The BasicsThe Nobel Prize |
Who are the other Nobel Prize winners in physics? |
The table below lists the prize winners. In some cases, the award was split between winners.
| Year | Recipient | Awarded For |
| 2010 | Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov | For groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene |
| 2009 | Charles K. Kao | For groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication |
| Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith | For the invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit—the CCD sensor | |
| 2008 | Yoichiro Nambu | For the discovery of the mechanism of spontaneous broken symmetry in subatomic physics |
| Makoto Kobayashi and Toshihide Maskawa | For the discovery of the origin of the broken symmetry which predicts the existence of at least three families of quarks in nature | |
| 2007 | Albert Fert and Peter Grünberg | For the discovery of Giant magnetoresistance |
| 2006 | John C. Mather and George C. Smoot | For their discovery of the blackbody form and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation |
| 2005 | Roy J. Glauber | For his contribution to the quantum theory of optical coherence |
| John L. Hall and Theodor W. Hånsch | For their contributions to the development of laser-based precision spectroscopy, including the optical frequency comb technique | |
| 2004 | David J. Gross, Frank Wilczek H. David Politzer, | For the discovery of asymptotic freedom in the theory of the strong interaction |
| 2003 | Alexei A. Abrikosov, Vitaly L. Ginzburg, Anthony J. Leggett | For pioneering contributions to the theory of superconductors and superfluids |
| 2002 | Raymond Davis Jr. and Masatoshi Koshiba | For pioneering contributions to astrophysics, in particular for the detection of cosmic neutrinos |
| 2002 | Riccardo Giacconi | For pioneering contributions to astrophysics, which have led to the discovery of cosmic X-ray sources |
| 2001 | Eric A. Cornell, Wolfgang Ketterle, Carl E. Wieman | For the achievement of Bose-Einstein condensation in dilute gases of alkali atoms, and for early fundamental studies of the properties of the condensates |
| 2000 | Zhores I. Alferov and Herbert Kroemer | For developing semiconductor heterostructures used in high-speed- and opto-electronics |
| Jack St. Clair Kilby | For his part in the invention of the integrated circuit | |
| 1999 | Gerardus T Hooft and Martinus J.G. Veltman | For elucidating the quantum structure of electroweak interactions in physics |
| 1998 | Robert B. Laughlin, Horst L. Stormer, Daniel C. Tsui | For their discovery of a new form of quantum fluid with fractionally charged excitations |
| 1997 | Steven Chu, Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, William D. Phillips | For development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light |
| 1996 | David M. Lee, Douglas D. Osheroff, Robert C. Richardson | For their discovery of superfluidity in helium-3 |
| 1995 | Martin L. Perl | For the discovery of the tau lepton |
| Frederick Reines | For the detection of the neutrino | |
| 1994 | Bertram N. Brockhouse | For the development of neutron spectroscopy |
| Clifford G. Shull | For the development of the neutron diffraction technique | |
| 1993 | Russell A. Hulse and Joseph H. Taylor Jr. | For the discovery of a new type of pulsar, a discovery that has opened up new possibilities for the study of gravitation |
| 1992 | Georges Charpak | For his invention and development of particle detectors, in particular the multiwire proportional chamber |
| 1991 | Pierre-Gilles de Gennes | For discovering that methods developed for studying order phenomena in simple systems can be generalized to more complex forms of matter, in particular to liquid crystals and polymers |
| 1990 | Jerome I. Friedman, Henry W. Kendall, Richard E. Taylor | For their pioneering investigations concerning deep inelastic scattering of electrons on protons and bound neutrons, which have been of essential importance for the development of the quark model in particle physics |
| 1989 | Norman F. Ramsey | For the invention of the separated oscillatory fields method and its use in the hydrogen maser and other atomic clocks |
| Hans G. Dehmelt and Wolfgang Paul | For the development of the ion trap technique | |
| 1988 | Leon M. Lederman, Melvin Schwartz, Jack Steinberger | For the neutrino beam method and the demonstration of the doublet structure of the leptons through the discovery of the muon neutrino |
| 1987 | J. Georg Bednorz and K. Alexander Müller | For their important breakthrough in the discovery of superconductivity in ceramic materials |
