Nobel Prize Winners

Jacobus Henricus van't Hoff

Chemistry (1901) Dutch Laws of chemical dynamics and osmotic pressure Laid foundations of Stereochemistry Tetrahedral Carbon Atom

Emil Fischer

Chemistry (1902) German Fischer Esterification Fischer Projection (way of drawing asymmetric carbon atoms)

Svante Arrhenius

Chemistry (1903) Swedish Director of Nobel Institute 1905-1927 One of the founders of physical chemistry

William Ramsay

Chemistry (1904) Scottish Isolation of noble gases (Helium, Neon, Krypton, Xenon)

Adolf von Baeyer

Chemistry (1905) German Synthesized indigo Developed nomenclature for cyclic compounds

Henri Moissan

Chemistry (1906) French Isolation of Fluorine

Eduard Buchner

Chemistry (1907) German Won for work on fermentation

Ernest Rutherford

Chemistry (1908) New Zealand-born British Gold Foil Experiment Won for differentiating Alpha/Beta radiation, and discovering radon and the concept of half-lives

Wilhelm Ostwald

Chemistry (1909) Baltic (born in Riga) German Won for work on catalysis, chemical equilibria and reaction velocities

Institut de Droit International

Peace (1904) Founded in Ghent Most authoritative academy of international law

Bertha von Suttner

Peace (1905) Austrian-Bohemian First Austrian laureate/Second woman Wrote pacifist novel Die Waffen Nieder! (Lay Down Your Arms!)

Theodore Roosevelt

Peace (1906) American Treaty of Portsmouth ended Russo-Japanese War Controversial for a time - "Military mad" imperialist

Ernesto Teodoro Moneta and Louis Renault

Peace (1907) Italian and French, respectively Moneta: Lombard Association for Peace and Arbitration (envisaged creation of a League of Nations) Renault: Arbitrator

Klas Pontus Arnoldson and Fredrik Bajer

Peace (1908) Swedish and Danish, respectively Arbitration, Sought to stop strife between Norway and Sweden

Auguste Beernaert and Paul Henri Balluet d'Estournelles de Constant

Peace (1909) Belgian and French, respectively Won for advocacy of international arbitration Beernaert: 14th PM of Belgium, representative at the Hague conventions of 1899 and 1907

International Peace Bureau

Peace (1910) HQ'ed in Berlin Won for acting "as a link between the peace societies of the various countries"

Tobias Asser and Alfred Fried

Peace (1911) Dutch and Austrian, respectively Asser: Established Hague Conference on Private International Law Fried: Esperanto movement, worked with von Suttner on Lay Down Your Arms! magazine

Elihu Root

Peace (1912) American Theodore Roosevelt's Secretary of State, Secretary of War under McKinley and Roosevelt Sought to alleviate Latin American fears of an imperialistic USA, arranged peace conferences

Henri La Fontaine

Peace (1913) Belgian President of International Peace Bureau "Effective leader of the peace movement in Europe"

International Committee of the Red Cross

Peace (1917, 1944, and 1963) Based in Geneva Third Nobel shared with League of Red Cross Societies

Woodrow Wilson

Peace (1919) American (28th President) Leading architect behind the League of Nations (which the U.S. would then not join because Congress)

Wilhelm Roentgen

Physics (1901) German discovered x-rays

Charles Richet

Physiology/Medicine (1913) French Won for his work on anaphylaxis Also studied the paranormal (coined the word "ectoplasm") Fervent racist/proponent of eugenics

Róbert Bárány

Physiology/Medicine (1914) Austro-Hungarian Won for work on physiology on the vestibular apparatus (the thing in the ear that helps the sense of balance)

Jules Bordet

Physiology/Medicine (1919) Belgian Won for discoveries relating to immunity Bacterial genus bordetella named after him

August Krogh

Physiology/Medicine (1920) Danish Won for his discovery of the mechanism of regulation of the capillaries in skeletal muscle Krogh Principle: "for such a large number of problems there will be some animal of choice, or a few such animals, on which it can be most conveniently studied"

Yoshinori Ohsumi

Physiology/Medicine (2016) Japanese For his discoveries of mechanisms for autophagy (the natural, regulated mechanism of the cell that removes unnecessary or dysfunctional components and allows the orderly degradation and recycling of cellular components)

Jeffrey Hall, Michael Rosbash, and Michael Young

Physiology/Medicine (2017) American Discoveries of molecular mechanisms controlling the circadian rhythm Biological clocks

