Nobel Prize for Chemistry
Updated September 9, 2022 |
Infoplease Staff
The following table lists every winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, from 1901 through 2016. For years not listed, no award was made.
- 1901
- Jacobus H. van't Hoff (Netherlands), for laws of chemical dynamics and osmotic pressure in solutions
- 1902
- Emil Fischer (Germany), for experiments in sugar and purin groups of substances
- 1903
- Svante A. Arrhenius (Sweden), for his electrolytic theory of dissociation
- 1904
- Sir William Ramsay (U.K.), for discovery and determination of place of inert gaseous elements in air
- 1905
- Adolf von Baeyer (Germany), for work on organic dyes and hydroaromatic combinations
- 1906
- Henri Moissan (France), for isolation of fluorine, and introduction of electric furnace
- 1907
- Eduard Buchner (Germany), discovery of cell-less fermentation and investigations in biological chemistry
- 1908
- Sir Ernest Rutherford (U.K.), for investigations into disintegration of elements
- 1909
- Wilhelm Ostwald (Germany), for work on catalysis and investigations into chemical equilibrium and reaction rates
- 1910
- Otto Wallach (Germany), for work in the field of alicyclic compounds
- 1911
- Marie Curie (France), for discovery of elements radium and polonium
- 1912
- Victor Grignard (France), for reagent discovered by him; and Paul Sabatier (France), for methods of hydrogenating organic compounds
- 1913
- Alfred Werner (Switzerland), for linking up atoms within the molecule
- 1914
- Theodore W. Richards (U.S.), for determining atomic weight of many chemical elements
- 1915
- Richard Willstätter (Germany), for research into coloring matter of plants, especially chlorophyll
- 1918
- Fritz Haber (Germany), for synthetic production of ammonia
- 1920
- Walther Nernst (Germany), for work in thermochemistry
- 1921
- Frederick Soddy (U.K.), for investigations into origin and nature of isotopes
- 1922
- Francis W. Aston (U.K.), for discovery of isotopes in nonradioactive elements and for discovery of the whole number rule
- 1923
- Fritz Pregl (Austria), for method of microanalysis of organic substances discovered by him
- 1925
- In 1926, the 1925 prize was awarded to Richard Zsigmondy (Germany), for work on the heterogeneous nature of colloid solutions
- 1926
- Theodor Svedberg (Sweden), for work on disperse systems
- 1927
- In 1928, the 1927 prize was awarded to Heinrich Wieland (Germany), for investigations of bile acids and kindred substances
- 1928
- Adolf Windaus (Germany), for investigations on constitution of the sterols and their connection with vitamins
- 1929
- Sir Arthur Harden (U.K.) and Hans K. A. S. von Euler-Chelpin (Sweden), for research of fermentation of sugars
- 1930
- Hans Fischer (Germany), for work on coloring matter of blood and leaves and for his synthesis of hemin
- 1931
- Karl Bosch and Friedrich Bergius (both Germany), for invention and development of chemical high-pressure methods
- 1932
- Irving Langmuir (U.S.), for work in realm of surface chemistry
- 1934
- Harold C. Urey (U.S.), for discovery of heavy hydrogen
- 1935
- Frédéric and Irène Joliot-Curie (both France), for synthesis of new radioactive elements
- 1936
- Peter J. W. Debye (Netherlands), for investigations on dipole moments and diffraction of X-rays and electrons in gases
- 1937
- Walter N. Haworth (U.K.), for research on carbohydrates and vitamin C; and Paul Karrer (Switzerland), for work on carotenoids, flavins, and vitamins A and B
- 1938
- Richard Kuhn (Germany), for carotenoid study and vitamin research (declined)
- 1939
- Adolf Butenandt (Germany), for work on sexual hormones (declined the prize); and Leopold Ruzicka (Switzerland), for work with polymethylenes
- 1943
- Georg Hevesy De Heves (Hungary), for work on use of isotopes as indicators
- 1944
- Otto Hahn (Germany), for work on atomic fission
- 1945
- Artturi Illmari Virtanen (Finland), for research in the field of conservation of fodder
- 1946
- James B. Sumner (U.S.), for crystallizing enzymes; John H. Northrop and Wendell M. Stanley (both U.S.), for preparing enzymes and virus proteins in pure form
- 1947
