The Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded 113 times to 213 Nobel Laureates between 1901 and 2019. John Bardeen is the only Nobel Laureate who has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics twice, in 1956 and 1972. This means that a total of 212 individuals have received the Nobel Prize in Physics. Click on the links to get more information.
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2019
James Peebles, Michel Mayor, Didier Queloz
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2019 was awarded "for contributions to our understanding of the evolution of the universe and Earth's place in the cosmos" with one half to James Peebles "for theoretical discoveries in physical cosmology", the other half jointly to Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz "for the discovery of an exoplanet orbiting a solar-type star."
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2018
“for groundbreaking inventions in the field of laser physics”
Arthur Ashkin “for the optical tweezers and their application to biological systems”
Gérard Mourou and Donna Strickland “for their method of generating high-intensity, ultra-short optical pulses”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2017
Rainer Weiss, Barry C. Barish and Kip S. Thorne “for decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2016
David J. Thouless, F. Duncan M. Haldane and J. Michael Kosterlitz “for theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2015
Takaaki Kajita and Arthur B. McDonald “for the discovery of neutrino oscillations, which shows that neutrinos have mass”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2014
Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura “for the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2013
François Englert and Peter W. Higgs “for the theoretical discovery of a mechanism that contributes to our understanding of the origin of mass of subatomic particles, and which recently was confirmed through the discovery of the predicted fundamental particle, by the ATLAS and CMS experiments at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2012
Serge Haroche and David J. Wineland“for ground-breaking experimental methods that enable measuring and manipulation of individual quantum systems”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2011
Saul Perlmutter, Brian P. Schmidt and Adam G. Riess“for the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe through observations of distant supernovae”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2010
Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov “for groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2009
Charles Kuen 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”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 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”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2007
Albert Fert and Peter Grünberg“for the discovery of Giant Magnetoresistance”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2006
John C. Mather and George F. Smoot“for their discovery of the blackbody form and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2005
Roy J. Glauber“for his contribution to the quantum theory of optical coherence”
John L. Hall and Theodor W. Hänsch“for their contributions to the development of laser-based precision spectroscopy, including the optical frequency comb technique”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2004
David J. Gross, H. David Politzer and Frank Wilczek “for the discovery of asymptotic freedom in the theory of the strong interaction”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2003
Alexei A. Abrikosov, Vitaly L. Ginzburg and Anthony J. Leggett “for pioneering contributions to the theory of superconductors and superfluids”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2002
Raymond Davis Jr. and Masatoshi Koshiba “for pioneering contributions to astrophysics, in particular for the detection of cosmic neutrinos”
Riccardo Giacconi “for pioneering contributions to astrophysics, which have led to the discovery of cosmic X-ray sources”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2001
Eric A. Cornell, Wolfgang Ketterle and 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”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2000
“for basic work on information and communication technology”
Zhores I. Alferov and Herbert Kroemer“for developing semiconductor heterostructures used in high-speed- and opto-electronics”
Jack S. Kilby “for his part in the invention of the integrated circuit”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1999
Gerardus ‘t Hooft and Martinus J.G. Veltman “for elucidating the quantum structure of electroweak interactions in physics”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1998
Robert B. Laughlin, Horst L. Störmer and Daniel C. Tsui “for their discovery of a new form of quantum fluid with fractionally charged excitations”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1997
Steven Chu, Claude Cohen-Tannoudji and William D. Phillips “for development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1996
David M. Lee, Douglas D. Osheroff and Robert C. Richardson “for their discovery of superfluidity in helium-3”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1995
“for pioneering experimental contributions to lepton physics”
Martin L. Perl “for the discovery of the tau lepton”
Frederick Reines “for the detection of the neutrino”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1994
“for pioneering contributions to the development of neutron scattering techniques for studies of condensed matter”
Bertram N. Brockhouse“for the development of neutron spectroscopy”
Clifford G. Shull“for the development of the neutron diffraction technique”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 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”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1992
Georges Charpak “for his invention and development of particle detectors, in particular the multiwire proportional chamber”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 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”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1990
Jerome I. Friedman, Henry W. Kendall and 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”
The Nobel Prize in 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”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1988
Leon M. Lederman, Melvin Schwartz and Jack Steinberger “for the neutrino beam method and the demonstration of the doublet structure of the leptons through the discovery of the muon neutrino”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1987
J. Georg Bednorz and K. Alexander Müller“for their important break-through in the discovery of superconductivity in ceramic materials”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 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”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1985
Klaus von Klitzing“for the discovery of the quantized Hall effect”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 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”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1983
Subramanyan Chandrasekhar“for his theoretical studies of the physical processes of importance to the structure and evolution of the stars”