| 1986 | Ernst Ruska | For his fundamental work in electron optics, and for the design of the first electron microscope |
| Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer | For their design of the scanning tunneling microscope | |
| 1985 | Klaus von Klitzing | For the discovery of the quantized Hall effect |
| 1984 | Carlo Rubbia and Simon van der Meer | For their decisive contributions to the large project, which led to the discovery of the field particles W and Z, communicators of weak interaction |
| 1983 | Subramanyan Chandrasekhar | For his theoretical studies of the physical processes of importance to the structure and evolution of the stars |
| William A. Fowler | For his theoretical and experimental studies of the nuclear reactions of importance in the formation of the chemical elements in the universe | |
| 1982 | Kenneth G. Wilson | For his theory for critical phenomena in connection with phase transitions |
| 1981 | Nicolaas Bloembergen and Arthur L. Schawlow | For their contribution to the development of laser spectroscopy |
| Kai M. Siegbahn | For his contribution to the development of high-resolution electron spectroscopy | |
| 1980 | James W. Cronin and Val L. Fitch | For the discovery of violations of fundamental symmetry principles in the decay of neutral K-mesons |
| 1979 | Sheldon L. Glashow, Abdus Salam, Steven Weinberg | For their contributions to the theory of the unified weak and electromagnetic interaction between elementary particles, including inter alia the prediction of the weak neutral current |
| 1978 | Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa | For his basic inventions and discoveries in the area of low-temperature physics |
| Arno A. Penzias and Robert W. Wilson | For their discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation | |
| 1977 | Philip W. Anderson, Sir Nevill F. Mott, John H. van Vleck | For their fundamental theoretical investigations of the electronic structure of magnetic and disordered systems |
| 1976 | Burton Richter and Samuel C.C. Ting |
For their pioneering work in the discovery of a heavy elementary particle of a new kind |
| 1975 | Aage Bohr, Ben Mottelson, James Rainwater | For the discovery of the connection between collective motion and particle motion in atomic nuclei and the development of the theory of the structure of the atomic nucleus based on this connection |
| 1974 | Sir Martin Ryle and Antony Hewish | For their pioneering research in radio astrophysics; Ryle for his observations and inventions, in particular of the aperture synthesis technique, and Hewish for his decisive role in the discovery of pulsars |
| 1973 | Leo Esaki and Ivar Giaever | For their experimental discoveries regarding tunneling phenomena in semiconductors and superconductors, respectively |
| Brian D. Josephson | For his theoretical predictions of the properties of a supercurrent through a tunnel barrier, in particular those phenomena which are generally known as the Josephson effects | |
| 1972 | John Bardeen, Leon N. Cooper, J. Robert Schrieffer | For their jointly developed theory of superconductivity, usually called the BCS-theory |
| 1971 | Dennis Gabor | For his invention and development of the holographic method |
| 1970 | Hannes Alfvén | For fundamental work and discoveries in magneto-hydrodynamics with fruitful applications in different parts of plasma physics |
| 1970 | Louis Néel | For fundamental work and discoveries concerning antiferromagnetism and ferrimagnetism which have led to important applications in solid state physics |
| 1969 | Murray Gell-Mann | For his contributions and discoveries concerning the classification of elementary particles and their interactions |
| 1968 | Luis W. Alvarez | For his decisive contributions to elementary particle physics, in particular the discovery of a large number of resonance states, made possible through his development of the technique of using hydrogen bubble chamber and data analysis |
| 1967 | Hans Albrecht Bethe | For his contributions to the theory of nuclear reactions, especially his discoveries concerning the energy production in stars |
| 1966 | Alfred Kastler | For the discovery and development of optical methods for studying hertzian resonances in atoms |
| 1965 | Sin-Itiro Tomonaga, Julian Schwinger, Richard P. Feynman | For their fundamental work in quantum electrodynamics, with deep-ploughing consequences for the physics of elementary particles |