- Sir Robert Robinson (U.K.), for research in plant substances
- 1948
- Arne Tiselius (Sweden), for biochemical discoveries and isolation of mouse paralysis virus
- 1949
- William Francis Giauque (U.S.), for research in thermodynamics, especially effects of low temperature
- 1950
- Otto Diels and Kurt Alder (both Germany), for discovery of diene synthesis enabling scientists to study structure of organic matter
- 1951
- Glenn T. Seaborg and Edwin H. McMillan (both U.S.), for discovery of plutonium
- 1952
- Archer John Porter Martin and Richard Laurence Millington Synge (both U.K.), for development of partition chromatography
- 1953
- Hermann Staudinger (Germany), for research in giant molecules
- 1954
- Linus C. Pauling (U.S.), for study of forces holding together protein and other molecules
- 1955
- Vincent du Vigneaud (U.S.), for work on pituitary hormones
- 1956
- Sir Cyril Hinshelwood (U.K.) and Nikolai N. Semenov (U.S.S.R.), for parallel research on chemical reaction kinetics
- 1957
- Sir Alexander Todd (U.K.), for research with chemical compounds that are factors in heredity
- 1958
- Frederick Sanger (U.K.), for determining molecular structure of insulin
- 1959
- Jaroslav Heyrovsky (Czechoslovakia), for development of polarography, an electrochemical method of analysis
- 1960
- Willard F. Libby (U.S.), for “atomic time clock” to measure age of objects by measuring their radioactivity
- 1961
- Melvin Calvin (U.S.), for establishing chemical steps during photosynthesis
- 1962
- Max F. Perutz and John C. Kendrew (U.K.), for mapping protein molecules with X-rays
- 1963
- Carl Ziegler (Germany) and Giulio Natta (Italy), for work in uniting simple hydrocarbons into large molecule substances
- 1964
- Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin (U.K.), for determining structure of compounds needed in combatting pernicious anemia
- 1965
- Robert B. Woodward (U.S.), for work in synthesizing complicated organic compounds
- 1966
- Robert Sanderson Mulliken (U.S.), for research on bond holding atoms together in molecule
- 1967
- Manfred Eigen (Germany), Ronald G. W. Norrish, and George Porter (both U.K.), for work in high-speed chemical reactions
- 1968
- Lars Onsager (U.S.), for development of system of equations in thermodynamics
- 1969
- Derek H. R. Barton (U.K.) and Odd Hassel (Norway), for study of organic molecules
- 1970
- Luis F. Leloir (Argentina), for discovery of sugar nucleotides and their role in biosynthesis of carbohydrates
- 1971
- Gerhard Herzberg (Canada), for contributions to knowledge of electronic structure and geometry of molecules, particularly free radicals
- 1972
- Christian Boehmer Anfinsen, Stanford Moore, and William Howard Stein (all U.S.), for pioneering studies in enzymes
- 1973
- Ernst Otto Fischer (W. Germany) and Geoffrey Wilkinson (U.K.), for work that could solve problem of automobile exhaust pollution
- 1974
- Paul J. Flory (U.S.), for developing analytic methods to study properties and molecular structure of long-chain molecules
- 1975
- John W. Cornforth (Australia) and Vladimir Prelog (Switzerland), for research on structure of biological molecules such as antibiotics and cholesterol
- 1976
- William N. Lipscomb, Jr. (U.S.), for work on the structure and bonding mechanisms of boranes
- 1977
- Ilya Prigogine (Belgium), for contributions to nonequilibrium thermodynamics, particularly the theory of dissipative structures
- 1978
- Peter Mitchell (U.K.), for contributions to the understanding of biological energy transfer
- 1979
- Herbert C. Brown (U.S.) and Georg Wittig (West Germany), for developing a group of substances that facilitate very difficult chemical reactions
- 1980
- Paul Berg, Walter Gilbert (both U.S.), and Frederick Sanger (U.K.), for developing methods to map the structure and function of DNA, the substance that controls the activity of the cell
- 1981
- Roald Hoffmann (U.S.) and Kenichi Fukui (Japan), for applying quantum-mechanics theories to predict the course of chemical reactions
- 1982
- Aaron Klug (U.K.), for research in the detailed structures of viruses and components of life
- 1983
