List of Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine facts for kids

The front of the Nobel Prize Medal for Physiology or Medicine.

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is a very special award given every year in Sweden. It honors scientists who have made amazing discoveries in physiology (how living things work) or medicine (how to treat illnesses). This prize is one of five Nobel Prizes created by Alfred Nobel in his will from 1895. The other prizes are for chemistry, physics, literature, and peace.

Alfred Nobel wanted the prize for "physiology or medicine," which means it can cover many different areas of study. The Nobel Foundation manages the award, and a special committee from the Swedish Karolinska Institute chooses the winners. The first Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was given in 1901 to Emil Adolf von Behring from Germany.

Each winner receives a special medal, a diploma, and a money prize. The amount of money changes over the years. For example, in 1901, Emil von Behring received about 150,782 Swedish Krona. The awards are given out in Stockholm every year on December 10th, which is the day Alfred Nobel passed away.

People have won the Nobel Prize for many different discoveries in physiology and medicine. For instance, as of 2009, eight prizes were given for work on how cells send signals using G proteins and second messengers. Thirteen prizes were for discoveries in neurobiology (the study of the nervous system), and another thirteen were for work on how the body uses energy (called intermediary metabolism). In 1939, Gerhard Domagk from Germany was not allowed by his government to accept the prize. He later received the medal and diploma, but not the money. As of 2024, 229 people have won this prize, and thirteen of them have been women. Gerty Cori was the first woman to win in 1947.

There have been nine years when the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was not awarded (1915–1918, 1921, 1925, 1940–1942). In some other years, the prize was delayed by one year. For example, the 1914 prize was given to Robert Bárány in 1915 because the committee felt no one met the standards in 1914. This happened a few other times too, like in 1922, 1926, 1938, and 1943.

Winners of the Prize

Year	Image	Winner	Country	Reason for Award	Ref
1901		Emil von Behring (1854–1917)	Germany	"for his work on serum therapy, especially how it helped against diphtheria. He opened a new path in medical science, giving doctors a powerful way to fight illness and save lives."
1902		Sir Ronald Ross (1857–1932)	United Kingdom	"for his work on malaria, showing how the disease enters the body. This laid the groundwork for understanding and fighting this illness."
1903		Niels Ryberg Finsen (1860–1904)	Denmark	"for his help in treating diseases, especially lupus vulgaris, using concentrated light. This opened a new way for medical science."
1904		Ivan Pavlov (1849–1936)	Russia	"for his work on how the digestive system works, which greatly increased our knowledge of this important body process."
1905		Robert Koch (1843–1910)	Germany	"for his research and discoveries about tuberculosis, a serious lung disease."
1906		Camillo Golgi (1843–1926)	Italy	"for their work on the structure of the nervous system, which helps us understand how our brain and nerves are built."
		Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1852–1934)	Spain
1907		Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran (1845–1922)	France	"for his work on how tiny living things called protozoa cause diseases."
1908		Élie Metchnikoff (1845–1916)	Russia	"for their work on immunity, which is how our bodies fight off sickness."
		Paul Ehrlich (1854–1915)	Germany
1909		Emil Theodor Kocher (1841–1917)	Switzerland	"for his work on the thyroid gland, including how it works, what goes wrong with it, and how to operate on it."
1910		Albrecht Kossel (1853–1927)	Germany	"for his contributions to our understanding of cell chemistry through his work on proteins, including the important nucleic substances."
1911		Allvar Gullstrand (1862–1930)	Sweden	"for his work on the dioptrics of the eye, which is how light bends as it goes through the eye."
1912		Alexis Carrel (1873–1944)	France	"for his work on sewing up blood vessels and transplanting organs, which helped make organ transplants possible."
1913		Charles Richet (1850–1935)	France	"for his work on anaphylaxis, a severe allergic reaction."
1914		Robert Bárány (1876–1936)	Austria-Hungary	"for his work on how the vestibular apparatus (part of the inner ear) helps with balance and movement."
