27 January is an international memorial day for the victims of the Holocaust. Literature Laureate Imre Kertèsz survived Auschwitz and Buchenwald, and spoke about it in his Nobel Banquet speech.
Remembering the Holocaust
Chemistry Laureate Avram Hershko's grandparents perished in the Holocaust, but he and his parents had better luck.
Literature Laureate Nelly Sachs could escape from the concentration camp in 1940, thanks to her penfriend, Swedish author and Nobel Laureate Selma Lagerlöf, and Prince Eugen of Sweden.
In this interview, 1986 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Elie Wiesel talks about his perspectives on the world after World War II and remembers his time in concentration camp.
Nobel Prize conversations
“This is the first time we have had a completely novel virus infection and we are trying to vaccinate our way out of it”
In this conversation, Medicine Laureate and immunologist Peter Doherty speaks about how we should learn from the current corona pandemic to be better prepared for and preferably prevent future pandemics.
Remembering Martin Luther King Jr
Read Martin Luther King Jr.'s Nobel Lecture.
Martin Luther King Jr. held his acceptance speech in the auditorium of the University of Oslo in Norway on 10 December 1964.
The first nomination arrived to the Norwegian Nobel Committee in January 1963. Not until 2014, the nominators were revealed.
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.
Nobel Minds 2020
Nobel Laureates in discussion
The 2020 Nobel Laureates talk about their research and careers in a unique roundtable discussion, 'Nobel Minds', moderated by Cecilia Gralde. They are discussing the theories, discoveries and research behind their awards, and the value of science in dealing with the global pandemic.
Participating Nobel Laureates: Physics laureate Andrea Ghez, Chemistry laureate Emmanuelle Charpentier, Medicine laureate Michael Houghton, Assistant Executive-Director Valerie Guarnieri representing Peace Prize laureate World Food Programme and laureate in Economic Sciences Paul Milgrom.
Nobel Week Dialogue
Nobel Prize Concert 2020
The world-renowned pianist Igor Levit performed at the 2020 Nobel Prize Concert on 8 December. At his side, he had conductor Stéphane Denève leading the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra.
Igor Levit and Stéphane Denève at Konsterthuset Stockholm, Sweden, on 8 December 2020.
© Nobel Prize Outreach. Photo: Niklas Elmehed
Nobel Prizes 2020
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
Nobel Prize Lessons
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
Coming up
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 ...
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.
Nobel destinations
Stockholm, Sweden
The museum showcases the discoveries and creativity of the Nobel Laureates.
Photo: Åke Eson Lindman
Oslo, Norway
The story of each Peace Laureate is told at the museum.
Photo: Johannes Granseth / Nobel Peace Center
In memoriam
Martinus J.G. Veltman, was awarded the 1999 Nobel Prize in Physics for contributions concerning electromagnetic and weak interactions of the building blocks of matter. He passed away on 4 January at age 89.
Physicist Jack Steinberger passed away on 12 December. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1988 after managing to create a beam of neutrinos using a high-energy accelerator.
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.
