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Women who changed science: Barbara McClintock
Throughout her career, Barbara McClintock studied the cytogenetics of maize, making discoveries so far beyond the understanding of the time that other scientists essentially ignored her work for more than a decade. But she persisted, trusting herself and the evidence under her microscope.
Nobel Prize in Literature 1993
“We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives”
Toni Morrison's works revolve around African-Americans; both their history and their situation in our own time. Her works are known for their sympathy, humanity, empathy and compassion.
In her Nobel Lecture, she talked about the power of language, and the need to take responsibility for it.
© Nobel Foundation. Photo: Boo Jonsson
"I think sometimes of poems I have lost -
Maybe their loss it was that saved the world"
The 1986 Nobel Laureate in Literature Wole Soyinka reads his poem 'Lost Poems' from Samarkand and other markets I have known.
More about Wole Soyinka
Remembering Martin Luther King Jr.
“To this undaunted champion of peace the Nobel Committee of the Norwegian Parliament has awarded the Peace Prize for the year 1964.”
Martin Luther King Jr. was awarded the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize for his nonviolent campaign against racism.
Nobel Prize Lessons
Martin Luther King Jr.’s life and work are a fascinating part of an important stage of 20th-century history. His ideas extend far beyond his own time and the society in which he lived. Discrimination and conflicts because of skin colour or ethnicity manifest themselves in a variety of contexts in our own world.
Check out this Nobel Prize Lesson - ready to use in the classroom.
Martin Luther King Jr. marching past Browns Chapel in Selma, Alabama.
Photo © Flip Schulke/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images
Nobel Peace Prize 2004
Defender of the earth, fighter for democracy
Wangari Maathai was the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. She founded the Green Belt Movement which led to the planting of over 50 million trees in Africa. She also played an active part in the struggle for democracy in Kenya.
Wangari Maathai was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for 'her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace.'
Listen to Nobel Laureates
"I guess I'd have to start with Buddy Holly"
In 2016 Bob Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for "having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition."
Listen to Bob Dylan's full Nobel Lecture, recorded on 4 June 2017
"The similarities are more striking than the differences"
More than 700 million people still subsist on extremely low incomes. In 2019 Abhijit Banerjee was awarded the Prize in Economic Sciences for his work fighting poverty. In this interview he talks about what brought him to science, how we better can understand poverty and his hope for the future.
News
Vidar Helgesen – Norway’s former State Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Minister of European Affairs and Minister of Climate and the Environment – will become the new Executive Director of the Nobel Foundation at the beginning of 2021. He will thus assume the task of strengthening the long-term finances and position of the Nobel Prize as well as further developing public activities surrounding the Nobel Prize in Sweden, Norway and internationally.
Read an interview with Vidar Helgesen.
Vidar Helgesen
Photo: Bjørn Stuedal.
The Nobel Foundation is a private institution established in 1900. Tasked with a mission to manage Alfred Nobel's fortune, the foundation has ultimate responsibility for fulfilling the intentions of Nobel's will.
© Nobel Media. Photo: P. Frisk.
Watch the new documentary series
A team of female Yazidi deminers in Iraq attempting to clear their land of mines left behind by ISIS. A team of scientists on an extraordinary mission in Mozambique to help better our understanding of climate change. A man building prosthetic legs to help victims of war walk again in South Sudan ... All are inspired by Nobel Peace Prize laureates.
Recently published
Coming up
This year’s Nobel Prize announcements will take place 5-12 October.
© Nobel Media AB. Photo: A. Mahmoud
Nobel Prize Concert 2020
The world-renowned pianist Igor Levit will be performing at this year's Nobel Prize Concert on 8 December. At his side, he will have conductor Stéphane Denève leading the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra.
Date for ticket release will be published later.
Igor Levit
Photo: Robbie Lawrence
Nobel Prize nominations
The Norwegian Nobel Committee received 318 candidates for the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize. 107 of these are organizations.
Olav Njølstad, Director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute, answers questions about the Nobel Peace Prize.
No person can nominate herself/himself for a Nobel Prize. But who can? And how are these persons chosen?
In his last will and testament, Alfred Nobel specifically designated the institutions responsible for the prizes he wished to be established.
Nobel Prizes 2019
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2019 was awarded with one half to James Peebles “for theoretical discoveries in physical cosmology” and the other half jointly to Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz “for the discovery of an exoplanet orbiting a solar-type star.”
© Johan Jarnestad/The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2019 was awarded jointly to John B. Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino “for the development of lithium-ion batteries.”
© Johan Jarnestad/The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2019 was awarded jointly to William G. Kaelin Jr, Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe and Gregg L. Semenza “for their discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability.”
© The Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine. Ill. Mattias Karlén
The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2018 is awarded to the Polish author Olga Tokarczuk “for a narrative imagination that with encyclopedic passion represents the crossing of boundaries as a form of life.”
Ill. Niklas Elmehed. © Nobel Media.
The Nobel Prize in Literature 2019 was awarded to Peter Handke “for an influential work that with linguistic ingenuity has explored the periphery and the specificity of human experience.”
Ill. Niklas Elmehed. © Nobel Media.
The Nobel Peace Prize 2019 was awarded to Abiy Ahmed Ali “for his efforts to achieve peace and international cooperation, and in particular for his decisive initiative to resolve the border conflict with neighbouring Eritrea.”
Abiy Ahmed Ali.
Photo: Aron Simeneh, via Wikimedia Commons.
The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2019 was awarded jointly to Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer “for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty.”
© Johan Jarnestad/The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Alfred Nobel - Established the Nobel Prize
On 27 November 1895, Alfred Nobel signed his last will in Paris, France. The Swedish dynamite millionaire, who thought that his invention would end all wars, had now realised that it was a very deadly product. Wanting to make amends, he did what no man of such wealth had done before ...
On 10 December 1901 the first Nobel Prizes were awarded, in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and peace. Read more about the first prizes.
Chemist, engineer and industrialist Alfred Nobel left 31 million SEK (today about 265 million dollar) to fund the Nobel Prizes. Read more about his life and work.
A new house for culture and science
The new center will be built at Slussen, with sweeping views of Stockholm harbour and the central city. For the past few years, Slussen has been undergoing a major renovation and reconfiguration. With its broad public activities, the Nobel Center will be an important piece of the puzzle in developing Slussen into a lively meeting place.
Slussen aerial
Image: Dbox/Foster and partner.
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Nobel destinations
Stockholm, Sweden
The museum showcases the discoveries and creativity of the Nobel Laureates.
Photo: Åke Eson Lindman
Oslo, Norway
The story of each Peace Laureate is told at the museum.
Photo: Johannes Granseth / Nobel Peace Center
In memoriam
Oliver E. Williamson passed away on 21 May. He was awarded the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2009 "for his analysis of economic governance, especially the boundaries of the firm."
Theoretical physicists Philip W. Anderson has passed away aged 96. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for fundamental theoretical investigations of the electronic structure of magnetic and disordered systems.
Betty Williams died on 17 March, age 76. She shared the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize with Mairead Corrigan for founding a peace organisation to bring an end to the bitter conflict between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland.
Medicine Laureate Stanley Cohen passed away on 5 February. He shared the 1986 Medicine Prize for "discoveries of growth factors", discoveries which are of fundamental importance for our understanding of the mechanisms which regulate cell and organ growth.
