Explore Complete list of Nobel Physics Prize winners from 1901 to 2025 with names, year, country, prestigious award given each year to scientists who make remarkable discoveries.
Nobel Prizes?
The Nobel Prize in Physics is a prestigious award given each year to scientists who make remarkable discoveries about the laws of nature. Since 1901, it has honored breakthroughs in areas like quantum mechanics, relativity, and astrophysics, recognizing work that expands our understanding of the universe and shapes modern science.
Full List of Nobel Physics Prize Winners (1901-2025)
| Year | Laureate(s) | Country | Awarded For |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1901 | Wilhelm Röntgen | Germany | Discovery of X-rays |
| 1902 | Hendrik Lorentz, Pieter Zeeman | Netherlands | Investigation of the influence of magnetism on radiation |
| 1903 | Henri Becquerel, Marie Curie, Pierre Curie | France | Discovery of spontaneous radioactivity |
| 1904 | Lord Rayleigh (John William Strutt) | United Kingdom | Investigation of the densities of the most important gases |
| 1905 | Philipp Lenard | Germany | Work on cathode rays |
| 1906 | J.J. Thomson | United Kingdom | Work on the conduction of electricity in gases |
| 1907 | Albert Michelson | United States | Precision optical instruments and the measurement of the speed of light |
| 1908 | Gabriel Lippmann | France | Method of reproducing colors in photography, based on the phenomenon of interference |
| 1909 | Guglielmo Marconi, Karl Braun | Italy/Germany | Contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy |
| 1910 | Johannes D. van der Waals | Netherlands | Work on the equation of state for gases and liquids |
| 1911 | Wilhelm Wien | Germany | Work on the radiation of the heat of the black body |
| 1912 | Nils Gustaf Dalén | Sweden | Invention of automatic regulators for use in conjunction with gas accumulators |
| 1913 | Heike Kamerlingh Onnes | Netherlands | Investigations on the properties of matter at low temperatures |
| 1914 | Max von Laue | Germany | Discovery of X-ray diffraction in crystals |
| 1915 | William Lawrence Bragg, William Henry Bragg | United Kingdom | Services in the analysis of crystal structure by means of X-rays |
| 1917 | Charles Glover Barkla | United Kingdom | Discovery of the characteristic Röntgen radiation of the elements |
| 1918 | Max Planck | Germany | Origin and development of the theory of quanta |
| 1919 | Johannes Stark | Germany | Discovery of the Doppler effect in canal rays and the splitting of spectral lines in electric fields |
| 1920 | Charles Édouard Guillaume | France | Precision optical instruments and the measurement of the speed of light |
| 1921 | Albert Einstein | Germany | Discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect |
| 1922 | Niels Bohr | Denmark | Investigation of the structure of atoms and of the radiation emanating from them |
| 1923 | Robert Andrews Millikan | United States | Work on the elementary charge of electricity and on the photoelectric effect |
| 1924 | Manne Siegbahn | Sweden | Work on the structure of the atom and the radiation emanating from it |
| 1925 | James Franck, Gustav Hertz | Germany | Work on the laws governing the impact of an electron upon an atom |
| 1926 | Jean Baptiste Perrin | France | Work on the discontinuous structure of matter, and especially for his work on the Brownian movement |
| 1927 | Arthur Compton, Charles Thomson Rees Wilson | United States/United Kingdom | Discovery of the effect named after Compton and the Wilson cloud chamber |
| 1928 | Owen Willans Richardson | United Kingdom | Work on the thermionic phenomenon and especially for the discovery of the law named after him |
| 1929 | Louis de Broglie | France | Discovery of the wave nature of electrons |
| 1930 | Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman | India | Work on the scattering of light and for the discovery of the Raman effect |
| 1932 | Werner Heisenberg | Germany | Creation of quantum mechanics and application to atomic structure |
| 1933 | Paul Dirac | United Kingdom | Discovery of new productive forms of atomic theory |
| 1935 | James Chadwick | United Kingdom | Discovery of the neutron |
| 1936 | Victor Hess | Austria | Discovery of cosmic radiation |
| 1937 | Clinton Joseph Davisson, Lester Halbert Germer | United States | Experimental discovery of the diffraction of electrons by crystals |
| 1938 | Enrico Fermi | Italy | Demonstration of the existence of new radioactive elements produced by neutron irradiation |
| 1939 | Ernest O. Lawrence | United States | Invention and development of the cyclotron and for results obtained with it, especially in the field of nuclear physics |
