Nobel Prizes in Physics

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1901

W. C. Röntgen (Germany, 1845-03-27 - 1923-02-10)

Discovery of X rays

1902

Hendrik A. Lorentz (Netherlands, 1853-07-18 - 1929-02-04)

Pieter Zeeman (Netherlands, 1865-05-25 - 1943-10-09)

1903

Henri A. Becquerel (France, 1852-12-15 - 1908-08-25)

Marie Curie (France, Poland, 1867-11-07 - 1934-07-04)

Pierre Curie (France, 1859-05-15 - 1906-04-19)

Discovery of radioactivity

1904

Lord Rayleigh (United Kingdom)

1905

Philipp E. Lenard (Germany, 1862-06-07 - 1947-05-20)

1906

Joseph J. Thomson (United Kingdom, 1856-12-18 - 1940-04-30)

Conduction of electricity in gases

1907

Albert A. Michelson (USA, 1852-12-19 - 1931-05-09)

Measurement of the speed of light

1908

G. Lippmann (France)

1909

Karl Ferdinand Braun (Germany, 1850-06-06 - 1918-04-20)

Guglielmo Marconi (Italy, 1874-04-25 - 1937-07-20)

wireless telegraphy

1910

Johann D. van der Waals (Netherlands, 1837-11-23 - 1923-03-07)

Molecular forces

1911

Wilhelm Wien (Germany, 1864-01-13 - 1928-08-30)

Heat radiation

1912

G. Dalén (Sweden)

1913

H. Kamerlingh Onnes (Netherlands)

1914

Max von Laue (Germany, 1879-10-09 - 1960-04-24)

Diffraction and interference of X rays by the arrangement of atoms in crystals (Laue diagrams)

1915

Sir William Henry Bragg (United Kingdom, 1862-07-02 - 1942-03-12)

William Lawrence Bragg (United Kingdom, 1890-03-31 - 1971-07-01)

Investigation of crystal structures by X ray spectroscopy

1916 -

1917

Ch. G. Barkia (United Kingdom)

1918

Max Planck (Germany, 1858-04-23 - 1947-10-04)

Studies on thermodynamics and radiation

1919

Johannes Stark (Germany, 1874-04-25 - 1957-06-21)

Splitting of spectral lines in electrical fields (Stark effect)

1920

Ch. E. Guillaume (Switzerland)

1921

Albert Einstein (Germany, 1879-03-14 - 1955-04-18)

Theory of the photoelectric effect (light quantum hypothesis)

1922

Niels Bohr (Denmark, 1885-10-07 - 1962-11-18)

Quantum theoretical atomic model

1923

Robert A. Millikan (USA, 1868-03-22 - 1953-12-19)

Measurement of the electron charge

1924

Karl M. G. Siegbahn (Sweden, 1886 - 1978)

1925

James Franck (Germany, 1882-08-20 - 1964-05-21)

Gustav Hertz (Germany, 1887-07-21 - 1975-10-30)

Studies on atomic and quantum theory (excitation and ionization spectra of dilute gases)

1926

Jean B. Perrin (France, 1870-09-30 - 1942-04-17)

Studies on the discontinuous structure of matter

1927

Arthur H. Compton (USA)

Ch. Th. R. Wilson (United Kingdom)

1928

O. W. Richardson (United Kingdom)

1929

Prince Louis Victor de Broglie (France, 1892-08-15 - 1987-03-19)

Studies on wave mechanics

1930

Sir Ch. V. Raman (India, 1888-11-07 - 1970-11-21)

Raman effect on light scattering by molecules

1931 -

1932

Werner Heisenberg (Germany, 1901-12-05 - 1976-02-01)

Quantum theory

1933

Paul A. M. Dirac (United Kingdom, 1902-08-08 - 1984-10-21)

Erwin Schrödinger (Austria, 1887-08-12 - 1961-01-04)

Quantum theory, wave mechanics

1934 -

1935

James Chadwick (United Kingdom, 1891-10-20 - 1974-07-24)

Discovery of the neutron

1936

C. D. Anderson (USA)

V. F. Heß (Austria)

1937

C. J. Davisson (USA)

G. P. Thomson (United Kingdom)

1938

Enrico Fermi (Italy, 1901-09-29 - 1954-11-28)

Discovery of nuclear transformations by irradiation with neutrons

1939

Ernest O. Lawrence (USA, 1901-08-08 - 1958-08-27)

Invention of the cyclotron

1940 -

1941 -

1942 -

1943

Otto Stern (USA, 1888-02-17 - 1969-08-18)

Molecular rays, magnetic properties of the proton

1944

Isidor I. Rabi (USA, 1898-07-29 - 1988-01-11)

