This year’s Nobel Laureates revealed the mechanism for one of life’s most essential adaptive processes. They established the basis for our understanding of how oxygen levels affect cellular metabolism and physiological function. Their discoveries have also paved the way for promising new strategies to fight anemia, cancer and many other diseases.
Scientific background: How cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability
© The Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine. Ill. Mattias Karlén
The 2019 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded jointly to William G. Kaelin Jr, Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe and Gregg L. Semenza “for their discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability.” They identified molecular machinery that regulates the activity of genes in response to varying levels of oxygen.
Ill. Niklas Elmehed. © Nobel Media.
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2019 rewards new understanding of the universe’s structure and history, and the first discovery of a planet orbiting a solar-type star outside our solar system. This year’s Laureates have contributed to answering fundamental questions about our existence. What happened in the early infancy of the universe and what happened next? Could there be other planets out there, orbiting other suns?
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© Johan Jarnestad/The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
The 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics are awarded ”for contributions to our understanding of the evolution of the universe and Earth’s place in the cosmos”, with one half to James Peebles “for theoretical discoveries in physical cosmology” and the other half jointly to Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz “for the discovery of an exoplanet orbiting a solar-type star.”
Ill. Niklas Elmehed. © Nobel Media.
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2019 rewards the development of the lithium-ion battery. This lightweight, rechargeable and powerful battery is now used in everything from mobile phones to laptops and electric vehicles. It can also store significant amounts of energy from solar and wind power, making possible a fossil fuel-free society.
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© Johan Jarnestad/The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
The 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry are awarded to John Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino “for the development of lithium-ion batteries”. Through their work, they have created the right conditions for a wireless and fossil fuel-free society, and so brought the greatest benefit to humankind.
Ill. Niklas Elmehed. © Nobel Media.
The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2018 is awarded to the Polish author Olga Tokarczuk "for a narrative imagination that with encyclopedic passion represents the crossing of boundaries as a form of life."
Olga Tokarczuk.
Ill. Niklas Elmehed. © Nobel Media.
The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2019 is awarded to the Austrian author Peter Handke "for an influential work that with linguistic ingenuity has explored the periphery and the specificity of human experience."
Peter Handke
Ill. Niklas Elmehed. © Nobel Media.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali is awarded the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize for his important work to promote reconciliation, solidarity and social justice. The prize is also meant to recognise all the stakeholders working for peace and reconciliation in Ethiopia and in the East and Northeast African regions.
Abiy Ahmed Ali has initiated important reforms that give many citizens hope for a better life and a brighter future. The Norwegian Nobel Committee believes it is now that Abiy Ahmed’s efforts deserve recognition and need encouragement.
Abiy Ahmed Ali
Ill. Niklas Elmehed. © Nobel Media.
2019 Peace Prize Laureate Abiy Ahmed Ali is Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia since April 2018. He was born in Beshasha, Ethiopia.
Abiy Ahmed Ali is the first Ethiopian to be awarded a Nobel Prize. This year's prize is also the 100th Nobel Peace Prize.
Abiy Ahmed Ali.
Photo: Aron Simeneh, via Wikimedia Commons.
The research conducted by this year’s Laureates has considerably improved our ability to fight global poverty. In just two decades, their new experiment-based approach has transformed development economics, which is now a flourishing field of research.
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© Johan Jarnestad/The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2019 to Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer “for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty.” The laureates have played a decisive role in reshaping research in development economics. Their research has already helped in alleviating global poverty and has great potential to further improve the lives of the most impoverished people on the planet.
Ill. Niklas Elmehed. © Nobel Media.
Nobel Prize Lessons on each Nobel Prize 2019. You will find the teacher's guides, slides, manuscripts and videos to use for free here. Print the texts for students and then start the class.
© Nobel Media AB. Photo: A. Mahmoud
See the full list of all Nobel Laureates, awarded for "the greatest benefit to humankind".
Eleven laureates were awarded Nobel Prizes in 2018. See a short presentation of them here.
See the list of all women awarded a Nobel Prize or a Prize in Economic Sciences so far.
Youngest Nobel Laureate ever is Malala Yousafzai. She was 17 years old when she was awarded the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize.
Chemist, engineer and industrialist Alfred Nobel left 31 million SEK (today about 265 million dollars) to fund the Nobel Prizes.
When Alfred was five years old his father Immanuel, an inventor and builder, moved to St. Petersburg. Alfred joined him a few years later.
Based on Alfred’s work and patents a whole new industry developed. Within ten years, 16 explosives producing factories had been founded in 14 countries.
In his will of 27 November 1895, signed in Paris, Alfred Nobel specified that the bulk of his fortune should be used for prizes.
No person can nominate herself/himself for a Nobel Prize. But who can? And how are these persons chosen?
In his last will and testament, Alfred Nobel specifically designated the institutions responsible for the prizes he wished to be established.
Search among the names of the nominees and nominators, as well as additional information about the nominations 1901-1966.
Mohandas Gandhi has become the strongest symbol of non-violence in the 20th century. He was nominated several times, but was never awarded the prize. Why?
Renowned conductor Herbert Blomstedt will lead the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra at the Concert Hall Stockholm on 8 December. This year's soloist is the soprano Miah Persson.
Tickets are sold by Konserthuset, Stockholm.
Herbert Blomstedt.
Photo: © Martin U.K. Lengemann
To celebrate the International Year of the Periodic Table, let's take a look back at the time 2003 Chemistry Laureate Peter Agre sang the ‘The elements’ to an audience in St Petersburg, Russia.
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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
Kary B. Mullis was awarded the 1993 Chemistry Prize for his invention of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method. PCR has been of major importance in both medical research and forensic science.
Novelist and 1993 Literature Laureate Toni Morrison has passed away aged 88. Morrison's works revolve around African-Americans; both their history and their situation in our own time.
Physics Laureate Robert Schrieffer, awarded for the theoretical explanation of the phenomenon of superconductivity, passed away on 27 July, age 88.
Physics Laureate Murray Gell-Mann passed away on 24 May. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for his contributions and discoveries concerning the classification of elementary particles and their interactions.