1915	zzzNot awarded
1916
1917
1918
1919		Jules Bordet (1870–1961)	Belgium	"for his discoveries about immunity, how our body protects itself from disease."
1920		August Krogh (1874–1949)	Denmark	"for discovering how tiny blood vessels (capillaries) control blood flow."
1921	zzzNot awarded
1922		Archibald Hill (1886–1977)	United Kingdom	"for his discovery about how muscles produce heat."
		Otto Fritz Meyerhof (1884–1951)	Germany	"for his discovery of the link between how much oxygen muscles use and how they process lactic acid."
1923		Sir Frederick Banting (1891–1941)	Canada	"for their discovery of insulin, a hormone vital for controlling blood sugar."
		John Macleod (1876–1935)	United Kingdom
1924		Willem Einthoven (1860–1927)	Netherlands	"for discovering how the electrocardiogram (ECG) works, which measures the electrical activity of the heart."
1925	zzzNot awarded
1926		Johannes Fibiger (1867–1928)	Denmark	"for his discovery of the Spiroptera carcinoma, a type of cancer caused by a parasite."
1927		Julius Wagner-Jauregg (1857–1940)	Austria	"for finding that infecting patients with malaria could help treat a serious mental illness called dementia paralytica."
1928		Charles Nicolle (1866–1936)	France	"for his work on typhus, a disease spread by lice."
1929		Christiaan Eijkman (1868–1930)	Netherlands	"for his discovery of the vitamin that prevents a nerve disease called beriberi."
		Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins (1861–1947)	United Kingdom	"for his discovery of vitamins that help with growth."
1930		Karl Landsteiner (1868–1943)	Austria	"for discovering the different human blood groups, which made safe blood transfusions possible."
1931		Otto Heinrich Warburg (1883–1970)	Germany	"for discovering how the respiratory enzyme works, which is important for how cells use oxygen."
1932		Sir Charles Scott Sherrington (1857–1952)	United Kingdom	"for their discoveries about how neurons (nerve cells) work."
		Edgar Adrian (1889–1977)
1933		Thomas Hunt Morgan (1866–1945)	United States	"for his discoveries about how chromosomes carry genetic information and pass on traits."
1934		George Whipple (1878–1976)	United States	"for their discoveries about using liver therapy to treat anaemia, a condition where you don't have enough healthy red blood cells."
		George Minot (1885–1950)
		William P. Murphy (1892–1987)
1935		Hans Spemann (1869–1941)	Germany	"for his student Hilde Mangold's discovery of embryonic induction. This is how different parts of an embryo guide the development of cells into specific tissues and organs, which was a step towards artificial cloning."
1936		Sir Henry Hallett Dale (1875–1968)	United Kingdom	"for their discoveries about how nerve impulses are sent using chemicals called neurotransmitters."
		Otto Loewi (1873–1961)	Germany
1937		Albert Szent-Györgyi (1893–1986)	Hungary	"for his discoveries about how living things burn fuel for energy, especially his work on vitamin C and how fumaric acid helps in these processes."
1938		Corneille Heymans (1892–1968)	Belgium	"for discovering how the sinus and aortic mechanisms help control our breathing."
1939		Gerhard Domagk (1895–1964)	Germany	"for discovering the antibacterial effects of prontosil, a medicine that fights bacteria."
1940	zzzNot awarded
1941
1942
1943		Henrik Dam (1895–1976)	Denmark	"for his discovery of vitamin K, which is important for blood clotting."
		Edward Adelbert Doisy (1893–1986)	United States	"for discovering the chemical makeup of vitamin K."
1944		Joseph Erlanger (1874–1965)	United States	"for their discoveries about the different functions of single nerve fibres."
		Herbert Spencer Gasser (1888–1963)
1945		Sir Alexander Fleming (1881–1955)	United Kingdom	"for discovering penicillin, the first widely used antibiotic, and its ability to cure various infectious diseases."
		Sir Ernst Boris Chain (1906–1979)
		Howard Walter Florey (1898–1968)	Australia
1946		Hermann Joseph Muller (1890–1967)	United States	"for discovering that X-rays can cause mutations (changes) in genes."
1947		Carl Ferdinand Cori (1896–1984)	United States	"for discovering how glycogen (a stored form of sugar) is converted in the body."
		Gerty Theresa Cori, née Radnitz (1896–1957)
		Bernardo Alberto Houssay (1887–1971)	Argentina	"for discovering the role of a hormone from the anterior pituitary gland in how the body uses sugar."
