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List of Nobel Prize winners in Physics facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Nobel medal
Front side (obverse) of the Nobel Prize Medal for Physics presented to Edward Victor Appleton in 1947

The Nobel Prize in Physics (Swedish: [Nobelpriset i fysik] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)) is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of physics. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the 1895 will of Alfred Nobel (who died in 1896), awarded for outstanding contributions in physics. As dictated by Nobel's will, the award is administered by the Nobel Foundation and awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. The award is presented in Stockholm at an annual ceremony on 10 December, the anniversary of Nobel's death. Each recipient receives a medal, a diploma and a monetary award prize that has varied throughout the years.

Statistics

The Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to 224 individuals until 2023. The first prize in physics was awarded in 1901 to Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, of Germany, who received 150,782 SEK. John Bardeen is the only laureate to win the prize twice—in 1956 and 1972.

William Lawrence Bragg was the youngest Nobel laureate in physics; he won the prize in 1915 at the age of 25. He was also the youngest laureate for any Nobel prize until 2014 (when Malala Yousafzai won the Nobel Peace Prize at age 17). The oldest Nobel Prize laureate in physics was Arthur Ashkin who was 96 years old when he was awarded the prize in 2018.

Only five women have won the prize: Curie, Maria Goeppert-Mayer (1963), Donna Strickland (2018), Andrea Ghez (2020), and Anne L'Huillier (2023).

There have been six years for which the Nobel Prize in Physics was not awarded (1916, 1931, 1934, 1940–1942). There were also nine years for which the Nobel Prize in Physics was delayed for one year:

  • The 1914 prize awarded to Max von Laue was announced only in November 1915.
  • The Prize was not awarded in 1917, as the Nobel Committee for Physics decided that none of that year's nominations met the necessary criteria, but was awarded to Charles Glover Barkla in 1918 and counted as the 1917 prize.
  • This precedent was followed for the 1918 prize awarded to Max Planck in 1919,
  • the 1921 prize awarded to Albert Einstein in 1922,
  • the 1924 prize awarded to Manne Siegbahn in 1925,
  • the 1925 prize awarded to James Franck and Gustav Hertz in 1926,
  • the 1928 prize awarded to Owen Richardson in 1929,
  • the 1932 prize awarded to Werner Heisenberg in 1933, and
  • the 1943 prize awarded to Otto Stern in 1944.

Ioannidis et al. reported that half of the Nobel Prize for science awarded between 1995 and 2017 are clustered in few disciplines. Particle physics (14%), atomic physics (10.9%), and 3 non-physics disciplines are dominating the prize in recent decades. And then semiconductor physics and magnetics are the next most honoured physics disciplines.

Laureates

Year Image Laureate Country Rationale Ref
1901 WilhelmRöntgen.JPG Wilhelm Röntgen (1845–1923)  German Empire "in recognition of the extraordinary services he has rendered by the discovery of the remarkable rays subsequently named after him"
1902 H A Lorentz (Nobel).jpg Hendrik Lorentz (1853–1928)  Netherlands "in recognition of the extraordinary service they rendered by their researches into the influence of magnetism upon radiation phenomena"
Pieter Zeeman.jpg Pieter Zeeman (1865–1943)
1903 Paul Nadar - Henri Becquerel.jpg Henri Becquerel (1852–1908)  France "for his discovery of spontaneous radioactivity"
PierreCurie.jpg Pierre Curie (1859–1906) "for their joint researches on the radiation phenomena discovered by Professor Henri Becquerel"
Mariecurie.jpg Marie Curie (1867–1934)  Poland
 France
1904 John William Strutt.jpg Lord Rayleigh (1842–1919)  United Kingdom "for his investigations of the densities of the most important gases and for his discovery of argon in connection with these studies"
