Join us online in December to celebrate this year's Nobel Laureates!
Traditionally the Nobel Laureates travel to Stockholm and Oslo to receive their Nobel Prizes. This year we're taking the medals to them, and inviting you to join in all the festivities as we stream the Nobel Lectures, 2020 award ceremonies and much more online here at nobelprize.org.
Nobel Prize award ceremony at Konserthuset Stockholm, 10 December 2019.
© Nobel Media. Photo: Nanaka Adachi
Didier Queloz delivering his Nobel Lecture.
© Nobel Media. Photo: A. Mahmoud
The world-renowned pianist Igor Levit will be performing at this year's Nobel Prize Concert on 8 December. At his side, he will have conductor Stéphane Denève leading the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra.
The concert will be streamed live at nobelprize.org.
Igor Levit
Photo: Robbie Lawrence
University professor and Chemistry Laureate Bernard Feringa is a firm believer that all children have a talent, it just needs to be found and encouraged. In this interview he speaks about how important that encouragement can be, and also about his own childhood and why he likes teaching so much.
Bernard Feringa at Groningen University. Photo taken in November 2013.
Copyright © University of Groningen
To bring some more light and hope to our lives, about fifteen places around Stockholm will be lit up for Nobel Week Lights Stockholm on 5-13 December as part of the 2020 Nobel Week. This celebration of lights weaves together art and technology in a playful new way to celebrate this year’s Nobel Laureates.
Light installation "Ledsagare" by Tobias Rylander and Sahara Widoff, inspired by the procession that opens the Nobel Banquet.
Photo: Nobel Prize Museum
The theme of this year’s forum is ‘Transnationalism and Global Governance in the Wake of the Corona Pandemic’. UN Secretary-General, António Guterres will deliver the keynote speech, followed by a panel discussion. Participants include World Food Programme’s Executive Director, David Beasley, former Director-General of the World Health Organisation, Gro Harlem Brundtland, and President and CEO of the International Crisis Group, Robert Malley.
Watch the live stream on Friday 11 December, 13.00 CET.
Kurt Wüthrich recalls how the overwhelming media coverage made the week very intensive.
Listen to economist John Nash reminisce about his experience of a December week in Sweden.
Medicine Laureates Linda Buck and Richard Axel share some of their memories of the Nobel Day 2004.
John B. Fenn on his Nobel Week experience: "It was wonderful! I even enjoyed being sick there."
At the prize award ceremony Robert F. Curl became extremely nervous.
William Sharpe brought an extended family to the festivities in Stockholm.
Fraser Stoddart: "One of the great joys of Stockholm was spending time with my co-Laureates".
It wasn't until the 10 December Reinhard Selten felt that his prize was for real.
Each diploma is a unique work of art, created by leading Swedish and Norwegian artists and calligraphers. Read more about the diplomas here.
Physics Laureate Donna Strickland's diploma.
Photo reproduction: Lovisa Engblom
The front of the gold Nobel Prize medals depict Alfred Nobel. The image on the reverse varies according to the institution awarding the prize. Read more about the medals.
Medicine laureate Tu Youyou showing her Nobel Prize medal, 11 December 2015.
© Nobel Media. Photo: Alexander Mahmoud.
The current amount is at SEK 10 million per full Nobel Prize. A Nobel Prize can be awarded to up to three laureates who share the prize sum. Find out more about the prize amounts throughout history.
Laureates on stage after the 2014 Nobel Prize award ceremony.
© Nobel Media. Photo: Alexander Mahmoud
When 2017 Physics Laureate Kip Thorne collected his Nobel Prize medal, he was overcome with emotion while looking at an image of fellow Nobel Laureate, Albert Einstein. A century ago, Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves. On 14 September 2015, Thorne and a collaboration of more than 1,000 physicists finally observed gravitational waves for the very first time.
The first episode of the podcast 'Nobel Prize Conversations' season 2 features Kip Thorne. One of the topics up for discussion was Albert Einstein's intuition and importance in science.
© Nobel Media. Photo: Alexander Mahmoud
Since 1901, the Nobel Prizes have been presented to the laureates on 10 December, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death. The Nobel Prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine and Literature and the Prize in Economic Sciences are awarded in Stockholm, Sweden, while the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo, Norway.
Nobel Prize award ceremony in Konserthuset Stockholm.
© Nobel Media. Photo: Alexander Mahmoud.
According to the statutes of the Nobel Foundation, each Nobel Laureate shall be presented with a Nobel Medal.
May-Britt and Edvard I. Moser examining their Nobel Medals.
Copyright © Nobel Media. Photo: Alexander Mahmoud
This year the laureates are unable to come to Stockholm and Oslo, but previous years they have been swept up in a whirlwind of activities during Nobel Week.
Two Medicine Laureates at the Nobel Banquet: William C. Campbell and Satoshi Ōmura.
© Nobel Media. Photo: Alexander Mahmoud
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2020 was awarded with one half to Roger Penrose “for the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity" and the other half jointly to Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez "for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy".
© Johan Jarnestad/The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2020 was awarded to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna “for the development of a method for genome editing”.
© Johan Jarnestad/The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2020 was awarded jointly to Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice “for the discovery of Hepatitis C virus”.
© The Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine. Ill. Mattias Karlén
The Nobel Prize in Literature 2020 was awarded to the American poet Louise Glück “for her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal”.
© Nobel Media. Ill. Niklas Elmehed.
The Nobel Peace Prize 2020 was awarded to the World Food Programme (WFP) for its efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and for acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict.
© Nobel Media. Ill. Niklas Elmehed.
The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2020 was awarded to Paul R. Milgrom and Robert B. Wilson “for improvements to auction theory and inventions of new auction formats”.
© Johan Jarnestad/The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
From genetic editing to combatting world hunger. An unmistakable poetic voice to black holes. New treatments for hepatitis C to the quest for the perfect auction. Now you can bring the discoveries and achievements made by the 2020 Nobel Laureates into the classroom.
The lessons are free and so easy to use that a teacher can look through the manual, watch the slides, print the texts for students and then start the class.
The Nobel Prize Medal
Photo: Alexander Mahmoud
On 27 November 1895, Alfred Nobel signed his last will in Paris, France. The Swedish dynamite millionaire, who thought that his invention would end all wars, had now realised that it was a very deadly product. Wanting to make amends, he did what no man of such wealth had done before ...
On 10 December 1901 the first Nobel Prizes were awarded, in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and peace. Read more about the first prizes.
Chemist, engineer and industrialist Alfred Nobel left 31 million SEK (today about 265 million dollar) to fund the Nobel Prizes. Read more about his life and work.
What are you looking for? Search the website.
The museum showcases the discoveries and creativity of the Nobel Laureates.
Photo: Åke Eson Lindman
The story of each Peace Laureate is told at the museum.
Photo: Johannes Granseth / Nobel Peace Center
Masatoshi Koshiba passed away on 12 November. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 2002 "for pioneering contributions to astrophysics, in particular for the detection of cosmic neutrinos."
Chemistry Laureate Mario Molina has passed away aged 77. He received the Nobel Prize for research concerning the ozone layer, which shields the Earth from dangerous solar radiation.
Arthur Ashkin, awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics for the invention of optical tweezers, and their application to biological systems, passed away on 21 September at age 98.
Peace Laureate John Hume passed away on 3 August 2020. He shared the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize with David Trimble "for their efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict in Northern Ireland."