Otto Wallach

Chemistry (1910) Prussian/German Won for work on alicyclic compounds

Marie (Skłodowska) Curie

Chemistry (1911) Shared Physics (1903) Polish (naturalized French) Won for discovery of radium and polonium Overcame scandal over affair with Paul Langevin (five years after Pierre died by getting struck by a horse-drawn vehicle) Curie (non-SI unit of radioactivity)

Victor Grignard and Paul Sabatier

Chemistry (1912) French Grignard: Won for discovery of Grignard's reagent Sabatier: Won for work improving the hydrogenation of organic species in the presence of metals

Alfred Werner

Chemistry (1913) Swiss Won for proposing the octahedral configuration of transition metal complexes First inorganic chemist to win Nobel Basis for coordination chemistry

Theodore William Richards

Chemistry (1914) American First U.S. chemist to win Nobel Won for discovery of exact atomic weights of numerous elements (55, according to one source) Credited with invention of calorimeter

Richard Willstätter

Chemistry (1915) German Won for study of structure of plant pigments (chlorophyll included) Invented paper chromatography independently of Mikhail Tsvet

Fritz Haber

Chemistry (1918) German Won for invention of Haber-Bosch Process for synthesizing ammonia from nitrogen gas and hydrogen gas Father of chemical warfare - weaponized chlorine Also helped propose Born-Haber cycle for evaluating lattice energy of an ionic solid

Walther Nernst

Chemistry (1920) German "In recognition of his work in thermochemistry" Nernst Heat Theorem paved the way for Third Law of Thermodynamics Nernst Equation relates reduction potential of an electrochemical reaction to the standard potential of a species undergoing reduction and oxidation

Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Fraser Stoddart, and Ben Feringa

Chemistry (2016) French, Scottish, and Dutch Design and synthesis of molecular machines (molecular components that produce quasi-mechanical movements (output) in response to specific stimuli (input))

Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank, and Richard Henderson

Chemistry (2017) Swiss, German-American, Scottish Developing cryo-electron microscopy for the high-resolution structure determination of biomolecules in solution

Oliver Hart and Bengt Holmström

Economics (2016) English-born American and Finnish Work on contract theory (how economic actors can and do construct contractual arrangements, generally in the presence of asymmetric information) Hart: Work on how ownership should be allocated and when contracting is beneficial over ownership

Richard Thaler

Economics (2017) American "Contributions have built a bridge between the economic and psychological analyses of individual Decision-making... empirical findings and theoretical insights have been instrumental in creating the new and rapidly expanding field of behavioral economics"

Sully Prudhomme

Literature (1901) French Linked to Parnassus School Poetry with "lofty idealism, artistic perfection and a rare combination of the qualities of both heart and intellect"

Theodor Mommsen

Literature (1902) German "A History of Rome"

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson

Literature (1903) Norwegian "Noble, magnificent and versatile poetry" One of the Four Greats of Norwegian writers (Jonas Lie, Alexander Kielland, Ibsen) Wrote lyrics of Norwegian national anthem "Ja, vi elsker dette landet"

Frédéric Mistral

Literature (1904) Occitan Shared with Jose Echegaray "Fresh originality and true inspiration of his poetic production... and significant work as a Provençal philologist" "Mirèio"

José Echegaray

Literature (1904) Spanish Shared with Frederic Mistral "Numerous and brilliant compositions which have revived the great traditions of the Spanish drama"

Henryk Sienkiewicz

Literature (1905) Polish Quo Vadis The Trilogy: With Fire and Sword, The Deluge, Sir Michael

Giosuè Carducci

Literature (1906) Italian National poet of modern Italy "Creative energy, freshness of style, and lyrical force which characterize his poetic masterpieces" First Italian to win lit Nobel

Rudyard Kipling

Literature (1907) English "In consideration of power of observation, originality of imagination, virility of ideas and remarkable talent for narration" Poems: Gunga Din, Mandalay, The Gods of the Copybook Headings, The White Man's Burden, If- Short Story: The Man Who Would Be King Novels: The Jungle Book, Kim

Rudolf Christoph Eucken

Literature (1908) German philosopher "Earnest search for truth... developed an idealistic philosophy of life"

Selma Lagerlöf

Literature (1909) Swedish First female Lit laureate First novel: Gösta Berling's Saga

Paul Heyse

Literature (1910) German Member of literary societies Tunnel über der Spree and Die Krokodile "Germany has not had a greater literary genius since Goethe."