1905 Phillipp Lenard in 1900.jpg Philipp Eduard Anton von Lenard (1862–1947)  Austria-Hungary
 German Empire
"for his work on cathode rays"
1906 J.J Thomson.jpg Joseph John Thomson (1856–1940)  United Kingdom "for his theoretical and experimental investigations on the conduction of electricity by gases"
1907 Albert Abraham Michelson2.jpg Albert Abraham Michelson (1852–1931)  German Empire
 United States
"for his optical precision instruments and the spectroscopic and metrological investigations carried out with their aid"
1908 G lippmann.jpg Gabriel Lippmann (1845–1921)  France "for his method of reproducing colours photographically based on the phenomenon of interference"
1909 Guglielmo Marconi.jpg Guglielmo Marconi (1874–1937)  Kingdom of Italy "for their contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy"
Ferdinand Braun.jpg Karl Ferdinand Braun (1850–1918)  German Empire
1910 Johannes Diderik van der Waals.jpg Johannes Diderik van der Waals (1837–1923)  Netherlands "for his work on the equation of state for gases and liquids"
1911 Wilhelm Wien 1911.jpg Wilhelm Wien (1864–1928)  German Empire "for his discoveries regarding the laws governing the radiation of heat"
1912 Nils Gustaf Dalén.jpg Nils Gustaf Dalén (1869–1937)  Sweden "for his invention of automatic valves designed to be used in combination with gas accumulators in lighthouses and buoys"
1913 Kamerlingh portret.jpg Heike Kamerlingh-Onnes (1853–1926)  Netherlands "for his investigations on the properties of matter at low temperatures which led, inter alia, to the production of liquid helium"
1914 Max von Laue 1914.jpg Max von Laue (1879–1960)  German Empire "For his discovery of the diffraction of X-rays by crystals", an important step in the development of X-ray spectroscopy.
1915 Wh-bragg.jpg William Henry Bragg (1862–1942)  United Kingdom "'For their services in the analysis of crystal structure by means of X-rays', an important step in the development of X-ray crystallography"
Wl-bragg.jpg William Lawrence Bragg (1890–1971)  United Kingdom
1916 Not awarded due to World War I
1917 Charles Glover Barkla.jpg Charles Glover Barkla (1877–1944)  United Kingdom "'For his discovery of the characteristic Röntgen radiation of the elements', another important step in the development of X-ray spectroscopy"
1918 Max Planck 1933.jpg Max Planck (1858–1947)  German Empire "for the services he rendered to the advancement of physics by his discovery of energy quanta"
1919 Johannes Stark.jpg Johannes Stark (1874–1957)  Weimar Republic "for his discovery of the Doppler effect in canal rays and the splitting of spectral lines in electric fields"
1920 Guillaume 1920.jpg Charles Édouard Guillaume (1861–1938)  Switzerland "for the service he has rendered to precision measurements in physics by his discovery of anomalies in nickel-steel alloys"
1921 Einstein1921 by F Schmutzer 4.jpg Albert Einstein (1879–1955)  Weimar Republic
 Switzerland
"for his services to theoretical physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect"
1922 Niels Bohr.jpg Niels Bohr (1885–1962)  Denmark "for his services in the investigation of the structure of atoms and of the radiation emanating from them"
1923 Robert Andrews Millikan 1920s.jpg Robert Andrews Millikan (1868–1953)  United States "for his work on the elementary charge of electricity and on the photoelectric effect"
1924 1924 Karl Manne Siegbahn.jpg Manne Siegbahn (1886–1978)  Sweden "for his discoveries and research in the field of X-ray spectroscopy"
1925 James Franck 1925.jpg James Franck (1882–1964)  Weimar Republic "for their discovery of the laws governing the impact of an electron upon an atom"
Gustav Hertz.jpg Gustav Hertz (1887–1975)
1926 Jean Perrin 1926.jpg Jean Baptiste Perrin (1870–1942)  France "for his work on the discontinuous structure of matter, and especially for his discovery of sedimentation equilibrium"
1927 Arthur Compton.jpg Arthur Holly Compton (1892–1962)  United States "for his discovery of the effect named after him"