| 1943 | Otto Hahn | Germany | Work on the fission of heavy nuclei |
| 1944 | Isidor Isaac Rabi | United States | Method of constructing new instruments for measuring nuclear magnetic moments |
| 1945 | Wolfgang Pauli | Austria | Discovery of the Exclusion Principle, also called the Pauli Principle |
| 1946 | Percy Williams Bridgman | United States | Work on high-pressure physics and for the invention of the Bridgman anvil cell |
| 1947 | Edward Victor Appleton | United Kingdom | Investigation of the physics of the upper atmosphere, particularly concerning the nature of the ionosphere |
| 1948 | Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett | United Kingdom | Investigation of cosmic rays and the discovery of the positron |
| 1949 | Hideki Yukawa | Japan | Prediction of the existence of mesons on the basis of theoretical work on nuclear forces |
| 1950 | Cecil Powell | United Kingdom | Discovery of the pion, a meson with the aid of the photographic method |
| 1951 | John Cockcroft, Ernest Walton | United Kingdom/Ireland | Disintegration of atomic nuclei by artificially accelerated atomic particles |
| 1952 | Felix Bloch, Edward Mills Purcell | United States | Development of new methods for nuclear magnetic precision measurements |
| 1953 | Frits Zernike | Netherlands | Demonstration of the phase contrast method, especially for use in optical microscopy |
| 1954 | Max Born, Walther Bothe | Germany | Fundamental research in quantum mechanics, especially in the field of atomic physics |
| 1955 | Polykarp Kusch, Willis Eugene Lamb | United States | Precision determination of the magnetic moment of the electron |
| 1956 | John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, William Shockley | United States | Invention of the transistor effect and its applications to amplification and detection |
| 1957 | Chen Ning Yang, Tsung-Dao Lee | China/United States | Work on the law of parity violation in weak interactions |
| 1958 | Pavel Cherenkov, Ilja Frank, Igor Tamm | Soviet Union | Discovery and the interpretation of the Cherenkov effect |
| 1959 | Emilio Segrè, Owen Chamberlain | United States | Discovery of the antiproton |
| 1960 | Donald Glaser | United States | Invention of the bubble chamber for the photographic method to detect electrically charged particles |
| 1961 | Robert Hofstadter | United States | Investigation of the structure of the nucleons through electron scattering |
| 1962 | Lev Landau | Soviet Union | Groundbreaking theories of condensed matter physics, particularly in liquid helium |
| 1963 | Maria Goeppert-Mayer, J. Hans D. Jensen | United States/Germany | Development of the nuclear shell model |
| 1964 | Charles Hard Townes, Arthur Leonard Schawlow | United States | Fundamental work in the field of quantum electronics, with particular reference to the Maser and Laser |
| 1965 | Richard P. Feynman, Julian Schwinger, Sin-Itiro Tomonaga | United States/Japan | Fundamental work in quantum electrodynamics, with deep-ploughing consequences for the physics of elementary particles |
| 1966 | Alfred Kastler | France | Method of generating high-intensity optical fields from stimulated emission of radiation |
| 1967 | Hans Albrecht Bethe | United States | Contributions to the theory of nuclear reactions, especially in stars |
| 1968 | Luis Walter Alvarez | United States | Contribution to the development of the bubble chamber and for the discovery of resonance states in particle physics |
| 1969 | Murray Gell-Mann | United States | Contributions and discoveries concerning the classification of elementary particles and their interactions |
| 1970 | Hannes Alfvén | Sweden | Fundamental work and discoveries in magnetohydrodynamics with fruitful applications in different parts of plasma physics |
| 1971 | Dennis Gabor | United Kingdom | Invention and development of the holographic method |
| 1972 | John Bardeen, Leon Cooper, Robert Schrieffer | United States | Theory of superconductivity, usually called the BCS-theory |
| 1973 | Leo Esaki, Ivar Giaever, Brian D. Josephson | Japan/United Kingdom | Experimental discoveries regarding tunneling phenomena in semiconductors |
| 1974 | John Bardeen, John Robert Schrieffer, Leon Cooper | United States | Theory of superconductivity, usually called the BCS-theory |
| 1975 | Aage Niels Bohr, Ben R. Mottelson, James Rainwater | Denmark/United States | Structure of the atomic nucleus and the development of the collective model in nuclear structure |
| 1976 | Burton Richter, Samuel Ting | United States | Discovery |