Studies on the magnetic properties of atomic nuclei

1945

Wolfgang Pauli (Austria, 1900-04-25 - 1958-12-15)

quantum physical Pauli principle

1946

Percy W. Bridgman (USA)

1947

Sir Edward Victor Appleton (United Kingdom, 1892 - 1965)

for his discovery of the so-called Appleton layer of the ionosphere, which is a dependable reflector of radio waves and as such useful in communication

1948

Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett (United Kingdom, 1897 - 1974)

for his discoveries in the field of cosmic radiation

1949

Hideki Yukawa(Japan, 1907-07-23 - 1981-09-09)

Prediction of the existence of mesons

1950

C. F. Powell (United Kingdom)

1951

Sir J. D. Cockcroft (United Kingdom)

E. Th. S. Walton (Ireland)

1952

Felix Bloch (USA, 1905-10-23 - 1983-09-10)

Edward M. Purcell (USA, *1912-08-30)

Development of a novel precision method of nuclear magnetism (NMR)

1953

F. Zernike (Netherlands)

1954

Max Born (United Kingdom, Germany, 1882-12-11 - 1970-01-05)

Walther Bothe (Germany, 1891-01-08 - 1957-02-08)

1955

P. Kusch (USA)

W. E. Lamb (USA)

1956

John Bardeen (USA, 1908-05-23 - 1991-01-30)

Walter H. Brattain (USA, 1902-02-10 - 1987-10-14)

William Shockley (USA, *1910-02-13)

Development of the transistor

1957

T. D. Lee (China)

Ch. N. Yang (China)

1958

I. M. Frank (Soviet Union)

I. E. Tamm (Soviet Union)

P. A. Cherenkov (Soviet Union)

1959

O. Chamberlain (USA)

E. Segre (USA, Italy)

1960

D. A. Glaser (USA)

1961

R. Hofstadter (USA)

Rudolf Mößbauer (Germany, *1929-01-29)

1962

L. D. Landau (Soviet Union)

1963

Maria Goeppert-Mayer (USA, Germany)

H. D. Jensen (Germany)

Eugene Paul Wigner (USA, Hungary, 1902-02-17 - 1995-01-03)

1964

N. Basov (Soviet Union, *1922-12-14)

A. Prokhorov (Soviet Union, *1916-07-11)

Charles Townes (USA, *1915-07-28)

Laser, Maser

1965

Richard P. Feynman (USA, 1918-05-11 - 1988-02-15)

J. Schwinger (USA)

S. Tomonaga (Japan)

1966

A. Kastler (France)

1967

Hans A. Bethe (USA, Germany, *1906-07-02)

Studies on the theory of nuclear reactions

1968

L. W. Alvarez (USA)

1969

M. Gell-Mann (USA)

1970

H. Alfvén (Sweden)

L. Néel (France)

1971

D. Gabor (United Kingdom)

1972

John Bardeen (USA, 1908-05-23 - 1991-01-30)

L. N. Cooper (USA)

J. R. Schrieffer (USA)

Theory of superconductivity

1973

L. Esaki (Japan)

I. Giaever (USA, Norway)

B. Josephson (United Kingdom)

1974

M. Ryle (United Kingdom)

A. Hewish (United Kingdom)

1975

A. Bohr (Denmark)

B. Mottelson (Denmark)

J. Rainwater (USA)

1976

B. Richter (USA)

S. Ting (USA)

1977

Ph. W. Anderson (USA)

J. v. Vleck (USA)

Neville F. Mott (United Kingdom, 1905-09-30 - 1996-08-08)

1978

P. L. Kapitsa (Soviet Union, 1894-06-26 - 1984-04-08)

A. Penzias (USA)

R. Wilson (USA)

1979

Sheldon Lee Glashow (USA, *1932-12-05)

Steven Weinberg (USA, *1933-05-03)

Unification of the weak and electromagnetic interaction

A. Salam (Pakistan)

1980

J. W. Cronin (USA)

V. L. Fitch (USA)

1981

N. Bloembergen (USA)

A. L. Schawlow (USA)

Kai Manne Siegbahn (Sweden, *1918-04-20)

1982

Kenneth G. Wilson (USA, *1936-06-08)

Theory of phase transitions and critical phenomena

1983

S. Chandrasekhar (USA)

William A. Fowler (USA, *1911-08-09)

Importance of nuclear reactions for the formation of chemical elements in the universe

1984

Carlo Rubbia (Italy, *1934)

Simon van der Meer (Netherlands, *1925-11-24)

Basic studies on particle physics

1985

Klaus v. Klitzing (Germany, *1943-06-28)

Discovery of the quantum Hall effect

1986

Ernst Ruska (Germany, 1906-12-25 - 1988-05-27)

Gerd Binnig (Germany, *1947-07-20)