CTR Wilson.jpg Charles Thomson Rees Wilson (1869–1959)  United Kingdom "for his method of making the paths of electrically charged particles visible by condensation of vapour"
1928 Owen Richardson.jpg Owen Willans Richardson (1879–1959)  United Kingdom "for his work on the thermionic phenomenon and especially for the discovery of the law named after him"
1929 Broglie Big.jpg Louis Victor Pierre Raymond, 7th Duc de Broglie (1892–1987)  France "for his discovery of the wave nature of electrons"
1930 Sir CV Raman.JPG Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman (1888–1970)  India "for his work on the scattering of light and for the discovery of the effect named after him"
1931 Not awarded
1932 Bundesarchiv Bild183-R57262, Werner Heisenberg.jpg Werner Heisenberg (1901–1976)  Weimar Republic "for the creation of quantum mechanics, the application of which has, inter alia, led to the discovery of the allotropic forms of hydrogen"
1933 Erwin Schrödinger (1933).jpg Erwin Schrödinger (1887–1961)  Austria "for the discovery of new productive forms of atomic theory"
Dirac 4.jpg Paul Dirac (1902–1984)  United Kingdom
1934 Not awarded
1935 James Chadwick.tif James Chadwick (1891–1974)  United Kingdom "for the discovery of the neutron"
1936 Hess.jpg Victor Francis Hess (1883–1964)  Austria "for his discovery of cosmic radiation"
Carl David Anderson.jpg Carl David Anderson (1905–1991)  United States "for his discovery of the positron"
1937 Clinton Davisson.jpg Clinton Joseph Davisson (1881–1958)  United States "for their experimental discovery of the diffraction of electrons by crystals"
George Paget Thomson.jpg George Paget Thomson (1892–1975)  United Kingdom
1938 Enrico Fermi 1943-49 140x190.jpg Enrico Fermi (1901–1954)  Kingdom of Italy "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"
1939 Ernest Lawrence.jpg Ernest Lawrence (1901–1958)  United States "for the invention and development of the cyclotron and for results obtained with it, especially with regard to artificial radioactive elements"
1940 Not awarded due to World War II
1941 Not awarded due to World War II
1942 Not awarded due to World War II
1943 Otto Stern.jpg Otto Stern (1888–1969)  United States "for his contribution to the development of the molecular ray method and his discovery of the magnetic moment of the proton"
1944 II Rabi.jpg Isidor Isaac Rabi (1898–1988)  United States "for his resonance method for recording the magnetic properties of atomic nuclei"
1945 Pauli.jpg Wolfgang Pauli (1900–1958)  Austria "for the discovery of the Exclusion Principle, also called the Pauli principle"
1946 Bridgman.jpg Percy Williams Bridgman (1882–1961)  United States "for the invention of an apparatus to produce extremely high pressures, and for the discoveries he made there within the field of high pressure physics"
1947 Appleton.jpg Edward Victor Appleton (1892–1965)  United Kingdom "for his investigations of the physics of the upper atmosphere especially for the discovery of the so-called Appleton layer"
1948 Blackett-large.jpg Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett (1897–1974)  United Kingdom "for his development of the Wilson cloud chamber method, and his discoveries therewith in the fields of nuclear physics and cosmic radiation"
1949 Yukawa.jpg Hideki Yukawa (1907–1981)  Japan "for his prediction of the existence of mesons on the basis of theoretical work on nuclear forces"
1950 Cecil Powell.jpg Cecil Frank Powell (1903–1969)  United Kingdom "for his development of the photographic method of studying nuclear processes and his discoveries regarding mesons made with this method"
1951 Cockcroft.jpg John Douglas Cockcroft (1897–1967)  United Kingdom "for their pioneer work on the transmutation of atomic nuclei by artificially accelerated atomic particles"
Ernest Walton.jpg Ernest Thomas Sinton Walton (1903–1995)  Ireland
1952 Felix Bloch, Stanford University.jpg Felix Bloch (1905–1983)  Switzerland
 United States
"for their development of new methods for nuclear magnetic precision measurements and discoveries in connection therewith"