| 1978 | Pyotr Kapitsa | Soviet Union | Basic inventions and discoveries in the area of low-temperature physics |
| 1979 | Sheldon Glashow, Abdus Salam, Steven Weinberg | USA/UK/Pakistan | Contributions to the unification of the weak force and electromagnetic interaction between elementary particles |
| 1980 | James Peebles | Canada/USA | Theoretical discoveries in physical cosmology |
| 1981 | Nicolaas Bloembergen, Arthur Leonard Schawlow | Netherlands/USA | Laser spectroscopy |
| 1982 | Kenneth G. Wilson | USA | Theory of critical phenomena in connection with phase transitions |
| 1983 | Leo Esaki, Ivar Giaever, Brian D. Josephson | Japan/UK/USA | Experimental discoveries regarding tunneling phenomena in semiconductors |
| 1984 | Carlo Rubbia, Simon van der Meer | Italy/Netherlands | Pioneering contributions to the large project which led to the discovery of the field particles W and Z at CERN |
| 1985 | Klaus von Klitzing | Germany | Discovery of the quantized Hall effect |
| 1986 | Ernst Ruska, Gerd Binnig, Heinrich Rohrer | Germany/Switzerland | Development of high-resolution electron and scanning tunneling microscopes |
| 1987 | J. Georg Bednorz, K. Alexander Müller | Switzerland/Germany | Discovery of high-temperature superconductivity in ceramic materials |
| 1988 | Leon M. Lederman, Melvin Schwartz, Jack Steinberger | USA | Neutrino beam method and the demonstration of the doublet structure of the leptons through the discovery of the muon neutrino |
| 1989 | Norman F. Ramsey, Hans G. Dehmelt, Wolfgang Paul | USA/Germany | Development of new methods to measure time and frequency with high precision |
| 1990 | Jerome I. Friedman, Henry W. Kendall, Richard E. Taylor | USA | For their pioneering investigations concerning deep inelastic scattering of electrons on protons and bound neutrons |
| 1991 | Pierre-Gilles de Gennes | France | Discovery of the interplay between disorder and fluctuations in physical systems from atomic to macro scales |
| 1992 | Georges Charpak | France | Invention and development of particle detectors, in particular the multiwire proportional chamber |
| 1993 | Leo N. Lederman, Melvin Schwartz, Jack Steinberger | USA | For their contributions to the neutrino beam method and the demonstration of the doublet structure of leptons through the discovery of the muon neutrino |
| 1994 | Bertram Brockhouse, Clifford Shull | Canada/USA | Development of neutron scattering techniques for studies of condensed matter |
| 1995 | Martin Perl, Frederick Reines | USA | Discovery of the tau lepton and the detection of the neutrino |
| 1996 | David Lee, Douglas Osheroff, Robert Richardson | USA | Discovery of superfluidity in helium-3 |
| 1997 | Steven Chu, Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, William D. Phillips | USA/France | Development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light |
| 1998 | Robert B. Laughlin, Horst L. Störmer, Daniel C. Tsui | USA/Germany | Discovery of a new form of quantum fluid with fractionally charged excitations |
| 1999 | Gerardus 't Hooft, Martinus J.G. Veltman | Netherlands | Elucidation of the quantum structure of electroweak interactions in physics |
| 2000 | Zhores I. Alferov, Herbert Kroemer, Jack S. Kilby | Russia/USA | Invention of semiconductor heterostructures used in high-speed- and opto-electronics |
| 2001 | Eric A. Cornell, Wolfgang Ketterle, Carl E. Wieman | USA/Germany | Achievement of Bose-Einstein condensation in dilute gases of alkali atoms |
| 2002 | Raymond Davis Jr., Masatoshi Koshiba, Riccardo Giacconi | USA/Japan/Italy | Discovery of cosmic neutrinos and contributions to astrophysics |
| 2003 | Alexei Abrikosov, Vitaly Ginzburg, Anthony Leggett | Russia/UK/USA | Fundamental theoretical work in the field of condensed matter physics |
| 2004 | David J. Gross, H. David Politzer, Frank Wilczek | USA | Discovery of asymptotic freedom in the theory of the strong interaction |
| 2005 | Roy J. Glauber, John L. Hall, Theodor W. Hänsch | USA/Germany | Contributions to the field of quantum optics |
| 2006 | John C. Mather, George F. Smoot | USA | Discovery of the blackbody form and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation |
| 2007 | Albert Fert, Peter Grünberg | France/Germany | Discovery of giant magnetoresistance |
| 2008 | Yoichiro Nambu, Makoto Kobayashi, Toshihide Maskawa | USA/Japan | Discovery of the mechanism of spontaneous broken symmetry in subatomic physics |
| 2009 | Charles M. Townes, Arthur Leonard Schawlow, Harold E. Puthoff | USA | Invention and development of the laser and its applications |
| 2010 | Andre Geim, Konstantin Novoselov | Netherlands/UK | Discovery of graphene |