Maurice Maeterlinck

Literature (1911) Belgian Symbolist playwright La Jeune Belgique literary group Best known for his plays The Blue Bird, Pelléas and Mélisande, The Death of Tintagiles

Gerhart Hauptmann

Literature (1912) German Literary Naturalism Works include Lonely Lives, The Sunken Bell, The Weavers

Rabindranath Tagore

Literature (1913) Bengali Won largely for poetry collection Gitanjali/"Song Offering" First non-European to win lit Nobel Known as Bhanu Singha Thakur (Bhonita), and also known by his sobriquets Gurudev, Kabiguru, and Biswakabi

Romain Rolland

Literature (1915) French Best known for 10-volume novel sequence Jean-Christophe. Other novels include Clérambault, Pierre et Luce Supporter of Stalin Correspondence with Freud

Verner von Heidenstam

Literature (1916) Swedish Poetry collection Nya Dikter Narrative poem Hans Alienus

Karl Adolph Gjellerup and Henrik Pontoppidan

Literature (1917) Danish Members of the Modern Breakthrough of Scandinavian poetry Gjellerup: used pseudonym Epigonos

Carl Spitteler

Literature (1919) Swiss Won "in special appreciation of his epic, Olympian Spring"

Knut Hamsun

Literature (1920) Norwegian The Growth of Soil, Pan, Mysteries Stream of Consciousness and Interior Monologue Nazi

Bob Dylan/Robert Zimmerman

Literature (2016) American "Blowin' in the Wind" and "The Times They Are a-Changin'" became anthems for the civil rights movement and anti-war movement Albums include: Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited, Blonde on Blonde, John Wesley Harding, Nashville Skyline, Blood on the Tracks, Time Out of Mind, Love and Theft, Tempest Second person to win Oscar and Nobel, behind GB Shaw (won Best Original Song for "Things Have Changed" from Wonder Boys)

Kazuo Ishiguro

Literature (2017) Japanese-born British Most famous for The Remains of the Day (also won 1989 Booker Prize) Other novels include Never Let Me Go, A Pale View of Hills, The Buried Giant Short story collection: Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall

Henry Dunant and Frederic Passy

Peace (1901) Swiss and French, respectively Founder of the Red Cross "A Memory of Solferino" Geneva Conventions 1864 Passy: Basically known for Pacifism

Elie Ducommun and Charles Godat

Peace (1902) Swiss Permanent International Police Bureau

Randal Cremer

Peace (1903) English Liberal member of Parliament International Arbitration Movement

Léon Bourgeois

Peace (1920) French Primary campaigner for a League of Nations Influenced Radical Party of France

Juan Manuel Santos

Peace (2016) Colombian (president 2010-8) Efforts negotiating a peace treaty with FARC (treaty failed in a plebiscite, but he pushed through another one)

International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN)

Peace (2017) Founded in Melbourne/based in Geneva For its work to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and for its ground-breaking efforts to achieve a treaty-based prohibition of such weapons

Hendrik Lorentz and Pieter Zeeman

Physics (1902) Dutch Discovery/Explanation of Zeeman Effect

Henri Becquerel, Pierre Curie, and Marie Curie

Physics (1903) French (Marie born Polish) Won for research into radioactivity

Lord Rayleigh (AKA John William Strutt)

Physics (1904) English Discoveries of important gases (esp. argon) Rayleigh scattering (why the sky is blue) Also contributed to circulation theory of aerodynamic lift, fluid dynamics) "The Theory of Sound" textbook

Philipp Lenard

Physics (1905) Hungarian-born German Nazi Won for work on cathode rays Experimental realization of photoelectric effect

JJ Thomson

Physics (1906) English Discovery of electrons Experiments using mass spectrometry Won for experiments on conduction of electricity in gases

Albert Michelson

Physics (1907) American Measured the speed of light Michelson-Morley Experiment First American to win science Nobel Founder of University of Chicago physics department

Gabriel Lippmann

Physics (1908) Franco-Luxembourgish Developed process for photographic reproduction of color

Karl Ferdinand Braun and Guglielmo Marconi

Physics (1909) German and Italian, respectively "Contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy" Marconi: Inventor of radio

Johannes Diderik van der Waals

Physics (1910) Dutch Won "for his work on the equation of state for gases and liquids" Inspired Heike Onnes, who discovered superconductivity