William Alfred Fowler“for his theoretical and experimental studies of the nuclear reactions of importance in the formation of the chemical elements in the universe”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1982
Kenneth G. Wilson “for his theory for critical phenomena in connection with phase transitions”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1981
Nicolaas Bloembergen and Arthur Leonard Schawlow “for their contribution to the development of laser spectroscopy”
Kai M. Siegbahn “for his contribution to the development of high-resolution electron spectroscopy”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1980
James Watson Cronin and Val Logsdon Fitch “for the discovery of violations of fundamental symmetry principles in the decay of neutral K-mesons”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1979
Sheldon Lee Glashow, Abdus Salam and 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”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1978
Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa “for his basic inventions and discoveries in the area of low-temperature physics”
Arno Allan Penzias and Robert Woodrow Wilson “for their discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1977
Philip Warren Anderson, Sir Nevill Francis Mott and John Hasbrouck van Vleck “for their fundamental theoretical investigations of the electronic structure of magnetic and disordered systems”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1976
Burton Richter and Samuel Chao Chung Ting “for their pioneering work in the discovery of a heavy elementary particle of a new kind”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1975
Aage Niels Bohr, Ben Roy Mottelson and Leo 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”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 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”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1973
Leo Esaki and Ivar Giaever “for their experimental discoveries regarding tunneling phenomena in semiconductors and superconductors, respectively”
Brian David 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”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1972
John Bardeen, Leon Neil Cooper and John Robert Schrieffer “for their jointly developed theory of superconductivity, usually called the BCS-theory”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1971
Dennis Gabor “for his invention and development of the holographic method”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1970
Hannes Olof Gösta Alfvén “for fundamental work and discoveries in magnetohydro-dynamics with fruitful applications in different parts of plasma physics”
Louis Eugène Félix Néel “for fundamental work and discoveries concerning antiferromagnetism and ferrimagnetism which have led to important applications in solid state physics”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1969
Murray Gell-Mann “for his contributions and discoveries concerning the classification of elementary particles and their interactions”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1968
Luis Walter 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”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1967
Hans Albrecht Bethe “for his contributions to the theory of nuclear reactions, especially his discoveries concerning the energy production in stars”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1966
Alfred Kastler “for the discovery and development of optical methods for studying Hertzian resonances in atoms”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1965
Sin-Itiro Tomonaga, Julian Schwinger and Richard P. Feynman “for their fundamental work in quantum electrodynamics, with deep-ploughing consequences for the physics of elementary particles”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1964
Charles Hard Townes, 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”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1963
Eugene Paul 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”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1962
Lev Davidovich Landau “for his pioneering theories for condensed matter, especially liquid helium”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 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 Mössbauer “for his researches concerning the resonance absorption of gamma radiation and his discovery in this connection of the effect which bears his name”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1960
Donald Arthur Glaser “for the invention of the bubble chamber”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1959
Emilio Gino Segrè and Owen Chamberlain “for their discovery of the antiproton”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1958
Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov, Il′ja Mikhailovich Frank and Igor Yevgenyevich Tamm “for the discovery and the interpretation of the Cherenkov effect”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1957
Chen Ning Yang and Tsung-Dao (T.D.) Lee “for their penetrating investigation of the so-called parity laws which has led to important discoveries regarding the elementary particles”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1956
William Bradford Shockley, John Bardeen and Walter Houser Brattain“for their researches on semiconductors and their discovery of the transistor effect”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 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”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 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”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1953
Frits Zernike“for his demonstration of the phase contrast method, especially for his invention of the phase contrast microscope”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1952
Felix Bloch and Edward Mills Purcell “for their development of new methods for nuclear magnetic precision measurements and discoveries in connection therewith”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 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”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1950
Cecil Frank Powell “for his development of the photographic method of studying nuclear processes and his discoveries regarding mesons made with this method”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1949
Hideki Yukawa “for his prediction of the existence of mesons on the basis of theoretical work on nuclear forces”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1948
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”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 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”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 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”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1945
Wolfgang Pauli “for the discovery of the Exclusion Principle, also called the Pauli Principle”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1944
Isidor Isaac Rabi “for his resonance method for recording the magnetic properties of atomic nuclei”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1943
Otto Stern “for his contribution to the development of the molecular ray method and his discovery of the magnetic moment of the proton”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1942
No Nobel Prize was awarded this year. The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section.
