Hero Nobel will quote

Nobel Prize awarded work

Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2011
When Dan Shechtman looked at the picture in his microscope he couldn’t believe his eyes. He had discovered a crystal with 5-fold symmetry – a form that was thought to be impossible. His new crystals, called quasicrystals, caused uproar, and eventually textbooks had to be rewritten across the globe.
Dan Shechtman in the lab.

Dan Shechtman in the lab.

Courtesy Dan Shechtman

Nobel Prize laureates share their stories

Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2008
The foundation for our future is laid during childhood. Our view of the world is formed and our interests crystallized in our youth. This is evident in a notebook kept by 2008 chemistry laureate Roger Tsien when he was eight years old.

Read Roger Tsien’s story.
Roger Tsien's notebook

A page of sketches of chemistry experiments Roger Tsien copied from a book when he was eight years old. Tsien's blossoming interest in chemistry is evident in the drawing.

Photo: Nobel Prize Museum

From the archives

Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2019

”This is a truly great achievement for the benefit of humankind”

Watch the moment pioneer in sustainability, John Goodenough, received his chemistry prize on 10 December 2019.

Nobel Prize Conversations

Nobel Week 2023

6–12 December
The Nobel Week takes place on 6–12 December in Stockholm and Oslo. Many of the events will be streamed and possible to follow online.
Nobel Prize award ceremony 2022

Nobel Prize award ceremony in Konserthuset Stockholm, 10 December 2022.

© Nobel Prize Outreach. Photo: Nanaka Adachi

What do the laureates receive?

Each diploma is a unique work of art, created by leading Swedish and Norwegian artists and calligraphers. Read more about the diplomas here.
Physics Laureate Donna Strickland's diploma.

Physics laureate Donna Strickland's diploma.

Photo reproduction: Lovisa Engblom

The front of the gold Nobel Prize medals depict Alfred Nobel. The image on the reverse varies according to the institution awarding the prize. Read more about the medals.
Youyou Tu showing her Nobel Medal

Medicine laureate Tu Youyou showing her Nobel Prize medal, 11 December 2015.

© Nobel Media. Photo: Alexander Mahmoud.

The current amount is at SEK 11 million per full Nobel Prize. A Nobel Prize can be awarded to up to three laureates who share the prize sum. Find out more about the prize amounts throughout history.
Laureates on stage

Laureates on stage after the 2014 Nobel Prize award ceremony.

© Nobel Media. Photo: Alexander Mahmoud

Memories from the Nobel Week

Sir J. Fraser Stoddart, chemistry 2016

Fraser Stoddart: One of the great joys of Stockholm was spending time with my co-laureates”.

Fraser Stoddart
John Nash, economic sciences 1994
Listen to John Nash reminisce about his experience of a December week in Sweden.
John F. Nash Jr.
John B. Fenn, chemistry 2002
John B. Fenn on his Nobel Week experience: It was wonderful! I even enjoyed being sick there.
John B. Fenn
William Sharpe, economic sciences 1990
William Sharpe brought an extended family to the festivities in Stockholm.
William Sharpe

Streams during Nobel Week

Message from peace laureate Narges Mohammadi

Nobel Peace Prize 2023

”I am grateful to all of you and urge you to support the people of Iran until the final victory. Victory is not easy, but it is certain”

2023 peace laureate Narges Mohammadi has asked that her daughter Kiana deliver a message that she has managed to smuggle out of prison in Tehran, Iran.

Read a translation of the message here

Nobel Week Dialogue 2023

Enjoy some reading

Nobel Prize in Literature 2021

”Before maps the world was limitless”

Abdulrazak Gurnah, 2021 Nobel Prize laureate in literature, reads an excerpt from his book By the Sea. He was filmed in his home in Kent, England in December 2021.

Nobel Prizes 2023

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2023
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2023 was awarded jointly to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman “for their 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

2023 Nobel Prizes

How much do you know about the discoveries awarded the 2023 Nobel Prizes? Take our one-minute crash course on each of the prizes and find out how each have changed our world.
Students with illustrations behind.

Nobel Prize lessons

From nanotechnology to the development of effective mRNA vaccines. Now you can bring the discoveries and achievements made by the 2023 Nobel Prize laureates into the classroom.

The lessons are free and easy to use. They include a slideshow, manuscript and student worksheet.
Illustration of all 2023 Nobel Prizes

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

Alfred Nobel – Established the Nobel Prizes

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

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

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

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 facts

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

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

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 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

Nobel Prize nominations

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

KVA byggnad fasad sommar

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
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
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

Martti Ahtisaari, former President of Finland, died on 16 October 2023, age 86. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 2008 for his great efforts, on several continents and over more than three decades, to resolve international conflicts. 

Biography
Martti Ahtisaari
Louise Glück passed away on 13 October 2023, age 80. She was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature 2020 “for her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal.”

Biography
Louise Glück portrait
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