond the text, too, with a female model posing as Birdwell for promotional events. Don DeLillo Should Win the Nobel Prize Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. became the youngest Nobel Peace Prize laureate in 1964At the age of 35, Dr. King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his nonviolent leadership in the Civil Rights movement, making him the youngest recipient at the time. Nobel Prize Organization Bob Dylan deeply admires Willie NelsonThe Nobel Prize-winning songwriter is a big fan of the country troubadour. When Dylan was asked for his thoughts on Nelson for a New Yorker profile, he offered a poetic monologue not unlike his lyrics, including a comparison to "the invisible air." Consequence Marie Curie's daughter Irene discovered artificial radioactivityThe discovery continued the family's Nobel legacy by winning the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1935 alongside her husband, Frederic Joliot. Their work laid the foundation for the use of radioisotopes in medicine, agriculture, and energy production. The Conversation The first circular particle accelerator was narrower than the average cereal bowlThe 1939 Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to Ernest Lawrence for inventing the cyclotron. By comparison, the Large Hadron Collider is 5 miles in diameter and is the largest cryogenic system in the world, cooling its electromagnets to temperatures colder than those found in outer space. Symmetry Magazine Joel Mokyr won the 2025 Economics Nobel as a historian of scientific ideasMany Nobel Prizes for Economics go to economists for their sophisticated quantification and large-scale studies and surveys. And while Northwestern's Mokyr has conducted such studies, his published works are more traditional history, where he argues for the significance of ideas to the development of material economics. Age of Invention Pierre Curie's knowledge of electromagnetism helped decipher radioactivityAlongside his brother, he studied electric fields in crystals and the magnetic properties of substances, which required the construction of delicate electrometers. He would use this apparatus with Marie Curie to measure radioactive emissions and the presence of undiscovered radioactive elements. Nobel Prize Watson's book was described as misleading when detailing Franklin's role in DNADespite working together to win the Nobel Prize for their discovery of the structure of DNA, Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins objected to the publication of James Watson's account of DNA's discovery. Those involved describe how he villainized Rosalind Franklin and downplayed her work. PBS See the history of DNA sequencingDNA sequencing evolved from manual methods to automated, high-throughput technologies. The Human Genome Project was possible in the first generation of gene sequencing technology with the "chain termination method," which won developer Fredrick Sanger a Nobel Prize. The DNA Universe Watch how Sanger sequencing kickstarted the first generation of DNA sequencingSanger sequencing is a foundational DNA sequencing technology developed in 1977. The Nobel Prize-winning discovery uses fluorescent dyes at the end of DNA chains, which are sorted by length through electrophoresis, to determine the order of nucleotide bases. Thermo Fisher Scientific Penicillin’s discoverer predicted antibiotic resistanceAlexander Fleming’s discovery of penicillin revolutionized modern medicine. But the same man who pioneered the development of antibiotics also recognized that bacteria could make sntibiotics obsolete if they were used irresponsibly. This story sheds light on Fleming’s discovery—and on his prophetic warning about antibiotic resistance. The Nobel Prize Winning a Nobel in economics takes decades of impact and a Swedish stamp of approvalThe Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences isn’t one of the original five prizes in Alfred Nobel’s will but was added by Sweden’s central bank in 1968. Candidates are nominated by top economists, with a focus on lasting academic influence. Freakonomics Each Nobel committee sends nomination requests to 3,000 leading academics annuallyEach Nobel selection committee consults with experts to create a shortlist of finalists from the hundreds of nominations, which is then sent to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. The literature and peace awards also involve nominations from "qualified persons," such as university professors. HowStuffWorks CRISPR-Cas9 enables precise genome editing using a simple RNA-guided systemJennifer Doudna's research uncovered how bacteria use the tool as an immune defense by cutting viral DNA. She and Emmanuelle Charpentier received the 2020 Nobel Prize in chemistry for showing how this mechanism could be engineered to target and edit genes in living cells. Nobel Prize Drs. Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier discuss CRISPRJennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier's were awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize for research focused on understanding and adapting the CRISPR-Cas9 system to precisely edit DNA sequences in other organisms. Doudna has indicated that the system can potentially treat genetic forms of blindness and high cholesterol. TED Audio Collective Before Dawkins, other biologists proposed the power of mutating ideasNobel Prize winner Jacques Monod proposed, “Ideas have retained some of the properties of organisms. Like them, they tend to perpetuate their structure and to breed; they too can fuse, recombine, segregate their content; indeed they too can evolve, and in this evolution selection must surely play an important role.” Smithsonian Magazine An interactive explanation of blood transfusionThe antigens and Rh factors of blood cells (which determines your blood type) must be compatible with your immune system—which is why blood transfusions between patients must have matching types. In a mismatch, the immune system will attack and destroy donor blood cells, triggering a potentially fatal reaction. Nobel Prize

Try another search?

Rock 'N' Roll DNA Malaria Human Genome Project CRISPR