| 1964 | Charles H. Townes and jointly to Nicolay Gennadiyevich Basov and Aleksandr Mikhailovich Prokhorov | For fundamental work in the field of quantum electronics, which has led to the construction of oscillators and amplifiers based on the maser-laser principle |
| 1963 | Eugene P. Wigner | For his contributions to the theory of the atomic nucleus and the elementary particles, particularly through the discovery and application of fundamental symmetry principles |
| Maria Goeppert-Mayer and J. Hans D. Jensen | For their discoveries concerning nuclear shell structure | |
| 1962 | Lev Davidovich Landau | For his pioneering theories for condensed matter, especially liquid helium |
| 1961 | Robert Hofstadter | For his pioneering studies of electron scattering in atomic nuclei and for his thereby achieved discoveries concerning the structure of the nucleons |
| Rudolf Ludwig Mossbauer | For his researches concerning the resonance absorption of gamma radiation and his discovery in this connection of the effect which bears his name | |
| 1960 | Donald A. Glaser | For the invention of the bubble chamber |
| 1959 | Emilio Gino Segré and Owen Chamberlain | For their discovery of the antiproton |
| 1958 | Pavel Alexseyevich Cherenkov, Il’ja Mikhailovich Frank, Igor Yevgenyevich Tamm | For the discovery and the interpretation of the Cherenkov effect |
| 1957 | Chen Ning Yang and Tsung-Dao Lee | For their penetrating investigation of the so-called parity laws which has led to important discoveries regarding the elementary particles |
| 1956 | William Shockley, John Bardeen, Walter Houser Brattain | For their researches on semiconductors and their discovery of the transistor effect |
| 1955 | Willis Eugene Lamb | For his discoveries concerning the fine structure of the hydrogen spectrum |
| Polykarp Kusch | For his precision determination of the magnetic moment of the electron | |
| 1954 | Max Born | For his fundamental research in quantum mechanics, especially for his statistical interpretation of the wavefunction |
| Walther Bothe | For the coincidence method and his discoveries made therewith | |
| 1953 | Frits (Frederik) Zernike | For his demonstration of the phase contrast method, especially for his invention of the phase contrast microscope |
| 1952 | Felix Bloch and Edward Mills Purcell | For their development of new methods for nuclear magnetic precision measurements and discoveries in connection therewith |
| 1951 | Sir John Douglas Cockcroft and Ernest Thomas Sinton Walton | For their pioneer work on the transmutation of atomic nuclei by artificially accelerated atomic particles |
| 1950 | Cecil Frank Powell | For his development of the photographic method of studying nuclear processes and his discoveries regarding mesons made with this method |
| 1949 | Hideki Yukawa | For his prediction of the existence of mesons on the basis of theoretical work on nuclear forces |
| 1948 | Lord Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett |
For his development of the Wilson cloud chamber method, and his discoveries therewith in the fields of nuclear physics and cosmic radiation |
| 1947 | Sir Edward Victor Appleton | For his investigations of the physics of the upper atmosphere especially for the discovery of the so-called Appleton layer |
| 1946 | Percy Williams Bridgman | For the invention of an apparatus to produce extremely high pressures, and for the discoveries he made therewith in the field of high pressure physics |
| 1945 | Wolfgang Pauli | For the discovery of the Exclusion Principle, also called the Pauli Principle |
| 1944 | Isidor Isaac Rabi | For his resonance method for recording the magnetic properties of atomic nuclei |
| 1943 | Otto Stern | For his contribution to the development of the molecular ray method and his discovery of the magnetic moment of the proton |
| 1940–42 | No prizes awarded because of World War II | |
| 1939 | Ernest Orlando Lawrence | For the invention and development of the cyclotron and for results obtained with it, especially with regard to artificial radioactive elements |
| 1938 | Enrico Fermi | For his demonstrations of the existence of new radioactive elements produced by neutron irradiation, and for his related discovery of nuclear reactions brought about by slow neutrons |
| 1937 | Clinton Joseph Davisson and Sir George Paget Thomson | For their experimental discovery of the diffraction of electrons by crystals |
| 1936 | Victor Franz Hess | For his discovery of cosmic radiation |
| Carl David Anderson | For his discovery of the positron | |
| 1935 | Sir James Chadwick | For the discovery of the neutron |
| 1934 | No prize awarded | |