1948		Paul Hermann Müller (1899–1965)	Switzerland	"for discovering how effective DDT is as an insect poison against many bugs."
1949		Walter Rudolf Hess (1881–1973)	Switzerland	"for discovering how the interbrain organizes and controls the activities of our internal organs."
		António Caetano Egas Moniz (1874–1955)	Portugal	"for discovering that a brain surgery called lobotomy could help treat certain mental health conditions."
1950		Philip Showalter Hench (1896–1965)	United States	"for their discoveries about the hormones from the adrenal cortex, including their structure and how they affect the body."
		Edward Calvin Kendall (1886–1972)
		Tadeusz Reichstein (1897–1996)	Switzerland
1951		Max Theiler (1899–1972)	South Africa  United States	"for his discoveries about yellow fever and how to fight it."
1952		Selman Abraham Waksman (1888–1973)	United States	"for discovering streptomycin, the first antibiotic that worked against tuberculosis."
1953		Sir Hans Adolf Krebs (1900–1981)	United Kingdom	"for his discovery of the citric acid cycle, a key process in how cells make energy."
		Fritz Albert Lipmann (1899–1986)	United States	"for his discovery of co-enzyme A and its importance in how the body uses energy."
1954		John Franklin Enders (1897–1985)	United States	"for discovering that poliomyelitis viruses can grow in different types of tissue cultures, which helped in vaccine development."
		Frederick Chapman Robbins (1916–2003)
		Thomas Huckle Weller (1915–2008)
1955		Axel Hugo Theodor Theorell (1903–1982)	Sweden	"for his discoveries about how oxidation enzymes work."
1956		André Frédéric Cournand (1895–1988)	United States	"for their discoveries about heart catheterization (a procedure to examine the heart) and changes in the circulatory system."
		Werner Forssmann (1904–1979)	West Germany
		Dickinson W. Richards (1895–1973)	United States
1957		Daniel Bovet (1907–1992)	Italy	"for his discoveries about man-made compounds that block the action of certain body substances, especially how they affect blood vessels and muscles."
1958		George Wells Beadle (1903–1989)	United States	"for discovering that genes control specific chemical processes in the body."
		Edward Lawrie Tatum (1909–1975)
		Joshua Lederberg (1925–2008)		"for his discoveries about how bacteria exchange genetic material and how genes are organized."
1959		Arthur Kornberg (1918–2007)	United States	"for discovering how ribonucleic acid (RNA) and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) are made in living things."
		Severo Ochoa (1905–1993)	United States
1960		Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet (1899–1985)	Australia	"for discovering how the immune system can learn to tolerate certain things, called immunological tolerance."
		Sir Peter Brian Medawar (1915–1987)	United Kingdom
1961		Georg von Békésy (1899–1972)	Hungary	"for his discoveries about how sound vibrations are sensed inside the cochlea (part of the inner ear)."
1962		Francis Harry Compton Crick (1916–2004)	United Kingdom	"for their discoveries about the structure of nucleic acids (like DNA) and how this structure helps transfer information in living things."
		James Dewey Watson (b. 1928)	United States
		Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins (1916–2004)	New Zealand  United Kingdom
1963		Sir John Carew Eccles (1903–1997)	Australia	"for their discoveries about how ions (charged particles) cause excitement and inhibition in nerve cells."
		Sir Alan Lloyd Hodgkin (1914–1998)	United Kingdom
		Sir Andrew Fielding Huxley (1917–2012)
1964		Konrad Bloch (1912–2000)	United States	"for their discoveries about how the body makes and controls cholesterol and fatty acids."
		Feodor Lynen (1911–1979)	West Germany
1965		François Jacob (1920–2013)	France	"for their discoveries about how genes control the making of enzymes and viruses."
		André Lwoff (1902–1994)
		Jacques Monod (1910–1976)
1966		Peyton Rous (1879–1970)	United States	"for his discovery of tumour-causing viruses."
		Charles Brenton Huggins (1901–1997)		"for his discoveries about using hormone treatment for prostatic cancer (a type of cancer in men)."
