The man behind the Nobel Prize is Alfred Nobel. He was an inventor, entrepreneur, scientist and businessman. He also wrote poetry and drama. The Nobel Prize has been honouring men and women since 1901 from around the world for outstanding achievements in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and for work in peace. He laid the foundation of the Prize in 1895 when he wrote his last will and leaving much of his wealth to the establishment of the prize.
Sveriges Riksbank (Sweden’s central bank) established The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel in 1968.
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About Alfred Nobel’s Will
On 27 November, 1895, Alfred Nobel signed his last will in Paris and specified that his bulk of the fortune should be divided into five parts and to be used for prizes namely physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and peace.
From 1901 to 2019, the Nobel Prizes and the Prize in Economic Sciences were awarded 597 times to 950 people and organizations. In this article, we are providing the Nobel Prize Winners list of 2020, 2019 and 2018.
2020 Nobel Prizes Winners
| Nobel Laureates | Category | Achievement |
| Awarded jointly to Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice | Physiology or Medicine | For the discovery of the Hepatitis C virus.” |
| Roger Penrose and the other half jointly to Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez | Physics | The Nobel Prize in Physics 2020 with one half to Roger Penrose “for the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity” and the other half jointly to Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez “for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy”. |
| Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna | Chemistry | For the development of a method for genome editing. |
| Louise Gluck | Literature | For her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal. |
Note: 2020 Nobel Prizes for Peace and Economic Sciences are yet to be announced.
2019 Nobel Prizes Winners
| Nobel Laureates | Category | Discovery |
| William G. Kaelin Jr, Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe and Gregg L. Semenza | Physiology or Medicine | “For their discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability”. |
| James Peebles, Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz | Physics | “For contributions to our understanding of the evolution of the universe and Earth’s place in the cosmos”
James Peebles: “for theoretical discoveries in physical cosmology” And Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz “for the discovery of an exoplanet orbiting a solar-type star”. |
| John B. Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino | Chemistry | “For the development of lithium-ion batteries” |
| Peter Handke | Literature | “For an influential work that with linguistic ingenuity has explored the periphery and the specificity of human experience”. |
| Abiy Ahmed Ali | Peace | “For his efforts to achieve peace and international cooperation, and in particular for his decisive initiative to resolve the border conflict with neighbouring Eritrea”. |
| Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer | Economic Sciences | “For their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty” |
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2018 Nobel Prizes Winners
| Nobel Laureates | Category | Achievement |
| James P. Allison, Tasuku Honjo | Physiology or Medicine | “For their discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation” |
| Gerard Mourou,
Arthur Ashkin, Donna Strickland |
Physics | “For groundbreaking inventions in the field of laser physics”.
Arthur Ashkin “for the optical tweezers and their application to biological systems” And Gerard Mourou and Donna Strickland “for their method of generating high-intensity, ultra-short optical pulses” |
| George P. Smith
Frances H. Arnold and Sir Gregory P. Winter |
Chemistry | Frances H. Arnold “for the directed evolution of enzymes” And
George P. Smith and Sir Gregory P. Winter “for the phage display of peptides and antibodies” |
| Olga Tokarczuk | Literature | “For a narrative imagination that with encyclopedic passion represents the crossing of boundaries as a form of life”. |
| Denis Mukwege and
Nadia Murad |
Peace | “For their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict” |
| William Nordhaus and
Paul M. Romer |
Economic Sciences | William D. Nordhaus “for integrating climate change into long-run macroeconomic analysis” and
Paul M. Romer “for integrating technological innovations into long-run macroeconomic analysis” |
Some interesting facts about the Nobel Prize
– The Nobel Prizes and the Prize in Economic Sciences were awarded 597 times between 1901 and 2019.
– Between 1901 and 2019, 923 Laureates* and 27 organizations have been awarded the Nobel Prize. Out Of them, 84 are Laureates in Economic Sciences.
– A small number of individuals and organizations have been honoured more than once, which means that 919 individuals and 24 unique organizations have received the Nobel Prize in total.
– Since 1901, there are some years when the Nobel Prizes have not been awarded. The total numbers of times are around 49.
– The Nobel Prize and Prize in Economic Sciences have been awarded 54 times to women between 1901 and 2019.
– Two Nobel Laureates declined the prize: Jean-Paul Sartre awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize in Literature but declined the prize and Le Duc Tho, awarded the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize jointly with US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. But Le Duc Tho declined the Prize.
– The work of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been honoured by a Nobel Peace Prize three times.
– The founder of the ICRC, Henry Dunant, was awarded the first Nobel Peace Prize in 1901.
– Linus Pauling is the only person to have been awarded two unshared Nobel Prizes – the 1954 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and the 1962 Nobel Peace Prize.
Source: nobelprize.org
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