Important Nobel Prize Laureates 1901-1960
van't Hoff, Henry
1901 - Chemistry - His work showed that very dilute solutions follow mathematical laws that closely resemble the laws describing the behavior of gases.
Prudhomme, Sully
1901 - Literature - His work won the prize for its "lofty idealism", Famous works: "Stances et Poèmes" (Stanzas and Poems) and Le Vase Brisé
von Behring, Emil
1901 - Medicine - He created an diphtheria antitoxin, saving the lives of many children
Dunant, Henry
1901 - Peace - Created the Red Cross, Shared first Peace Prize
Passy, Frédéric
1901 - Peace - Founder of the French Peace Society and free trade advocate, Shared first Peace Prize
Röentgen, Wilhelm
1901 - Physics - Discovered X-Rays
Mommsen, Theodore
1902 - Literature - Wrote "A History of Rome"
Ross, Sir Ronald
1902 - Medicine - Discovered Malaria was transmitted by Mosquito
Curie, Marie (1903)
1903 - Physics - Awarded for her help with researching newly discovered radioactivity
Curie, Pierre
1903 - Physics - Awarded for his help on researching newly discovered radioactivity
Becquerel, Henri
1903 - Physics - Discovered Radioactivity
Ramsay, Sir William
1904 - Chemistry - Discovered the Noble Gases
Pavlov, Ivan
1904 - Medicine - For his pioneering of classical conditioning
Koch, Robert
1905 - Medicine - Identified the specific causative agents of Tuberculosis
Golgi, Camillo
1906 - Medicine - Studied the nervous system. Has a namesake organelle
Theodore Roosevelt
1906 - Peace - Brokered the end of the Russo-Japanese War
Thomson, J.J.
1906 - Physics - Discovered the first subatomic particle
Rudyard Kipling
1907 - Literature - Famous Author of the Jungle Book
Albert Michelson
1907 - Physics - Measured the Speed of light
Marie Curie (1911)
1911 - Chemistry - Discovered the elements radium and polonium, other work with radium
Elihu Root
1912 - Peace - Secretary of State under Teddy Roosevelt, Secretary of War under Roosevelt and McKinley
The Red Cross
1917/1944 - Peace - International organization that provides aid. Based in Geneva, Switzerland and easily recognizable by its logo, which it is a war crime to imitate
Max Planck
1918 - Physics - Originator of Quantum theory. Perhaps most recognizable today for his namesake length, about 10^(-20) times the diameter of a proton
Woodrow Wilson
1919 - Peace - For peace-making efforts during World War I
Albert Einstein
1921 - Physics - For his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect, not for his controversial at the time theory of general relativity
W. B. Yeats
1923 - Literature - Irish Poet perhaps best known for his work: "The Second Coming"
Frederick Banting
1923 - Medicine - For his part in discovering insulin
John Macleod
1923 - Medicine - For his part in discovering insulin. Originally a controversial pick since Banting greatly downplayed his role in the discovery
George Bernard Shaw
1925 - Literature - Famous Playwright who wrote Pygmalion
Frank Kellogg
1929 - Peace - US Secretary of state who was awarded because of their work on the ______-Briand Pact, which effectively made war illegal
Sinclair Lewis
1930 - Literature - American writer known for his critical views of capitalism and materialism. Author of "Babbitt"
Jane Addams
1931 - Peace - She is notable for her work in women's suffrage, and for co-founding the Hull House
Werner Heisenberg
1932 - Physics - A German innovator in quantum mechanics. Discoverer of his namesake uncertainty principle
Erwin Schrodinger
1933 - Physics - Developed a number of fundamental results in the field of quantum theory. Famous for observing (or not observing) a (dead) cat
James Chadwick
1935 - Physics - For discovering the Neutron
Eugene O'Neill
1936 - Literature - Wrote "A Long Day's Journey Into Night"
Enrico Fermi
1938 - Physics - Known as the "Architect of the Nuclear Age". He created the first Nuclear Reactor: Chicago Pile-1
Otto Hahn
1944 - Chemistry - Discovered Nuclear Fission
Alexander Fleming
1945 - Medicine - Discovered Penicillin
Cordell Hull
1945 - Peace - "The father of the United Nations." Was Secretary of State for FDR during WWII
Herman Hesse
1946 - Literature - Famous American Author best known for Steppenwolf and Siddhartha
T. S. Eliot
1948 - Literature - Poet and Playwright best known for The Waste Land
William Faulkner
1949 - Literature - American author of "The Sound and the Fury", "Absolom, Absolom!", among others
John Cockcroft and Ernest Walton
1951 - Physics - Split the atom for the first time
Winston Churchill
1953 - Literature - British Prime minister who's most famous works were his six-volume memoir The Second World War and A History of the English-Speaking Peoples; a four-volume history covering the period from Caesar's invasions of Britain to the beginning of the First World War
George Marshall
1953 - Peace - Chief of Staff under FDR and Truman, and Sec. of State under Truman. Advocated a significant U.S. economic and political commitment to post-war European recovery, including his namesake plan
Ernest Hemingway
1954 - Literature - American author known for "For Whom the Bell Tolls", "The Old Man and the Sea", and more
John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley
1956 - Physics - They received the award for discovering the transistor.
Albert Camus
1957 - Literature - Author of "The Stranger"
Emilio Segre and Owen Chamberlain
1959 - Physics - Discovered the antiproton while working with particle accelerators and annihilating particles