1967		Ragnar Granit (1900–1991)	Sweden  Finland	"for their discoveries about how the eye sees and processes light."
		Haldan Keffer Hartline (1903–1983)	United States
		George Wald (1906–1997)
1968		Robert W. Holley (1922–1993)	United States	"for explaining the genetic code and how it works in making proteins."
		Har Gobind Khorana (1922–2011)
		Marshall W. Nirenberg (1927–2010)
1969		Max Delbrück (1906–1981)	United States	"for their discoveries about how viruses copy themselves and their genetic structure."
		Alfred D. Hershey (1908–1997)
		Salvador E. Luria (1912–1991)
1970		Julius Axelrod (1912–2004)	United States	"for their discoveries about chemical messengers in nerve endings and how they are stored, released, and turned off."
		Ulf von Euler (1905–1983)	Sweden
		Sir Bernard Katz (1911–2003)	United Kingdom
1971		Earl W. Sutherland Jr. (1915–1974)	United States	"for his discoveries about how hormones work in the body."
1972		Gerald M. Edelman (1929–2014)	United States	"for their discoveries about the chemical structure of antibodies, which are important for our immune system."
		Rodney R. Porter (1917–1985)	United Kingdom
1973		Karl von Frisch (1886–1982)	West Germany	"for their discoveries about how animals behave, both alone and in groups."
		Konrad Lorenz (1903–1989)	Austria
		Nikolaas Tinbergen (1907–1988)	Netherlands
1974		Albert Claude (1899–1983)	United States	"for their discoveries about the structure and function of parts inside cells."
		Christian de Duve (1917–2013)	Belgium
		George E. Palade (1912–2008)	United States
1975		David Baltimore (b. 1938)	United States	"for their discoveries about how tumor viruses interact with the genetic material inside cells."
		Renato Dulbecco (1914–2012)	United Kingdom  United States
		Howard Martin Temin (1934–1994)	United States
1976		Baruch S. Blumberg (1925–2011)	United States	"for their discoveries about new ways infectious diseases start and spread."
		D. Carleton Gajdusek (1923–2008)
1977		Roger Guillemin (1924–2024)	United States	"for their discoveries about how the brain produces peptide hormones."
		Andrew V. Schally (b. 1926)
		Rosalyn Yalow (1921–2011)		"for developing radioimmunoassays, a way to measure tiny amounts of peptide hormones."
1978		Werner Arber (b. 1929)	Switzerland	"for discovering restriction enzymes and how they can be used in molecular genetics (the study of genes at a molecular level)."
		Daniel Nathans (1928–1999)	United States
		Hamilton O. Smith (b. 1931)
1979		Allan M. Cormack (1924–1998)	United States	"for developing computer assisted tomography (CAT scans), which create detailed images of the inside of the body."
		Sir Godfrey N. Hounsfield (1919–2004)	United Kingdom
1980		Baruj Benacerraf (1920–2011)	Venezuela	"for their discoveries about structures on the surface of cells that control immune reactions."
		Jean Dausset (1916–2009)	France
		George D. Snell (1903–1996)	United States
1981		Roger W. Sperry (1913–1994)	United States	"for his discoveries about how the two halves of the cerebral hemispheres (brain) have different functions."
		David H. Hubel (1926–2013)	United States	"for their discoveries about how the visual system processes information."
		Torsten N. Wiesel (b. 1924)	Sweden United States
1982		Sune K. Bergström (1916–2004)	Sweden	"for their discoveries about prostaglandins and similar substances that are active in the body."
		Bengt I. Samuelsson (1934–2024)
		Sir John R. Vane (1927–2004)	United Kingdom
1983		Barbara McClintock (1902–1992)	United States	"for her discovery of mobile genetic elements, also known as 'jumping genes'."
1984		Niels K. Jerne (1911–1994)	Denmark Switzerland	"for their ideas about how the immune system develops and is controlled, and for discovering how to make monoclonal antibodies (special antibodies used in medicine)."
		Georges J. F. Köhler (1946–1995)	West Germany Switzerland
		César Milstein (1927–2002)	Argentina  United Kingdom
1985		Michael S. Brown (b. 1941)	United States	"for their discoveries about how the body controls cholesterol levels."
		Joseph L. Goldstein (b. 1940)
1986		Stanley Cohen (1922–2020)	United States	"for their discoveries of growth factors, which are substances that help cells grow and divide."