Edward Mills Purcell.jpg Edward Mills Purcell (1912–1997)  United States
1953 Zernike.jpg Frits Zernike (1888–1966)  Netherlands "for his demonstration of the phase contrast method, especially for his invention of the phase contrast microscope"
1954 Max Born.jpg Max Born (1882–1970)  West Germany "for his fundamental research in quantum mechanics, especially for his statistical interpretation of the wavefunction"
Bothe.jpg Walther Bothe (1891–1957)  West Germany "for the coincidence method and his discoveries made therewith"
1955 Willis Lamb 1955.jpg Willis Eugene Lamb (1913–2008)  United States "for his discoveries concerning the fine structure of the hydrogen spectrum"
Polykarp Kusch.jpg Polykarp Kusch (1911–1993) "for his precision determination of the magnetic moment of the electron"
1956 Bardeen.jpg John Bardeen (1908–1991)  United States "for their researches on semiconductors and their discovery of the transistor effect"
Brattain.jpg Walter Houser Brattain (1902–1987)
William Shockley, Stanford University.jpg William Bradford Shockley (1910–1989)
1957 TD Lee.jpg Tsung-Dao Lee (b. 1926)  Republic of China "for their penetrating investigation of the so-called parity laws which has led to important discoveries regarding the elementary particles"
Yang.jpg Chen-Ning Yang (b. 1922)
1958 Cerenkov.jpg Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov (1904–1990)  Soviet Union "for the discovery and the interpretation of the Cherenkov effect"
Ilya Frank.jpg Ilya Frank (1908–1990)
Igor Tamm.jpg Igor Yevgenyevich Tamm (1895–1971)
1959 Segre.jpg Emilio Gino Segrè (1905–1989)  Italy
 United States
"for their discovery of the antiproton"
Owen Chamberlain.jpg Owen Chamberlain (1920–2006)  United States
1960 Donald Glaser 1.jpg Donald Arthur Glaser (1926–2013)  United States "for the invention of the bubble chamber"
1961 Robert Hofstadter.jpg Robert Hofstadter (1915–1990)  United States "for his pioneering studies of electron scattering in atomic nuclei and for his thereby achieved discoveries concerning the structure of the nucleons"
Mossbauer.jpg Rudolf Ludwig Mössbauer (1929–2011)  West Germany "for his researches concerning the resonance absorption of gamma radiation and his discovery in this connection of the effect which bears his name"
1962 Landau.jpg Lev Davidovich Landau (1908–1968)  Soviet Union "for his pioneering theories for condensed matter, especially liquid helium"
1963 Wigner.jpg Eugene Paul Wigner (1902–1995)  Hungary
 United States
"for his contributions to the theory of the atomic nucleus and the elementary particles, particularly through the discovery and application of fundamental symmetry principles"
Mayer.jpg Maria Goeppert-Mayer (1906–1972)  German Empire
 United States
"for their discoveries concerning nuclear shell structure"
Jensen.jpg J. Hans D. Jensen (1907–1973)  West Germany
1964 Basov.jpg Nicolay Gennadiyevich Basov (1922–2001)  Soviet Union "for fundamental work in the field of quantum electronics, which has led to the construction of oscillators and amplifiers based on the maserlaser principle"
Aleksandr Prokhorov.jpg Alexander Prokhorov (1916–2002)
Charles Townes Nobel.jpg Charles Hard Townes (1915–2015)  United States
1965 Richard Feynman Nobel.jpg Richard Phillips Feynman (1918–1988)  United States "for their fundamental work in quantum electrodynamics (QED), with deep-ploughing consequences for the physics of elementary particles"
Schwinger.jpg Julian Schwinger (1918–1994)
Tomonaga.jpg Shin'ichirō Tomonaga (1906–1979)  Japan
1966 Kastler.jpg Alfred Kastler (1902–1984)  France "for the discovery and development of optical methods for studying Hertzian resonances in atoms"
1967 Hans Bethe.jpg Hans Albrecht Bethe (1906–2005)  United States
 West Germany
"for his contributions to the theory of nuclear reactions, especially his discoveries concerning the energy production in stars"
1968 LWA Picture Final.jpg Luis Walter Alvarez (1911–1988)  United States "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"
