Coming up
Who will be awarded this year?
Between 1901 and 2019, the Nobel Prizes and the Prize in Economic Sciences have been awarded 597 times to 950 people and organizations.
Stay tuned during 5-12 October to discover who will receive this year’s prizes.
2020 Nobel Prize announcements
Nobel Prize in Literature, 8 October
The Nobel Prize in Literature 1993 was awarded to Toni Morrison, one of the most powerful storytellers of our time, "who in novels characterized by visionary force and poetic import, gives life to an essential aspect of American reality."
Which writer do you think will receive the Literature Prize this year?
On Thursday 8 October the 2020 Literature Prize will be announced - stay tuned to hear the news first!
See the complete list of prize announcements
Toni Morrison delivering her speech at the Nobel Banquet on 10 December 1993.
© Nobel Foundation. Photo: Boo Jonsson
The Nobel Prize call
“We were peacefully sleeping”
Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee recall how they discovered they had been awarded the 2019 Prize in Economic Sciences - at 5 am in the morning.
Who will be awarded the Nobel Prize this year?
On being awarded the Nobel Prize
Jerome Karle, Chemistry Prize 1985
Muhammad Yunus, Peace Prize 2006
Elizabeth Blackburn, Medicine Prize 2009
Peter Higgs, Physics Prize 2013
Hiroshi Amano, Physics Prize 2014
Barry Marshall, Medicine Prize 2005
Amartya Sen, Economic Sciences Prize 1998
Mairead Corrigan, Peace Prize 1976
Watch the new 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.
Recently published
Nobel Prize Conversations
“If you want to build a movement, make sure to always put other people in the front when it is possible"
In our newest podcast episode Adam Smith speaks to Laureate in Economic Sciences Esther Duflo who explains how her drive to understand and fight poverty began at an early age. They discuss the world in coronavirus times, and the fears and prejudices connected to migration. Duflo also shares her tips for managers and her best collaboration techniques.
Nobel Prize nominations
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 of the Nobel Peace Prize in a Q&A with Olav Njølstad, Director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute.
Nobel Prizes and Laureates
Between 1901 and 2019, the Nobel Prizes and the Prize in Economic Sciences were awarded 597 times to 950 people and organizations.
See the list of all Nobel Prizes.
Twelve of the Nobel Laureates of 2019.
© Nobel Media. Photo: A. Mahmoud
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.
When Alfred was five years old his father Immanuel, an inventor and builder, moved to St. Petersburg. Alfred joined him a few years later.
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.
In his will of 27 November 1895, signed in Paris, Alfred Nobel specified that the bulk of his fortune should be used for prizes.
Nobel Prize Museum
The Nobel Prize Museum on Stortorget, the main square in Stockholm’s Old Town, has reopened every Thursday to Sunday under controlled conditions. New to the museum is 'Contagious' a mini-exhibition about viruses, pandemics and the Nobel Prize which you can also visit online.
© Nobel Media. Photo: Alexander Mahmoud.
Nobel Prize Concert 2020
The world-renowned pianist Igor Levit will be performing at this year's Nobel Prize Concert on 8 December. At his side, he will have conductor Stéphane Denève leading the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra.
Date for ticket release will be published later.
Igor Levit
Photo: Robbie Lawrence
Coming soon
Discover Nobel Prize Lessons
Discover more about the Nobel Prizes with the easy-to-use Nobel Prize Lessons. Watch the videos, look through the manual and slides, print the texts for students and start the class.
© Nobel Media. Photo: Alexander Mahmoud
News
Vidar Helgesen – Norway’s former State Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Minister of European Affairs and Minister of Climate and the Environment – will become the new Executive Director of the Nobel Foundation at the beginning of 2021. He will thus assume the task of strengthening the long-term finances and position of the Nobel Prize as well as further developing public activities surrounding the Nobel Prize in Sweden, Norway and internationally.
Read an interview with Vidar Helgesen.
Vidar Helgesen
Photo: Bjørn Stuedal.
The Nobel Foundation is a private institution established in 1900. Tasked with a mission to manage Alfred Nobel's fortune, the foundation has ultimate responsibility for fulfilling the intentions of Nobel's will.
© Nobel Media. Photo: P. Frisk.
A new house for culture and science
The new center will be built at Slussen, with sweeping views of Stockholm harbour and the central city. For the past few years, Slussen has been undergoing a major renovation and reconfiguration. With its broad public activities, the Nobel Center will be an important piece of the puzzle in developing Slussen into a lively meeting place.
Slussen aerial
Image: Dbox/Foster and partner.
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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
Arthur Ashkin, awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics for the invention of optical tweezers, and their application to biological systems, passed away on 21 September at age 98.
Peace Laureate John Hume passed away on 3 August 2020. He shared the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize with David Trimble "for their efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict in Northern Ireland."
Oliver E. Williamson passed away on 21 May. He was awarded the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2009 "for his analysis of economic governance, especially the boundaries of the firm."
Theoretical physicist Philip W. Anderson has passed away aged 96. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for fundamental theoretical investigations of the electronic structure of magnetic and disordered systems.