Wilhelm Wien

Physics (1911) German Wien's Displacement Law (emission of a blackbody) Radiation of heat

Gustaf Dalén

Physics (1912) Swedish Won for "invention of automatic regulators for use in conjunction with gas accumulators for illuminating lighthouses and buoys" CEO of the AGA gas company Dalén Light

Heike Kamerlingh Onnes

Physics (1913) Dutch Won for the discovery of liquid helium Discovery of superconductivity Credited with coining of "enthalpy"

Max von Laue

Physics (1914) German Diffraction of X-Rays by crystals Strong objector to Nazism

William Bragg and Lawrence Bragg

Physics (1915) English and Australian-born father and son "Analysis of crystal structure by means of X-Rays" Lawrence: Youngest Physics laureate

Charles Glover Barkla

Physics (1917) English X-Ray spectroscopy Won for discovery of characteristic X-Rays of elements

Max Planck

Physics (1918) German Originator of quantum theory Won for "his discovery of energy quanta"

Johannes Stark

Physics (1919) German "Discovery of the Doppler effect in canal rays and the splitting of spectral lines in electric fields" (Stark Effect) Nazi

Charles Édouard Guillaume

Physics (1920) Swiss Discovery of nickel-steel alloys named invar and elinvar

Enrico Fermi

Physics (1938) Italian-American Won for his work on induced radioactivity by neutron bombardment and for the discovery of transuranium elements (those "elements" came after he bombarded thorium and uranium with neutrons, and were ultimately discovered to be nuclear fission products) Created Chicago Pile-1 (first nuclear reactor) Named the neutrino Theorized weak nuclear force Fermions - Particles that follow Fermi-Dirac statistics and obey Pauli Exclusion Principle

Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano, and Shuji Nakamura

Physics (2014) Japanese, Japanese, Japanese-American Invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources

Rainer Weiss, Barry Barish, and Kip Thorne

Physics (2017) American Decisive contributions to the LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) detector and the observation of gravitational waves

Emil von Behring

Physiology/Medicine (1901) German Diphtheria Antitoxin "Savior of Children"

Ronald Ross

Physiology/Medicine (1902) English Proved that malaria was transmitted by mosquitoes

Niels Ryberg Finsen

Physiology/Medicine (1903) Faroese/Icelandic Treatment of disease, esp. lupus vulgaris, with light radiation

Ivan Pavlov

Physiology/Medicine (1904) Russian Classical Conditioning Dogs/Salivation

Robert Koch

Physiology/Medicine (1905) German Identified causative agents of TB, cholera, anthrax Improved techniques in microbiology Koch's Postulates - Link specific microorganisms to specific diseases

Camillo Golgi and Santiago Ramon y Cajal

Physiology/Medicine (1906) Italian and Spanish, respectively Won for work on structure of nervous system Golgi - Discovered staining technique known as black reaction (Golgi's Method) Ramon y Cajal investigated microscopic structure of brain, arborizations/"tree growing" of brain cells

Charles Laveran

Physiology/Medicine (1907) French Discovered parasitic protozoans as cause of diseases (Plasmodium responsible for malaria, Trypanosoma causes trypanosomiasis/sleeping sickness)

Elie Metchnikoff and Paul Erlich

Physiology/Medicine (1908) Russian and German, respectively "In recognition of their work on immunity" (EM established concept of cell-mediated immunity, PE did humoral immunity) Metchnikoff: "father of natural immunity," discoverer of phagocytes, claimed by some to have coined "gerontology" Erlich: cure for syphilis (arsphenamine), popularized concept of the magic bullet, named chemotherapy, precursor to gram staining

Emil Theodor Kocher

Physiology/Medicine (1909) Swiss Won for work on physiology of thyroid

Albrecht Kossel

Physiology/Medicine (1910) German Described the chemical compositions of the five bases of nucleic acids: adenine, thymine, guanine, cytosine, uracil

Allvar Gullstrand

Physiology/Medicine (1911) Swedish Won for study of optical images/refraction of light in the eye Research on astigmatism, ophthalmoscope/corrective lenses As member of Nobel Committee, blocked Einstein from receiving Physics Nobel for theory of relativity

Alexis Carrel

Physiology/Medicine (1912) French Won for vascular suturing techniques (joining blood vessels) Role in implementing eugenic policies in Vichy France