		Rita Levi-Montalcini (1909–2012)	Italy
1987		Susumu Tonegawa (b. 1939)	Japan	"for his discovery of the genetic rule for how antibody diversity is created, which is important for our immune system."
1988		Sir James W. Black (1924–2010)	United Kingdom	"for their discoveries of important rules for how medicines work."
		Gertrude B. Elion (1918–1999)	United States
		George H. Hitchings (1905–1998)
1989		J. Michael Bishop (b. 1936)	United States	"for discovering where retroviral oncogenes (genes that can cause cancer) come from in cells."
		Harold E. Varmus (b. 1939)
1990		Joseph E. Murray (1919–2012)	United States	"for their discoveries about organ and cell transplantation in treating human diseases."
		E. Donnall Thomas (1920–2012)
1991		Erwin Neher (b. 1944)	Germany	"for their discoveries about how single ion channels work in cells, which are like tiny gates that control what goes in and out."
		Bert Sakmann (b. 1942)
1992		Edmond H. Fischer (1920–2021)	Switzerland  United States	"for their discoveries about how adding or removing phosphate groups from proteins can control biological processes."
		Edwin G. Krebs (1918–2009)	United States
1993		Sir Richard J. Roberts (b. 1943)	United Kingdom	"for their discoveries of split genes, which are genes that are broken up into pieces."
		Phillip A. Sharp (b. 1944)	United States
1994		Alfred G. Gilman (1941–2015)	United States	"for their discovery of G-proteins and how these proteins help cells send and receive signals."
		Martin Rodbell (1925–1998)
1995		Edward B. Lewis (1918–2004)	United States	"for their discoveries about how genes control the early development of an embryo."
		Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard (b. 1942)	Germany
		Eric F. Wieschaus (b. 1947)	United States
1996		Peter C. Doherty (b. 1940)	Australia	"for their discoveries about how the cell-based immune defense works specifically."
		Rolf M. Zinkernagel (b. 1944)	Switzerland
1997		Stanley B. Prusiner (b. 1942)	United States	"for his discovery of Prions, a new way that infections can spread through misfolded proteins."
1998		Robert F. Furchgott (1916–2009)	United States	"for their discoveries about nitric oxide as a signaling molecule in the cardiovascular system (heart and blood vessels)."
		Louis J. Ignarro (b. 1941)
		Ferid Murad (1936–2023)
1999		Günter Blobel (1936–2018)	United States	"for discovering that proteins have built-in signals that tell them where to go and how to move around inside a cell."
2000		Arvid Carlsson (1923–2018)	Sweden	"for their discoveries about how signals are sent in the nervous system."
		Paul Greengard (1925–2019)	United States
		Eric R. Kandel (b. 1929)
2001		Leland H. Hartwell (b. 1939)	United States	"for their discoveries of key regulators that control the cell cycle (how cells grow and divide)."
		Sir Tim Hunt (b. 1943)	United Kingdom
		Sir Paul M. Nurse (b. 1949)
2002		Sydney Brenner (1927–2019)	South Africa	"for their discoveries about how genes control organ development and programmed cell death (when cells are told to die)."
		H. Robert Horvitz (b. 1947)	United States
		Sir John E. Sulston (1942–2018)	United Kingdom
2003		Paul Lauterbur (1929–2007)	United States	"for their discoveries about magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a way to see inside the body using magnets."
		Sir Peter Mansfield (1933–2017)	United Kingdom
2004		Richard Axel (b. 1946)	United States	"for their discoveries of odorant receptors (how we smell) and how the olfactory system (our sense of smell) is organized."
		Linda B. Buck (b. 1947)
2005		Barry J. Marshall (b. 1951)	Australia	"for discovering the bacterium Helicobacter pylori and its role in causing gastritis (stomach inflammation) and peptic ulcer disease (stomach ulcers)."
		J. Robin Warren (1937–2024)
2006		Andrew Z. Fire (b. 1959)	United States	"for their discovery of RNA interference, a process where double-stranded RNA can turn off genes."