| 1933 | Erwin Schrodinger and Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac | For the discovery of new productive forms of atomic theory |
| 1932 | Werner Heisenberg | For the creation of quantum mechanics, the application of which has, inter alia, led to the discovery of the allotropic forms of hydrogen |
| 1930 | Sir Chandrasekhara Venkataraman | For his work on the scattering of light and for the discovery of the effect named after him |
| 1929 | Prince Louis-Victor de Broglie | For his discovery of the wave nature of electrons |
| 1928 | Sir Owen Willans Richardson | For his work on the thermionic phenomenon and especially for the discovery of the law named after him |
| 1927 | Arthur Holly Compton | For his discovery of the effect named after him |
| Charles Thomson Rees Wilson | For his method of making the paths of electrically charged particles visible by condensation of vapor | |
| 1926 | Jean Baptiste Perrin | For his work on the discontinuous structure of matter, and especially for his discovery of sedimentation equilibrium |
| 1925 | James Franck and Gustav Hertz | For their discovery of the laws governing the impact of an electron upon an atom |
| 1924 | Karl Manne Georg Siegbahn | For his discoveries and research in the field of X-ray spectroscopy |
| 1923 | Robert Andrews Millikan | For his work on the elementary charge of electricity and on the photoelectric effect |
| 1922 | Niels Bohr | For his services in the investigation of the structure of atoms and of the radiation emanating from them |
| 1921 | Albert Einstein | For his services to theoretical physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect |
| 1920 | Charles Edouard Guillaume | In recognition of the service he has rendered to precision measurements in physics by his discovery of anomalies in nickel steel alloys |
| 1919 | Johannes Stark | For his discovery of the Doppler effect in canal rays and the splitting of spectral lines in electric fields |
| 1918 | Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck | In recognition of the services he rendered to the advancement of physics by his discovery of energy quanta |
| 1917 | Charles Glover Barkla | For his discovery of the characteristic Rontgen radiation of the elements |
| 1916 | No prize awarded | |
| 1915 | Sir William Henry Bragg and Sir William Lawrence Bragg | For their services in the analysis of crystal structure by means of X rays |
| 1914 | Max von Laue | For his discovery of the diffraction of X rays by crystals |
| 1913 | Heike Kamerlingh-Onnes |
For his investigations on the properties of matter at low temperatures which led, inter alia, to the production of liquid helium |
| 1912 | Nils Gustaf Dalén | For his invention of automatic regulators for use in conjunction with gas accumulators for illuminating lighthouses and buoys |
| 1911 | Wilhelm Wien | For his discoveries regarding the laws governing the radiation of heat |
| 1910 | Johannes Diderik van der Waals | For his work on the equation of state for gases and liquids |
| 1909 | Guglielmo Marconi and Carl Ferdinand Braun | In recognition of their contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy |
| 1908 | Gabriel Lippmann | For his method of reproducing colors photographically based on the phenomenon of interference |
| 1907 | Albert Abraham Michelson | For his optical precision instruments and the spectroscopic and metrological investigations carried out with their aid |
| 1906 | Sir Joseph John Thomson | In recognition of the great merits of his theoretical and experimental investigations on the conduction of electricity by gases |
| 1905 | Philipp Eduard Anton Lenard | For his work on cathode rays |
| 1904 | Lord John William Strutt Rayleigh |
For his investigations of the densities of the most important gases and for his discovery of argon in connection with these studies |
| 1903 | Antoine Henri Becquerel | In recognition of the extraordinary services he has rendered by his discovery of spontaneous radioactivity |
| Pierre Curie and Marie Curie | In recognition of the extraordinary services they have rendered by their joint researches on the radiation phenomena discovered by Professor Henri Becquerel | |
| 1902 | Hendrik Antoon Lorentz and Pieter Zeeman | In recognition of the extraordinary service they rendered by their researches into the influence of magnetism upon radiation phenomena |
| 1901 | Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen | In recognition of the extraordinary services he has rendered by the discovery of the remarkable rays subsequently named after him (X rays) |