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Nobel Prize awarded discoveries

Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1995

The ozone layer – The Achilles heel of the biosphere

In 1974 Sherwood Rowland and Mario Molina published an article showing CFC gases have a damaging effect on ozone in the atmosphere. The discovery was worrying as our ozone layer provides protection from damaging UV radiation reaching the earth’s surface.

Thanks in part to the pioneering work of Molina and Rowland, along with their fellow chemistry laureate, Paul Crutzen, the Montreal Protocol was introduced, which banned their use worldwide. In 1995, Molina, Rowland and Crutzen were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Sherwood Rowland and Mario Molina at work. — Sherwood Rowland and Mario Molina at work, January 1975.

University of California, Irvine

Podcast series

Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2022

Ben Bernanke: Nobel Prize Conversations

“As an economist, I’m looking at that number and trying to think about how it fits into a broader economic picture. But on the other hand, having grown up in a small town, not a very rich town, economically very stressed place I could think about the real families, real people that those numbers represented. That was important to me.”

Meet economist Ben Bernanke in this new podcast episode. Bernanke tells us about his childhood and how he took part in spelling competitions in school.

Nobel Prize Summit 2023

Truth, Trust and Hope

How can we build trust in truth, facts and scientific evidence so that we can create a hopeful future for all?

Nobel Prize Summit brought together laureates, leading experts and the general public in a conversation on how we can combat disinformation, restore trust in science and create a hopeful future.

Read more and watch the recorded events here

Nobel Prize laureates share their stories

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1986

From bedside to bench

Many Nobel Prize laureates have often faced times of enormous disruption. Rita Levi-Montalcini faced many challenges on her road to the Nobel Prize. Born in Italy in 1909, her father did not believe in professional careers for women and did not let his daughters enroll at university. But Levi-Montalcini insisted on studying. The long road to the Nobel Prize included having to build a laboratory in her bedroom during World War II.

Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2009

Ada Yonath: "Already at five, I was actively investigating the world"

“In one of my experiments I tried to measure the height of our tiny balcony using the furniture from inside the apartment. I put a table on another table, and a stool on top …”

Ada Yonath with dishes used for crystallization experiments — Ada E. Yonath with dishes used for crystallization experiments.

Credits: Micheline Pelletier/Corbis,

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2018

James P. Allison: "I can’t help but cry whenever I tell this story"

“I can’t help but cry whenever I tell this story. My meeting with Sharon was my first experience of how years of research as a basic scientist could have an impact on patients.”

Honjo and Allison's meeting with cancer survivors (2) — Tasuku Honjo and James P. Allison's meeting with cancer survivors

© Nobel Media. Photo: Alexander Mahmoud

Nobel Prize in Physics 2018

Donna Strickland: “I have always loved going to school"

“I have always loved going to school. I was one of those rare kids who was happy to have summer vacation over so I could go back to school. I started this love affair with school at Victory Public School.”

Donna Strickland in the laboratory.

Courtesy of University of Waterloo

Enjoy some poetry

Nobel Prize in Literature 2020

"The great thing is not having a mind …"

Literature laureate Louise Glück reads her poem ‘The Red Poppy’ from her book The Wild Iris. Glück was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature “for her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal.”

Read more poems by Louise Glück

‘The Red Poppy’ from THE WILD IRIS by Louise Glück
Copyright © 1992, Louise Glück. All rights reserved.

Nobel Prizes 2022

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2022

How entanglement has become a powerful tool

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2022 was awarded jointly to Alain Aspect, John F. Clauser and Anton Zeilinger “for experiments with entangled photons, establishing the violation of Bell inequalities and pioneering quantum information science.”

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2022

Their functional chemistry works wonders

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2022 was awarded jointly to Carolyn Bertozzi, Morten Meldal and K. Barry Sharpless “for the development of click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry.”

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2022

Sequencing the genome of the Neanderthal

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

Exploring the role of memory in our lives

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.jpg — Credit: Annie Ernaux/ Photo: Catherine Hélie, Gallimard.

The Nobel Peace Prize 2022

Documenting war crimes, human rights abuses and the abuse of power

The 2022 Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski from Belarus, the Russian human rights organisation Memorial and the Ukrainian human rights organisation Center for Civil Liberties.

Nobel Peace Prize 2022 — Ill. Niklas Elmehed © Nobel Prize Outreach

The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2022

Their discoveries improved how society deals with financial crises

The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2022 was awarded jointly to Ben Bernanke, Douglas Diamond and Philip Dybvig “for research on banks and financial crises.”

Nobel Peace Prize

Nobel Peace Prize 2022

"It just so happens that people who value freedom the most are often deprived of it"

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski has long advocated for fundamental human rights, democracy and freeing the political prisoners in Belarusian jails. Read his Nobel Peace Prize lecture here.

Portrait of Ales Bialiatski.

Foto: HRC Vesna

News

2023 Nobel Prize announcements

This year’s Nobel Prize announcements will take place 2–9 October.

See the full schedule

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.

Nobel Prize nominations

2023 Nobel Peace 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.

Are the nominations made public?

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

Questions and answers

What are the Nobel Prize categories?

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.

© Nobel Prize Outreach. Photo: Clément Morin.

Discover Nobel Prize lessons

Reliable and easy to use

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.

Alfred Nobel – Established the Nobel Prize

Alfred Nobel's last will

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 …

The very first Nobel Prizes

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.

Alfred Nobel – scientist and inventor

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.

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

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!

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.

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

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.

Robert Lucas Jr. 1937‒2023

Robert Lucas Jr. passed away on 15 May 2023, age 85. He was awarded the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 1995 in 1995 for having developed and applied the hypothesis of rational expectations, and thereby having transformed macroeconomic analysis and deepened our understanding of economic policy.

Kenzaburo Oe passes away at 88

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.”

Paul Berg, first constructor of a recombinant-DNA molecule, dies

Paul Berg passed away on 15 February, age 96. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1980 “for his fundamental studies of the biochemistry of nucleic acids, with particular regard to recombinant-DNA”.

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