Heinrich Rohrer (Switzerland, *1933-06-06)

Electron microscope and raster tunnel microscope, respectively

1987

Johannes Georg Bednorz (Germany, *1950-05-16)

Karl Alex Müller (Switzerland, *1927-04-20)

High temperature superconductors

1988

Leon Max Lederman (USA)

Melvin Schwartz (USA)

Jack Steinberger (USA)

1989

Wolfgang Paul (Germany, *1913-08-10)

Hans Georg Dehmelt (USA, Germany)

Norman Foster Ramsey (USA, *1915-08-27)

1990

Jerome I. Friedman (USA, *1930-03-28)

Henry W. Kendall (USA, *1926-12-09)

Richard E. Taylor (Canada, *1929-11-02)

Inelastic scattering of electrons by protons and bound neutrons, development of the quark model

1991

Pierre-Gilles de Gennes (France, *1932)

Theoretical description of ordering phenomena of liquid crystals, polymers, magnets and superconductors

1992

Georges Charpak (France, *1924)

Invention of detectors for the detection of rare interactions of elementary particles

1993

Russell A. Hulse (USA, *1950)

Joseph Taylor jr. (USA, *1941)

1994

Bertram N. Brockhouse (Canada)

Clifford G. Shull (USA)

Studies on neutron beams

1995

Martin L. Perl (USA, *1927)

for the discovery of the tau lepton

Frederick Reines (USA, *1918)

for the detection of the neutrino

1996

David M. Lee (USA, *1931)

Douglas D. Osheroff (USA, *1945)

Robert C. Richardson (USA, *1937)

for their discovery of superfluidity in helium-3

1997

Steven Chu (USA, *1948)

Claude Cohen-Tannoudji (France, *1933)

William D. Phillips (USA, *1948)

for development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light

1998

Robert B. Laughlin (USA, *1950)

Horst L. Störmer (Germany/USA, *1949)

Daniel C. Tsui (USA, *1939)

for their discovery of a new form of quantum fluid with fractionally charged excitations (electrons acting together in strong magnetic fields, fractional quantum Hall effect)

1999

Gerardus 't Hooft (Netherlands, *1946)

Martinus J.G. Veltman (Netherlands, *1931)

for elucidating the quantum structure of electroweak interactions in physics

2000

Zhores I. Alferov (Russia, *1930)

Herbert Kroemer (Germany/USA, *1928)

for developing semiconductor heterostructures used in high-speed- and opto-electronics

Jack S. Kilby (USA, *1923)

for his part in the invention of the integrated circuit

2001

Eric A. Cornell (USA, *1961)

Wolfgang Ketterle (Germany, *1957)

Carl E. Wieman (USA, *1951)

for the achievement of Bose-Einstein condensation in dilute gases of alkali atoms, and for early fundamental studies of the properties of the condensates

2002

Raymond Davis Jr. (USA, *1914)

Masatoshi Koshiba (Japan, *1926)

for pioneering contributions to astrophysics, in particular for the detection of cosmic neutrinos

Riccardo Giacconi (USA, *1931)

for pioneering contributions to astrophysics, which have led to the discovery of cosmic X-ray sources

2003

Alexei A. Abrikosov (Russia and USA, *1928)

Vitaly L. Ginzburg (Russia, *1916)

Anthony J. Leggett (United Kingdom and USA, *1938)

for pioneering contributions to the theory of superconductors and superfluids

2004

David J. Gross (USA, *1941)

H. David Politzer (USA, *1949)

Frank Wilczek (USA, *1951)

for the discovery of asymptotic freedom in the theory of the strong interaction

2005

Roy J. Glauber (USA, *1925)

for his contribution to the quantum theory of optical coherence

John L. Hall (USA, *1934)

Theodor W. Hänsch (Germany, *1941)

for their contributions to the development of laser-based precision spectroscopy, including the optical frequency comb technique

2006

John C. Mather (USA, *1946)

George F. Smoot (USA, *1945)

for their discovery of the blackbody form and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation (supporting the Big Bang theory)

2007

Albert Fert (France, *1938)

Peter Grünberg (Germany, *1939)

for the discovery of giant magnetoresistance (GMR)

2008

Yoichiro Nambu (USA, *1921)

for the discovery of the mechanism of spontaneous broken symmetry in subatomic physics

Makoto Kobayashi (Japan, *1944)

Toshihide Maskawa (Japan, *1940)

for the discovery of the origin of the broken symmetry which predicts the existence of at least three families of quarks in nature

2009

Charles K. Kao (China and United Kingdom, *1933)

for groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication

Willard S. Boyle (USA, *1924 in Canada)

George E. Smith (USA, *1930)

for the invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit, the CCD sensor