The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2023 to

Moungi G. Bawendi
Louis E. Brus
Alexei I. Ekimov

“for the discovery and synthesis of quantum dots”

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2023

They added colour to nanotechnology

Moungi G. Bawendi, Louis E. Brus and Alexei I. Ekimov are awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2023 for the discovery and development of quantum dots. These tiny particles have unique properties and now spread their light from television screens and LED lamps. They catalyse chemical reactions and their clear light can illuminate tumour tissue for a surgeon.

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An illustration of a bucket of paint with coloured balls beneath it, representing quantum dots.

© Johan Jarnestad/The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

Nobel Prize in Chemistry

The 2023 chemistry laureates

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2023 was awarded to Moungi Bawendi, Louis Brus and Alexei Ekimov “for the discovery and synthesis of quantum dots.”

Independently of each other, Ekimov and Brus succeeded in creating quantum dots, and Bawendi revolutionised the chemical production.

Quantum dots now illuminate computer monitors and television screens based on QLED technology. They also add nuance to the light of some LED lamps, and biochemists and doctors use them to map biological tissue.
Moungi Bawendi, Louis Brus and Alexei Ekimov

Ill. Niklas Elmehed © Nobel Prize Outreach

Did you know?

First reactions – Moungi Bawendi

“I’m supposed to teach at 9 this morning”

Listen to the early morning call Moungi Bawendi got, just after the news of his 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry had reached him. Bawendi tells Adam Smith how he received the call, speaks about his co-laureate and mentor Louis Brus, and discusses what he tries to teach his students.

Read the transcript of the interview.

First reactions – Alexei Ekimov

“It’s the middle of the night here!”

Alexei Ekimov’s first reaction to hearing the news of his 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was reasonable enough: “I woke up,” he says! In this call with Adam Smith, made not long afterwards, Ekimov goes on to discuss the experiments he performed over forty years ago producing quantum effects in coloured glass.  

Watch the prize announcement

Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2023

“These achievements represent an important milestone in nanotechnology”

Watch Professor Hans Ellegren, Secretary General of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, announce the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. After the announcement Professor Heiner Linke is interviewed about the prize.

Quick facts

Did you know?

115 Nobel Prizes in Chemistry have been awarded between 1901 and 2023.

27 chemistry prizes have been shared by three laureates.

8 women have been awarded the chemistry prize so far.

2 people, Frederick Sanger and Barry Sharpless, have been awarded the chemistry prize twice.

35 years was the age of the youngest chemistry laureate ever, Frédéric Joliot, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1935.

97 was the age of the oldest chemistry laureate, and oldest laureate ever, John B. Goodenough.

More facts and figures about the Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Who are the chemistry laureates?

See all Nobel Prize laureates in chemistry 1901-2023 and why they were awarded the Nobel Prize.
Carolyn Bertozzi, Morten Meldal and K. Barry Sharpless at the award ceremony

2022 chemistry laureates.

Photo: Clément Morin

Who selects the Nobel Prize laureates?

In his last will and testament, Alfred Nobel specifically designated the institutions responsible for the prizes he wished to be established.
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The main building of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Photo: KVA Press

Who did what?

Next announcement

The Nobel Prize in Literature

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2023

Experiments with light capture the shortest of moments

The three Nobel Prize laureates in physics 2023 are being recognised for their experiments, which have given humanity new tools for exploring the world of electrons inside atoms and molecules. They have demonstrated a way to create extremely short pulses of light that can be used to measure the rapid processes in which electrons move or change energy.

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Illustration of two electrons, illustrating the Nobel Prize in Physics 2023.

© Johan Jarnestad/The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

The 2023 physics laureates

First reactions – Pierre Agostini

“My daughter called me asking, ‘Is that true, I see it on Google?’”

That was how Pierre Agostini found out he had been awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physics. In this call, he talks of his surprise at receiving the prize now, his initial thoughts on hearing the news and recalls his pleasure at being the first to produce a train of attosecond light pulses back in 2001.
Pierre Agostini

Ill. Niklas Elmehed © Nobel Prize Outreach

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2023

They contributed to an unprecedented rate of vaccine development

The discoveries by the two Nobel Prize laureates were critical for developing effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 during the pandemic that began in early 2020. Through their groundbreaking findings, which have fundamentally changed our understanding of how mRNA interacts with our immune system, the laureates contributed to the unprecedented rate of vaccine development during one of the greatest threats to human health in modern times.