| 2011 | Saul Perlmutter, Brian P. Schmidt, Adam G. Riess | USA/Australia | Discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe through observations of distant supernovae |
| 2012 | François Englert, Peter Higgs | Belgium/UK | Theoretical discovery of a mechanism explaining the origin of mass of subatomic particles |
| 2013 | François Englert, Peter Higgs | Belgium/UK | Theoretical discovery of a mechanism explaining the origin of mass of subatomic particles |
| 2014 | Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano, Shuji Nakamura | Japan/USA | Invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes |
| 2015 | Takaaki Kajita, Arthur B. McDonald | Japan/Canada | Discovery of neutrino oscillations, which shows that neutrinos have mass |
| 2016 | David J. Thouless, F. Duncan M. Haldane, J. Michael Kosterlitz | UK/USA | Theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter |
| 2017 | Rainer Weiss, Barry C. Barish, Kip S. Thorne | Germany/USA | Contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves |
| 2018 | Arthur Ashkin, Gérard Mourou, Donna Strickland | USA/France | Inventions in the field of laser physics |
| 2019 | James Peebles, Michel Mayor, Didier Queloz | Canada/Switzerland | Contributions to our understanding of the evolution of the universe and Earth's place in the cosmos |
| 2020 | Roger Penrose, Reinhard Genzel, Andrea Ghez | UK/Germany/USA | Contributions to our understanding of black holes |
| 2021 | Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann, Giorgio Parisi | USA/Germany/Italy | Contributions to our understanding of complex physical systems |
| 2022 | Alain Aspect, John F. Clauser, Anton Zeilinger | France/USA/Austria | Experiments with entangled photons, establishing the violation of Bell inequalities |
| 2023 | Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz, Anne L'Huillier | USA/Germany/Sweden | Experimental methods that generate attosecond pulses of light for the study of electron dynamics in matter |
| 2024 | John J. Hopfield, Geoffrey Hinton | USA/Canada | Foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks |
| 2025 | John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret, John M. Martinis | USA/France | Discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit |
| 2009 | Barack Obama | United States | For his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. |
| 2010 | Liu Xiaobo | China | For his long and nonviolent struggle for fundamental human rights in China. |
| 2011 | Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee & Tawakkol Karman | Liberia/Yemen | For their nonviolent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace-building work. |
| 2012 | European Union | International | For over six decades, contributed to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe. |
| 2013 | Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons | International | For its extensive efforts to eliminate chemical weapons. |
| 2014 | Kailash Satyarthi & Malala Yousafzai | India/Pakistan | For their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education. |
| 2015 | National Dialogue Quartet | Tunisia | For its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011. |
| 2016 | Juan Manuel Santos | Colombia | For his resolute efforts to bring the country's more than 50-year-long civil war to an end. |
| 2017 | International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons | International | For its work to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons. |
| 2018 | Denis Mukwege & Nadia Murad | Democratic Republic of the Congo/Iraq | For their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict. |
| 2019 | Abiy Ahmed Ali | Ethiopia | For his efforts to achieve peace and international cooperation, and in particular for his decisive initiative to resolve the border conflict with neighbouring Eritrea. |
| 2020 | World Food Programme | International | For its efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas, and for its efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict. |
| 2021 | Maria Ressa & Dmitry Muratov | Philippines/Russia | For their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace. |
| 2022 | Ales Bialiatski, Memorial & Center for Civil Liberties | Belarus/Russia/Ukraine | For their efforts to represent civil society in their home countries. |
| 2023 | Narges Mohammadi | Iran | For her fight against the oppressive regime in Iran and her efforts to promote human rights and freedom. |
| 2024 | Nihon Hidankyo | Japan | For its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and for demonstrating through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again. |