1969 MurrayGellMannJI1.jpg Murray Gell-Mann (1929–2019)  United States "for his contributions and discoveries concerning the classification of elementary particles and their interactions"
1970 YoungAlfven.jpg Hannes Olof Gösta Alfvén (1908–1995)  Sweden "for fundamental work and discoveries in magneto-hydrodynamics with fruitful applications in different parts of plasma physics"
Louis Neel 1970.jpg Louis Néel (1904–2000)  France "for fundamental work and discoveries concerning antiferromagnetism and ferrimagnetism which have led to important applications in solid state physics"
1971 Dennis Gabor 1971b.jpg Dennis Gabor (1900–1979)  Hungary
 United Kingdom
"for his invention and development of the holographic method"
1972 Bardeen.jpg John Bardeen (1908–1991)  United States "for their jointly developed theory of superconductivity, usually called the BCS-theory"
Nobel Laureate Leon Cooper in 2007.jpg Leon Neil Cooper (b. 1930)
John Robert Schrieffer.jpg John Robert Schrieffer (1931–2019)
1973 Leo Esaki 1959.jpg Leo Esaki (b. 1925)  Japan "for their experimental discoveries regarding tunneling phenomena in semiconductors and superconductors, respectively"
Ivar Giaever.jpg Ivar Giaever (b. 1929)  United States
 Norway
cmglee_Cambridge_Wikimedia_Meetup_23_tour_Brian_Josephson.jpg
Brian David Josephson (b. 1940)  United Kingdom "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 effect"
1974 No image.svg Martin Ryle (1918–1984)  United Kingdom "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"
No image.svg Antony Hewish (1924–2021)
1975 Aage Bohr.jpg Aage Bohr (1922–2009)  Denmark "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"
Mottelson,Ben 1963 Kopenhagen.jpg Ben Roy Mottelson (1926–2022)
James Rainwater 2.jpg Leo James Rainwater (1917–1986)  United States
1976 Samuel ting 10-19-10.jpg Samuel Chao Chung Ting (b. 1936)  Republic of China
 United States
"for their pioneering work in the discovery of a heavy elementary particle of a new kind"
Burton Richter - charm quark.jpg Burton Richter (1931–2018)  United States
1977 Andersonphoto.jpg Philip Warren Anderson (1923–2020)  United States "for their fundamental theoretical investigations of the electronic structure of magnetic and disordered systems"
Mott,Nevill Francis Heisenberg 1952 London.jpg Nevill Francis Mott (1905–1996)  United Kingdom
JH van Vleck 1974.jpg John Hasbrouck Van Vleck (1899–1980)  United States
1978 Pyotr L Kapitsa Russian physicist 1964.jpg Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa (1894–1984)  Soviet Union "for his basic inventions and discoveries in the area of low-temperature physics"
Arno Penzias.jpg Arno Allan Penzias (b. 1933)  United States "for their discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation"
Robert Wilson (28215880301) (portrait).jpg Robert Woodrow Wilson (b. 1936)
1979 Sheldon Glashow at Harvard cropped.jpg Sheldon Glashow (b. 1932)  United States "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"
Abdus Salam 1987.jpg Abdus Salam (1926–1996)  Pakistan
Steven weinberg 2010.jpg Steven Weinberg (1933–2021)  United States
1980 James-cronin.jpg James Watson Cronin (1931–2016)  United States "for the discovery of violations of fundamental symmetry principles in the decay of neutral K-mesons"
Val Fitch.jpg Val Logsdon Fitch (1923–2015)
1981 Nicolaas Bloembergen 1981.jpg Nicolaas Bloembergen (1920–2017)  Netherlands
 United States
"for their contribution to the development of laser spectroscopy"
Artur Schawlow, Stanford University.jpg Arthur Leonard Schawlow (1921–1999)  United States
Kai Manne Börje Siegbahn 2.jpg Kai Manne Börje Siegbahn (1918–2007)  Sweden "for his contribution to the development of high-resolution electron spectroscopy"
1982 No image.svg Kenneth G. Wilson (1936–2013)  United States "for his theory for critical phenomena in connection with phase transitions"
1983 Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar.gif Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (1910–1995)  India
 United States