- Henry Taube (U.S.), for research on how electrons transfer between molecules in chemical reactions
- 1984
- R. Bruce Merrifield (U.S.), for research that revolutionized the study of proteins
- 1985
- Herbert A. Hauptman and Jerome Karle (both U.S.), for their outstanding achievements in the development of direct methods for the determination of crystal structures
- 1986
- Dudley R. Herschback, Yuan T. Lee (both U.S.), and John C. Polanyi (Canada), for their work on “reaction dynamics”
- 1987
- Donald J. Cram, Charles J. Pedersen (both U.S.), and Jean-Marie Lehn (France), for wide-ranging research that has included the creation of artificial molecules that can mimic vital chemical reactions of the processes of life
- 1988
- Johann Deisenhofer, Robert Huber, and Hartmut Michel (all West Germany), for unraveling the structure of proteins that play a crucial role in photosynthesis
- 1989
- Thomas R. Cech and Sidney Altman (both U.S.), for their discovery, independently, that RNA could actively aid chemical reactions in the cells
- 1990
- Elias James Corey (U.S.), for developing new ways to synthesize complex molecules ordinarily found in nature
- 1991
- Richard R. Ernst (Switzerland), for refinements he developed in nuclear magnetic-resonance spectroscopy
- 1992
- Rudolph A. Marcus (U.S.), for his mathematical analysis of how the overall energy in a system of interacting molecules changes and induces an electron to jump from one molecule to another
- 1993
- Kary B. Mullis (U.S.) and Michael Smith (Canada), for their contributions to the science of genetics
- 1994
- George A. Olah (U.S.), University of Southern California in Los Angeles, for research that opened new ways to break apart and rebuild compounds of carbon and hydrogen
- 1995
- F. Sherwood Rowland, Mario Molina (both U.S.), and Paul Crutzen (Netherlands), for their pioneering work in explaining the chemical processes that deplete the earth's ozone shield
- 1996
- Richard E. Smalley, Robert F. Curl, Jr. (both U.S.), and Harold W. Kroto (U.K.), for discovery of a new class of carbon molecule
- 1997
- Paul D. Boyer (U.S.), Jens C. Skou (Denmark), and John E. Walker (U.K.), for discoveries about a molecule that allows the human body to store and transfer energy between cells
- 1998
- Walter Kohn (U.S.) and John A. Pople (U.K.), for their developments in the study of the properties of molecules and the chemical processes in which they are involved
- 1999
- Ahmed H. Zewail (Egypt and U.S.), for creating the world's fastest camera, which captures atoms in motion
- 2000
- Alan J. Heeger, Alan G. MacDiarmid (both U.S.), and Hideki Shirakawa (Japan), for the discovery and development of conductive polymers
- 2001
- William S. Knowles (U.S.) and Ryoji Noyori (Japan) “for their work on chirally catalyzed hydrogenation reactions,” and K. Barry Sharpless (U.S.) “for his work on chirally catalyzed oxidation reactions.”
- 2002
- John B. Fenn (U.S.) and Koichi Tanaka (Japan) for ionization methods analyses of biological macromolecules, and Kurt Wüthrich (Switzerland) for determining the three-dimensional structure of biological macromolecules in solution.
- 2003
- Peter Agre and Roderick MacKinnon (both U.S.) for studies on channels in cell walls.
- 2004
- Aaron Ciechanover (Israel), Avram Hershko (Israel), and Irwin Rose (U.S.) “for the discovery of ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation.”
- 2005
- Yves Chauvin (France), Robert H. Grubbs and Richard R. Schrock (both U.S.)
- 2006
- Roger D. Kornberg (U.S.) for “his studies of the molecular basis of eukaryotic transcription”
- 2007
- Gerhard Ertl (Germany) for "his studies of chemical processes on solid surfaces"
- 2008
- Osamu Shimomura, Martin Chalfie, and Roger Tsien (all U.S.) for the discovery of a glowing jellyfish protein that makes cells, tissues, and organs light up
- 2009
- Venkatraman Ramakrishnan (UK), Thomas A. Steitz (U.S.), and Ada E. Yonath (U.S.) for "studies of the structure and function of the ribosome"
2010
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2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
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