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1941
No Nobel Prize was awarded this year. The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section.
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1940
No Nobel Prize was awarded this year. The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section.
The Nobel Prize in Physics 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”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 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”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1937
Clinton Joseph Davisson and George Paget Thomson “for their experimental discovery of the diffraction of electrons by crystals”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1936
Victor Franz Hess “for his discovery of cosmic radiation”
Carl David Anderson “for his discovery of the positron”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1935
James Chadwick“for the discovery of the neutron”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1934
No Nobel Prize was awarded this year. The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section.
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1933
Erwin Schrödinger and Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac “for the discovery of new productive forms of atomic theory”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1932
Werner Karl Heisenberg “for the creation of quantum mechanics, the application of which has, inter alia, led to the discovery of the allotropic forms of hydrogen”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1931
No Nobel Prize was awarded this year. The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section.
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1930
Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman“for his work on the scattering of light and for the discovery of the effect named after him”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1929
Prince Louis-Victor Pierre Raymond de Broglie “for his discovery of the wave nature of electrons”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1928
Owen Willans Richardson “for his work on the thermionic phenomenon and especially for the discovery of the law named after him”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 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 vapour”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1926
Jean Baptiste Perrin“for his work on the discontinuous structure of matter, and especially for his discovery of sedimentation equilibrium”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1925
James Franck and Gustav Ludwig Hertz “for their discovery of the laws governing the impact of an electron upon an atom”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1924
Karl Manne Georg Siegbahn “for his discoveries and research in the field of X-ray spectroscopy”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1923
Robert Andrews Millikan “for his work on the elementary charge of electricity and on the photoelectric effect”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1922
Niels Henrik David Bohr “for his services in the investigation of the structure of atoms and of the radiation emanating from them”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1921
Albert Einstein “for his services to Theoretical Physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 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”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1919
Johannes Stark “for his discovery of the Doppler effect in canal rays and the splitting of spectral lines in electric fields”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1918
Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck “in recognition of the services he rendered to the advancement of Physics by his discovery of energy quanta”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1917
Charles Glover Barkla “for his discovery of the characteristic Röntgen radiation of the elements”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1916
No Nobel Prize was awarded this year. The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section.
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1915
Sir William Henry Bragg and William Lawrence Bragg “for their services in the analysis of crystal structure by means of X-rays”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1914
Max von Laue “for his discovery of the diffraction of X-rays by crystals”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 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”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1912
Nils Gustaf Dalén “for his invention of automatic regulators for use in conjunction with gas accumulators for illuminating lighthouses and buoys”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1911
Wilhelm Wien “for his discoveries regarding the laws governing the radiation of heat”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1910
Johannes Diderik van der Waals “for his work on the equation of state for gases and liquids”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1909
Guglielmo Marconi and Karl Ferdinand Braun “in recognition of their contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1908
Gabriel Lippmann “for his method of reproducing colours photographically based on the phenomenon of interference”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1907
Albert Abraham Michelson “for his optical precision instruments and the spectroscopic and metrological investigations carried out with their aid”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1906
Joseph John Thomson “in recognition of the great merits of his theoretical and experimental investigations on the conduction of electricity by gases”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1905
Philipp Eduard Anton von Lenard “for his work on cathode rays”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1904
Lord Rayleigh (John William Strutt) “for his investigations of the densities of the most important gases and for his discovery of argon in connection with these studies”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1903
Antoine Henri Becquerel “in recognition of the extraordinary services he has rendered by his discovery of spontaneous radioactivity”
Pierre Curie and Marie Curie, née Sklodowska “in recognition of the extraordinary services they have rendered by their joint researches on the radiation phenomena discovered by Professor Henri Becquerel”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 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”
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1901
Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen“in recognition of the extraordinary services he has rendered by the discovery of the remarkable rays subsequently named after him”