"for his theoretical studies of the physical processes of importance to the structure and evolution of the stars"
William A. Fowler Los Alamos ID.png William Alfred Fowler (1911–1995)  United States "for his theoretical and experimental studies of the nuclear reactions of importance in the formation of the chemical elements in the universe"
1984 Carlo Rubbia 2012.jpg Carlo Rubbia (b. 1934)  Italy "for their decisive contributions to the large project, which led to the discovery of the field particles W and Z, communicators of weak interaction"
Simon Van der Meer.png Simon van der Meer (1925–2011)  Netherlands
1985 Klaus von Klitzing 2015.jpg Klaus von Klitzing (b. 1943)  West Germany "for the discovery of the quantized Hall effect"
1986 Ernst Ruska (1906–1988)  West Germany "for his fundamental work in electron optics, and for the design of the first electron microscope"
Gerd Binnig sw.jpg Gerd Binnig (b. 1947)  West Germany "for their design of the scanning tunneling microscope"
Rohrer.jpg Heinrich Rohrer (1933–2013)  Switzerland
1987 Ibmgb.jpg Johannes Georg Bednorz (b. 1950)  West Germany "for their important break-through in the discovery of superconductivity in ceramic materials"
Karl Alexander Mueller.jpg Karl Alexander Müller (1927–2023)  Switzerland
1988 Leon M. Lederman.jpg Leon Max Lederman (1922–2018)  United States "for the neutrino beam method and the demonstration of the doublet structure of the leptons through the discovery of the muon neutrino"
Melvin Schwartz (1932–2006)
Jack-Steinberger-2008.JPG Jack Steinberger (1921–2020)
1989 Norman Foster Ramsey 1970 (cropped).jpg Norman Foster Ramsey (1915–2011)  United States "for the invention of the separated oscillatory fields method and its use in the hydrogen maser and other atomic clocks"
No image.svg Hans Georg Dehmelt (1922–2017)  United States
 West Germany
"for the development of the ion trap technique"
No image.svg Wolfgang Paul (1913–1993)  West Germany
1990 Physics Nobel laureate Jerry Friedman, 2016.jpg Jerome I. Friedman (b. 1930)  United States "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"
Henry Kendall by Tom Frost crop.jpg Henry Way Kendall (1926–1999)
Richard E. Taylor.jpg Richard E. Taylor (1929–2018)  Canada
1991 Pierre-Gilles crop.jpg Pierre-Gilles de Gennes (1932–2007)  France "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"
1992 CHARPAK Georges-24x50-2005 cropped.JPG Georges Charpak (1924–2010)  France
 Poland
"for his invention and development of particle detectors, in particular the multiwire proportional chamber"
1993 Russell Alan Hulse.jpg Russell Alan Hulse (b. 1950)  United States "for the discovery of a new type of pulsar, a discovery that has opened up new possibilities for the study of gravitation"
2008JosephTaylor.jpg Joseph Hooton Taylor Jr. (b. 1941)
1994 Bertram Brockhouse.jpg Bertram Brockhouse (1918–2003)  Canada "for the development of neutron spectroscopy" and "for pioneering contributions to the development of neutron scattering techniques for studies of condensed matter"
HD.3F.113 (10347363986).jpg Clifford Glenwood Shull (1915–2001)  United States "for the development of the neutron diffraction technique" and "for pioneering contributions to the development of neutron scattering techniques for studies of condensed matter"
1995 Martin Perl - tau.jpg Martin Lewis Perl (1927–2014)  United States "for the discovery of the tau lepton" and "for pioneering experimental contributions to lepton physics"
Frederick Reines, early 1950s.jpg Frederick Reines (1918–1998) "for the detection of the neutrino" and "for pioneering experimental contributions to lepton physics"
1996 Nobel Laureate David Morris Lee in 2007.jpg David Morris Lee (b. 1931)  United States "for their discovery of superfluidity in helium-3"
Douglas Osheroff NSF.jpg Douglas D. Osheroff (b. 1945)
Robert Coleman Richardson.jpg Robert Coleman Richardson (1937–2013)
1997 Steven Chu official portrait headshot.jpg Steven Chu (b. 1948)  United States "for development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light."