		Craig C. Mello (b. 1960)
2007		Mario R. Capecchi (b. 1937)	United States	"for their discoveries of ways to make specific gene changes in mice using embryonic stem cells."
		Sir Martin J. Evans (b. 1941)	United Kingdom
		Oliver Smithies (1925–2017)	United States
2008		Harald zur Hausen (1936–2023)	Germany	"for his discovery of human papilloma viruses (HPVs) that cause cervical cancer."
		Françoise Barré-Sinoussi (b. 1947)	France	"for their discovery of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes AIDS."
		Luc Montagnier (1932–2022)
2009		Elizabeth H. Blackburn (b. 1948)	United States	"for discovering how chromosomes are protected by telomeres (caps at the end of chromosomes) and the enzyme telomerase."
		Carol W. Greider (b. 1961)
		Jack W. Szostak (b. 1952)
2010		Sir Robert G. Edwards (1925–2013)	United Kingdom	"for developing in vitro fertilization (IVF), a method to help people have babies."
2011		Bruce A. Beutler (b. 1957)	United States	"for their discoveries about how our innate immunity (our body's first line of defense) is activated."
		Jules A. Hoffmann (b. 1941)	France
		Ralph M. Steinman (1943–2011)	Canada	"for discovering the dendritic cell and its role in adaptive immunity (our body's more specific defense)." (awarded after he passed away)
2012		Sir John B. Gurdon (b. 1933)	United Kingdom	"for discovering that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent, meaning they can turn into many different cell types."
		Shinya Yamanaka (b. 1962)	Japan
2013		James E. Rothman (b. 1950)	United States	"for their discoveries about the system that controls vesicle traffic, which is a major transport system inside our cells."
		Randy W. Schekman (b. 1948)
		Thomas C. Südhof (b. 1955)	United States
2014		John O'Keefe (b. 1939)	United Kingdom	"for their discoveries of cells in the brain that act like a GPS system, helping us know where we are."
		May-Britt Moser (b. 1963)	Norway
		Edvard I. Moser (b. 1962)
2015		William C. Campbell (b. 1930)	Ireland  United States	"for their discoveries about a new treatment, avermectin, against infections caused by roundworm parasites."
		Satoshi Ōmura (b. 1935)	Japan
		Tu Youyou (b. 1930)	China	"for her discoveries about artemisinin, a new treatment against malaria."
2016		Yoshinori Ohsumi (b. 1945)	Japan	"for his discoveries of how autophagy works, which is how cells clean themselves."
2017		Jeffrey C. Hall (b. 1945)	United States	"for their discoveries of the tiny parts that control our circadian rhythm (our body's natural clock)."
		Michael Rosbash (b. 1944)
		Michael W. Young (b. 1949)
2018		James P. Allison (b. 1948)	United States	"for their discovery of a new way to treat cancer by stopping the immune system from being held back."
		Tasuku Honjo (b. 1942)	Japan
2019		William Kaelin Jr. (b. 1957)	United States	"for their discoveries of how cells sense and adjust to the amount of oxygen available."
		Peter J. Ratcliffe (b. 1954)	United Kingdom
		Gregg L. Semenza (b. 1956)	United States
2020		Harvey J. Alter (b. 1935)	United States	"for discovering the Hepatitis C virus, which causes a serious liver disease."
		Michael Houghton (b. 1949)	United Kingdom
		Charles M. Rice (b. 1952)	United States
2021		David Julius (b. 1955)	United States	"for discovering the special parts of our body (receptors) that sense temperature and touch."
		Ardem Patapoutian (b. 1967)	Lebanon  United States
2022		Svante Pääbo (b. 1955)	Sweden	"for his discoveries about the genes of ancient human relatives and how humans evolved."
2023		Katalin Karikó (b. 1955)	Hungary  United States	"for their discoveries about changes to building blocks of RNA that helped create effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19."
		Drew Weissman (b. 1959)	United States
2024		Victor Ambros (b. 1953)	United States	"for discovering microRNA and its role in controlling genes after they've been copied."
		Gary Ruvkun (b. 1952)	United States

See also

In Spanish: Anexo:Ganadores del Premio Nobel de Fisiología o Medicina para niños