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Enjoy some poetry

“That sail which leans on light,
tired of islands,
a schooner beating up the Caribbean”

The 1992 Nobel Prize Laureate in Literature Derek Walcott reads his poem ‘Sea Grapes’ from Collected poems 1948-1984.

More about Derek Walcott

 

Louise Glück – Nobel Prize in Literature 2020

There is a moment after you move your eye away
when you forget where you are
because you’ve been living, it seems,
somewhere else, in the silence of the night sky.

 

Read the full poem

Octavio Paz – Nobel Prize in Literature 1990

If you are the amber mare
I am the road of blood
If you are the first snow
I am he who lights the hearth of dawn …

 

Read the full poem

“I think sometimes of poems I have lost –
Maybe their loss it was that saved the world”

The 1986 Nobel Laureate in Literature Wole Soyinka reads his poem ‘Lost Poems’ from Samarkand and other markets I have known.

More about Wole Soyinka

 

“I prefer movies.
I prefer cats.
I prefer the oaks along the Warta.
I prefer Dickens to Dostoyevsky.
I prefer myself liking people
to myself loving mankind.”

 

Read some poems by Wislawa Szymborska

“I was but what you’d brush
with your palm, what your leaning
brow would hunch to in evening’s
raven-black hush.

I was but what your gaze
in that dark could distinguish:
a dim shape to begin with,
later – features, a face.”

 

Read the poem ‘Seven strophes’ by Joseph Brodsky

Who wrote what?

Questions and answers

The Nobel Prize categories are physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and peace and were laid out in the will of Alfred Nobel. Find out more in the FAQ.
The Nobel Prize medal.

The Nobel Prize medal.

© Nobel Prize Outreach. Photo: Clément Morin.

News

Truth, Trust and Hope

Nobel Prize Summit 2023
We live in a world of interconnected crises: emerging pandemics and health emergencies, inflationary and monetary pressures, war, climate change and increased stresses on society and the environment. The volume, velocity and reach of disinformation in today’s world weaken public deliberation and undermine trust in scientists, the institutions and governments they serve – and democracy itself.

Join the Nobel Foundation and U.S. National Academy of Sciences online or in-person for the Nobel Prize Summit: Truth, Trust and Hope from 24-26 May 2023. Registration is now open.
Nobel Prize Summit

Nobel Prize awarded work

Watch the documentary series

A team of female Yazidi deminers in Iraq attempting to clear their land of mines left behind by ISIS.  A team of scientists on an extraordinary mission in Mozambique to help better our understanding of climate change. A man building prosthetic legs to help victims of war walk again in South Sudan … All are inspired by Nobel Peace Prize laureates.

Into the fire - image

Nobel Prize nominations

The Norwegian Nobel Committee received 305 candidates for the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize. 93 of these are organisations.

Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony 2021.

Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony 2021 in the Oslo City Hall in Norway.

© Nobel Prize Outreach. Photo: Geir Anders Rybakken Ørslien.

Did you know that there is no public list of the current year’s nominees for the peace prize? The complete list of nominees of any year’s prizes is not disclosed for 50 years. The same goes for all the prize categories. Learn more about the nomination process in a this Q&A.

Peace Prize nomination process

The nomination process for Nobel Peace Prize laureates.

© Nobel Media. Ill. Niklas Elmehed

Nobel Prizes 2022

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2022
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2022 was awarded to Svante Pääbo “for his discoveries concerning the genomes of extinct hominins and human evolution.”
Denisova, Neanderthal and H. sapiens

© The Nobel Committe for Physiology or Medicine. Ill. Mattias Karlén

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2022
The Nobel Prize in Literature 2022 was awarded to Annie Ernaux “for the courage and clinical acuity with which she uncovers the roots, estrangements and collective restraints of personal memory.”
Annie Ernaux

Ill. Niklas Elmehed © Nobel Prize Outreach

Discover Nobel Prize lessons

Bring the 2022 Nobel Prizes into the classroom! The lessons are free and easy to use right away with ready-made slide shows, a speaker’s manuscripts and student assignments.

The 2022 prizes range from research on quantum mechanics and research on human evolution to documenting war crimes and the role of banks in financial crises.
2022 Nobel Prizes

Illustrations: Johan Jarnestad/The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, The Nobel Committe for Physiology or Medicine. Ill. Mattias Karlén and Niklas Elmehed. © Nobel Prize Outreach

Explore prizes and laureates

Nobel Prize lectures 2022

Alfred Nobel – Established the Nobel Prize

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 …

Alfred Nobel Will

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.

The first Nobel Prize Award Ceremony was held in 1901 at the Royal Academy of Music, Stockholm.

Play a game!

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1930
How much do you know about blood types? Did you know that human blood groups were discovered by Nobel Prize laureate Karl Landsteiner in 1901?

Learn more about the way to find out about the human blood groups, blood typing and the importance of safe blood transfusions. See if you can save the lives of the patients in the game!
Blood typing game
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1904
Is it possible to train a dog to drool on command? Learn about conditioned reflexes in this interactive game!

With this animated game, teachers are able to illustrate classical conditioning in the classroom. The object of the game is to train Pavlov’s dog to respond to a signal that it will associate with being fed.

In 1904, Ivan Pavlov was awarded with Nobel Prize for his pioneering studies of how the digestive system works.
Pavlov's Dog Game

Try a puzzle

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Nobel destinations

Stockholm, Sweden
The Nobel Prize Museum in Stockholm, Sweden, illustrates a century of creativity, where visitors can follow the changes of the 20th century through the Nobel Prize and the Nobel Prize laureates.
The Nobel Prize: Ideas Changing the World (3)

The museum showcases the discoveries and creativity of the Nobel Prize laureates.

Photo: Åke Eson Lindman

Oslo, Norway
Located in the heart of Oslo, Norway, the Nobel Peace Center is a place where you can experience and learn about the various Nobel Peace Prize laureates.
NPC Nye Nobels Hage 10

The story of each peace laureate is told at the museum.

Photo: Johannes Granseth/Nobel Peace Center

In memoriam

Japanese author Kenzaburo Oe passed away on 3 March 2023. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature 1994 with the motivation “who with poetic force creates an imagined world, where life and myth condense to form a disconcerting picture of the human predicament today.”
Kenzaburo Oe

K. Alexander Müller was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 1987 for the discovery of new superconducting materials He passed away on 9 January, age 95.

K. Alexander Müller
Edward C. Prescott passed away on 6 November 2022, age 81. He was awarded the 2004 prize in economic sciences for his contributions to dynamic macroeconomics. The work influenced the monetary and fiscal policies of governments and laid the basis for the increased independence of many central banks.
Edward C. Prescott