Claude Cohen-Tannoudji.JPG Claude Cohen-Tannoudji (b. 1933)  France
William D. Phillips.jpg William Daniel Phillips (b. 1948)  United States
1998 Robert Laughlin, Stanford University.jpg Robert B. Laughlin (b. 1950)  United States "for their discovery of a new form of quantum fluid with fractionally charged excitations"
Horst Störmer cropped.jpg Horst Ludwig Störmer (b. 1949)  Germany
Daniel Chee Tsui.jpg Daniel Chee Tsui (b. 1939)  Republic of China
 United States
1999 Gerard 't Hooft.jpg Gerard 't Hooft (b. 1946)  Netherlands "for elucidating the quantum structure of electroweak interactions in physics"
Martinus Veltman.jpg Martinus J. G. Veltman (1931–2021)
2000 Zhores Alferov.jpg Zhores Ivanovich Alferov (1930–2019)  Russia "for developing semiconductor heterostructures used in high-speed- and optoelectronics"
Herbert Kroemer (cropped).jpg Herbert Kroemer (b. 1928)  Germany
Jack St. Clair Kilby (1923–2005)  United States "for his part in the invention of the integrated circuit"
2001 Physics Nobel Laureate Eric Allin Cornell, in June of 2015.jpg Eric Allin Cornell (b. 1961)  United States "for the achievement of Bose–Einstein condensation in dilute gases of alkali atoms, and for early fundamental studies of the properties of the condensates"
Carl Wieman.jpg Carl Edwin Wieman (b. 1951)
Ketterle.jpg Wolfgang Ketterle (b. 1957)  Germany
2002 Raymond Davis, Jr 2001.jpg Raymond Davis Jr. (1914–2006)  United States "for pioneering contributions to astrophysics, in particular for the detection of cosmic neutrinos"
Masatoshi Koshiba 2002.jpg Masatoshi Koshiba (1926–2020)  Japan
RiccardoGiacconi.jpg Riccardo Giacconi (1931–2018)  Italy
 United States
"for pioneering contributions to astrophysics, which have led to the discovery of cosmic X-ray sources"
2003 AA Abrikosov ANL1.jpg Alexei Alexeyevich Abrikosov (1928–2017)  Russia
 United States
"for pioneering contributions to the theory of superconductors and superfluids"
Ginzburg in MSU opaque.jpg Vitaly Lazarevich Ginzburg (1916–2009)  Russia
Nobel Laureate Sir Anthony James Leggett in 2007.jpg Anthony James Leggett (b. 1938)  United Kingdom
 United States
2004 David Gross LANL.jpg David J. Gross (b. 1941)  United States "for the discovery of asymptotic freedom in the theory of the strong interaction"
No image.svg Hugh David Politzer (b. 1949)
FrankStockholm2004.jpg Frank Wilczek (b. 1951)
2005 Roy Glauber Dec 10 2005.jpg Roy J. Glauber (1925–2018)  United States "for his contribution to the quantum theory of optical coherence"
John L. Hall.jpg John L. Hall (b. 1934) "for their contributions to the development of laser-based precision spectroscopy, including the optical frequency comb technique"
Theodor Haensch.jpg Theodor W. Hänsch (b. 1941)  Germany
2006 John-C-Mather5.jpg John C. Mather (b. 1946)  United States "for their discovery of the blackbody form and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation"
George Smoot crop.jpg George F. Smoot (b. 1945)
2007 Fert-002 (cropped).jpg Albert Fert (b. 1938)  France "for the discovery of giant magnetoresistance"
Peter Gruenberg 01.jpg Peter Grünberg (1939–2018)  Germany
2008 Mkobayashi.jpg Makoto Kobayashi (b. 1944)  Japan "for the discovery of the origin of the broken symmetry which predicts the existence of at least three families of quarks in nature"
Masukawa.jpg Toshihide Maskawa (1940–2021)
YoichiroNambu.jpg Yoichiro Nambu (1921–2015)  Japan
 United States
"for the discovery of the mechanism of spontaneous broken symmetry in subatomic physics"
2009 Charles K. Kao cropped 2.jpg Charles K. Kao (1933–2018)  Hong Kong
 United Kingdom
 United States
"for groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication"
Nobel Prize 2009-Press Conference KVA-23.jpg Willard S. Boyle (1924–2011)  Canada
 United States
"for the invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit – the CCD sensor"
Nobel Prize 2009-Press Conference KVA-27.jpg George E. Smith (b. 1930)  United States
2010 Andre Geim 2010-1.jpg Andre Geim (b. 1958)  Russia
 United Kingdom
 Netherlands
"for groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene"
Konstantin Novoselov at MIPT.jpg Konstantin Novoselov (b. 1974)  Russia
 United Kingdom
2011 Saul Perlmutter.jpg Saul Perlmutter (b. 1959)  United States "for the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe through observations of distant supernovae"
Brian P Schmidt.jpg Brian P. Schmidt (b. 1967)  Australia
 United States
Adam Riess.jpg Adam G. Riess (b. 1969)  United States
2012 Serge Haroche - Théâtre de la Commune d'Aubervilliers - 4 mai 2009.jpg Serge Haroche (b. 1944)  France "for ground-breaking experimental methods that enable measuring and manipulation of individual quantum systems."
