Nobel Prize awarded discoveries

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2016

Did you know that our body ‘eats’ itself in order to stay healthy?

Autophagy, or ‘self-eating’ refers to the way our cells can destroy its own contents, by breaking them down and recycling in a compartment called the lysosome. In the 1990s Yoshinori Ohsumi discovered how autophagy worked.

Dragon ohsumi — Illustration depicting autophagy

Image: The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet

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Mahatma Gandhi – The missing laureate

Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948) has become the strongest symbol of non-violence in the 20th century. It is widely held – in retrospect – that the Indian national leader should have been selected for the Nobel Peace Prize. He was nominated several times, but was never awarded the prize. Why?

Mahatma Gandhi laughing.

Photo: Public domain.

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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.

Watch Nobel Minds

2022 Nobel Prize laureates in discussion

Watch the laureates in a discussion about their discoveries and achievements, and how these might find a practical application. Nobel Minds is hosted by the BBC’s Zeinab Badawi.

Remembering Martin Luther King Jr.

"Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. Indeed, it is a weapon unique in history, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it"

Read Martin Luther King Jr.’s Nobel Prize lecture.

"Peace is more precious than diamonds or silver or gold"

Martin Luther King Jr. held his acceptance speech in the auditorium of the University of Oslo in Norway on 10 December 1964.

Martin Luther King Jr. giving his acceptance speech

Who nominated Martin Luther King Jr. for a Nobel Prize?

The first nomination arrived to the Norwegian Nobel Committee in January 1963. Not until 2014, the nominators were revealed.

Questions and answers

Nomination FAQ

Hundreds or thousands of nominations are received every year from members of academies, university professors, scientists, previous Nobel Prize laureates, members of parliamentary assemblies and more.  

Find answers to the most commonly asked questions about nominations in the FAQ.

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.”

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 Prize lectures 2022

Watch the Nobel Prize lectures

Watch the Nobel Prize lectures and all other streams from the Nobel Week here!

See the streams here!

A work of art in the form of a diploma: Nobel Prize diplomas 2022

Artist: Anja Richardt Krabbe Calligrapher: Marie A. Györi Book binder: Leonard Gustafssons Bokbinderi AB Photo reproduction: Lovisa Engblom © The Nobel Foundation 2022

Artist: Anja Richardt Krabbe Calligrapher: Marie A. Györi Book binder: Leonard Gustafssons Bokbinderi AB Photo reproduction: Lovisa Engblom © The Nobel Foundation 2022

Artist: Anja Richardt Krabbe Calligrapher: Marie A. Györi Book binder: Leonard Gustafssons Bokbinderi AB Photo reproduction: Lovisa Engblom © The Nobel Foundation 2022

Carolyn R. Bertozzi - Nobel Prize diploma

Artist: Elisabeth Biström Calligrapher: Marianne Pettersson Soold Book binder: Leonard Gustafssons Bokbinderi AB Photo reproduction: Lovisa Engblom © The Nobel Foundation 2022

Artist: Elisabeth Biström Calligrapher: Marianne Pettersson Soold Book binder: Leonard Gustafssons Bokbinderi AB Photo reproduction: Lovisa Engblom © The Nobel Foundation 2022

K. Barry Sharpless - Nobel Prize diploma

Artist: Elisabeth Biström Calligrapher: Marianne Pettersson Soold Book binder: Leonard Gustafssons Bokbinderi AB Photo reproduction: Lovisa Engblom © The Nobel Foundation 2022

Calligrapher: Susan Duvnäs Book binder: Leonard Gustafssons Bokbinderi AB Photo reproduction: Lovisa Engblom © The Nobel Foundation 2022

Artist: Håkon Bleken Calligrapher: Christopher Haanes Bookbinder: Kristine Bekkevold/Julius Ørenberg Bokbinderi Photo reproduction: Thomas Widerberg © The Nobel Foundation 2022

Artist: Håkon Bleken Calligrapher: Christopher Haanes Bookbinder: Kristine Bekkevold/Julius Ørenberg Bokbinderi Photo reproduction: Thomas Widerberg © The Nobel Foundation 2022

Nobel Diploma 2022 - Center for Civil Liberties

Artist: Håkon Bleken Calligrapher: Christopher Haanes Bookbinder: Kristine Bekkevold/Julius Ørenberg Bokbinderi Photo reproduction: Thomas Widerberg © The Nobel Foundation 2022

Artist: Gunnel Moheim Calligrapher: Marie A. Györi Book binder: Leonard Gustafssons Bokbinderi AB Photo reproduction: Lovisa Engblom © The Nobel Foundation 2022

Artist: Gunnel Moheim Calligrapher: Marie A. Györi Book binder: Leonard Gustafssons Bokbinderi AB Photo reproduction: Lovisa Engblom © The Nobel Foundation 2022

Artist: Gunnel Moheim Calligrapher: Marie A. Györi Book binder: Leonard Gustafssons Bokbinderi AB Photo reproduction: Lovisa Engblom

Nobel Week Dialogue 2022

The future of life

What do we hope for, what matters in life, what does a better future look like, and how far into that future should we be looking? This year’s Nobel Week Dialogue looked towards our future in the hope of making life better, for everyone.

Nobel Week Dialogue 2022.

© Nobel Prize Outreach. Photo: Anna Svanberg

Nobel Prize Concert 2022

A breathtaking evening

German soprano Diana Damrau brought extra star power to the Nobel Prize Concert on 8 December. Austrian conductor Manfred Honeck lead the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra at the concert.

Diana Damrau, Manfred Honeck and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra performing at the 2022 Nobel Prize Concert.

© Nobel Prize Outreach. Photo: Niklas Elmehed.

Nobel Peace Prize Forum 2022

Afghanistan: Finding a way forward

This year’s forum focused on how to find a way forward for Afghanistan. The forum featured speakers such as Filippo Grandi (UN High Commissioner for Refugees), Hillary Clinton (Former Secretary of State, USA) and Zarifa Ghafari (Afghan activist and politician, former mayor).

Boy cleaning waste water — Photo: Antoine Boureau, Millennium/NTB

Explore prizes and laureates

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

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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.

New 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.

Play a game!

The Red Cross Movement

The Prisoners of War Game

Can people behave as they like during times of war? No, they can’t. In this game, your mission as a camp commander is to run a prisoner of war camp without violating any human rights. You must follow the humanitarian standards outlined in the Third Geneva Convention. Have a try!

Try a puzzle

Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2019

What did they discover?

The discovery of the 2019 chemistry laureates have a huge everyday impact for us. But what did they discover?

Try the puzzle and find out

Nobel Prize Summit 2023

24-26 May 2023

Truth, Trust and Hope

Learn more

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

Physicist K. Alex Müller dies

K. Alexander Müller was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 1987 for the discovery of new superconducting materials He passed away on 9 January, age 95.

Edward C. Prescott 1940‒2022

Edward C. Prescott passed away on 6 November 2022, age 81. He was awarded the 2004 prize in economic sciences for his contributions to dynamic macroeconomics. The work influenced the monetary and fiscal policies of governments and laid the basis for the increased independence of many central banks.

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev passes away at 91

Mikhail Gorbachev, former president of the Soviet Union, died on 30 August. He was awarded the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize for the leading role he played in the radical changes in East-West relations and for bringing the Cold War to a halt.

Peace negotiator David Trimble dies at 77

David Trimble passed away on 25 July. He was awarded the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize together with John Hume for their efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict in Northern Ireland.

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