Press release: The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2023

Scientific background: Discoveries concerning nucleoside base modifications that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19
A blue background with COVID-19 virus and a yellow strand of modified mRNA. Also shown is the chemical structure of pseudouridine, an RNA base that was important in the prize-awarded discovery. The graphic represents the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine awarded to Katalin Karinkó and Drew Weissman who received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries concerning nucleoside base modifications that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19.

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

The 2023 medicine laureates

First reactions – Katalin Karikó

“You have to focus on the things you can change”

The call from Stockholm woke Katalin Karikó at her home outside Philadelphia. In this interview with Adam Smith, recorded soon after she had learnt of the award, she recalls her journey from Hungary and some of the setbacks on the path to the mRNA vaccines.
Katalin Karikó
First reactions – Drew Weissman

“Nothing distracts me from my work”

Drew Weissman’s research partner and co-laureate Katalin Karikó called him early this morning with some incredible news – they had both been awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. “We both have sleep disturbances,” he says in this conversation with the Adam Smith, “so usually around 3 to 5 am we would be emailing each other with new ideas.”
Drew Weissman

Nobel Prize Conversations

Behind the scenes

Each year in October, Adam Smith takes on the challenge of reaching the brand new Nobel Prize laureates for a telephone interview. In this new bonus episode of Nobel Prize Conversations, Adam takes us behind the scenes for even more of these calls and his favourite moments.
Illustration

Nobel Prize facts

Last year's laureates

14 laureates were awarded Nobel Prizes in 2022. See a short presentation of them here.

Nobel Prize award ceremony 2022

Nobel Prize award ceremony 2022.

© Nobel Prize Outreach. Photo: Clément Morin

Nobel Prizes to women

See the list of all women awarded a Nobel Prize or a prize in economic sciences so far.

Annie Ernaux after receiving her Nobel Prize

2022 literature laureate Annie Ernaux.

Photo: Nanaka Adachi

Oldest laureate

John B. Goodenough was the oldest person to receive a Nobel Prize when he received the chemistry prize in 2019 for developing lithium ion batteries.
John B. Goodenough

John B. Goodenough

© Nobel Media. Photo: A. Mahmoud

Youngest laureate

Youngest Nobel Prize laureate ever is Malala Yousafzai. She was 17 years old when she was awarded the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize.

Malala Yousafzai

Malala Yousafzay

Photo: K. Opprann

The Nobel Prize

Nobel Prizes 2023

Alfred Nobel – Established the Nobel Prizes

Scientist and inventor

Chemist, engineer and industrialist Alfred Nobel left 31 million SEK (today about 342 million dollars) to fund the Nobel Prizes.

A bust of Alfred Nobel, surrounded by a beautiful wall of flowers

Alfred Nobel's early years

When Alfred was five years old his father Immanuel, an inventor and builder, moved to St. Petersburg. Alfred joined him a few years later.

Alfred Nobel 1853

Inventing dynamite

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.

Nobels Dynamite 10 Nov 1906

A controversial will

In his will of 27 November 1895, signed in Paris, Alfred Nobel specified that the bulk of his fortune should be used for prizes.

Alfred Nobel Will

Nobel Prize nominations

Who selects the laureates?

In his last will and testament, Alfred Nobel specifically designated the institutions responsible for the prizes he wished to be established.

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Explore and learn

19 remarkable scientists and their stories

Explore a storytelling experience that celebrates and explores the contributions, careers and lives of 19 women who have been awarded Nobel Prizes for their scientific achievements.
Explore 'Women who changed science'

Watch the documentary series

Five documentaries inspired by the Nobel Peace Prize

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

Play a game!

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1930

The Blood Typing Game

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

Pavlov's Dog

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

Peace Builders

Step into the shoes of a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and learn about the legacy of Alfred Nobel in this immersive learning experience from the Nobel Peace Center. All Minecraft players can now journey alongside Desmond Tutu, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Jody Williams and Carl von Ossietzky to bring their vision of a more democratic, peaceful world to life.
Minecraft peacebuilders

What are you looking for? Search the website.

Nobel destinations

Stockholm, Sweden

Nobel Prize Museum

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

Nobel Peace Center

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

Ferid Murad 1936‒2023

Ferid Murad passed away on 4 September 2023. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1998 for discoveries concerning nitric oxide as a signalling molecule in the cardiovascular system. These discoveries opened new avenues for patient treatment and diagnoses of various diseases. 

Read Ferid Murad’s biography
Ferid Murad

Harald zur Hausen dies

Harald zur Hausen passed away on 28 May, age 87. In the 1970s, he went against current dogma and postulated that oncogenic human papilloma virus (HPV) caused cervical cancer. His work led to the development of a vaccine against the disease. In 2008, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Harald zur Hausen