David Wineland 2008crop.jpg David J. Wineland (b. 1944)  United States
2013 Francois Englert.jpg François Englert (b. 1932)  Belgium "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"
Higgs, Peter (1929)3.jpg Peter Higgs (b. 1929)  United Kingdom
2014 Isamu Akasaki 20141211.jpg Isamu Akasaki (1929–2021)  Japan "for the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources"
Hiroshi Amano 20141211.jpg Hiroshi Amano (b. 1960)
Shiju.jpg Shuji Nakamura (b. 1954)  Japan
 United States
2015 Takaaki Kajita 5171-2015.jpg Takaaki Kajita (b. 1959)  Japan "for the discovery of neutrino oscillations, which shows that neutrinos have mass"
Arthur B. McDonald 5193-2015.jpg Arthur B. McDonald (b. 1943)  Canada
2016 DavidThouless 1995 UW.jpg David J. Thouless (1934–2019)  United Kingdom "for theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter"
Duncan Haldane.jpg F. Duncan M. Haldane (b. 1951)  United Kingdom
 Slovenia
Jkosterl.jpg John M. Kosterlitz (b. 1943)  United Kingdom
 United States
2017 Rainer Weiss - December 2006 (cropped).jpg Rainer Weiss (b. 1932)  Germany
 United States
"for decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves"
Kip Thorne at Caltech.jpg Kip Thorne (b. 1940)  United States
05-0367-92D.hr.jpg Barry Barish (b. 1936)
2018 Arthur Ashkin EM1B5678 (44417135450) (adjusted).jpg Arthur Ashkin (1922–2020)  United States "for groundbreaking inventions in the field of laser physics", in particular "for the optical tweezers and their application to biological systems"
Gérard Mourou, 2014.jpg Gérard Mourou (b. 1944)  France "for groundbreaking inventions in the field of laser physics", in particular "for their method of generating high-intensity, ultra-short optical pulses"
Donna Strickland, OSA Holiday Party 2012.jpg Donna Strickland (b. 1959)  Canada
2019 Jim Peebles (cropped 2).jpg James Peebles (b. 1935)  Canada
 United States
"for theoretical discoveries in physical cosmology"
Michel Mayor, 2012 (cropped).jpg Michel Mayor (b. 1942)  Switzerland "for the discovery of an exoplanet orbiting a solar-type star"
Didier Queloz, 2012 (cropped).jpg Didier Queloz (b. 1966)
2020 Roger Penrose at Festival della Scienza Oct 29 2011.jpg Roger Penrose (b. 1931)  United Kingdom "for the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity"
Reinhard Genzel.jpg Reinhard Genzel (b. 1952)  Germany "for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy"
Andrea Ghez (cropped).jpg Andrea Ghez (b. 1965)  United States
2021 Crafoord Prize EM1B0732 (42329290061).jpg Syukuro Manabe (b. 1931)  Japan
 United States
"for the physical modelling of Earth's climate, quantifying variability and reliably predicting global warming"
No image.svg Klaus Hasselmann (b. 1931)  Germany
Parisi giorgio (cropped).jpg Giorgio Parisi (b. 1948)  Italy "for the discovery of the interplay of disorder and fluctuations in physical systems from atomic to planetary scales"
2022 Alain-Aspect-ForMemRS.jpg Alain Aspect (b. 1947)  France "for experiments with entangled photons, establishing the violation of Bell inequalities and pioneering quantum information science"
JohnClauser.jpg John Clauser (b. 1942)  United States
Anton Zeilinger.jpg Anton Zeilinger (b. 1945)  Austria
2023 Anne LHuiller 01.JPG Anne L'Huillier (b. 1958)  France
 Sweden
"for experimental methods that generate attosecond pulses of light for the study of electron dynamics in matter"
Ferenc Krausz (cropped).jpg Ferenc Krausz (b. 1962)  Hungary
 Austria
Pierre Agostini (b. 1945)  France
 United States

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Anexo:Ganadores del Premio Nobel de Física para niños

kids search engine
List of Nobel Prize winners in Physics Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.