The Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the 1895 will of Alfred Nobel, who died in 1896. These prizes are awarded for outstanding contributions in chemistry, physics, literature, peace, and physiology or medicine. As dictated by Nobel’s will, the award is administered by the Nobel Foundation and awarded by a committee that consists of five members elected by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. The first Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded in 1901 to Jacobus Henricus van Hoff, of the Netherlands. Each recipient receives a medal, a diploma and a monetary award prize that has varied throughout the years. In 1901, van ‘t Hoff received 150,782 SEK, which is equal to 7,731,004 SEK in December 2007. In 2012, the prize was awarded to Robert Lefkowitz and Brian Kobilka. The award is presented in Stockholm at an annual ceremony on December 10, the anniversary of Nobel’s death.
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was established in the 1895 will of Swedish chemist Alfred Noble.
At least 25 laureates have received the Nobel Prize for contributions in the field of organic chemistry, more than any other field of chemistry. Two winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Germans Richard Kuhn (1938) and Adolf Butenandt (1939), were not allowed by their government to accept the prize. They would later receive a medal and diploma, but not the money. Frederick Sanger is one out of two laureates to be awarded the Nobel prize twice in the same subject, in 1958 and 1980. John Bardeen is the other and was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in 1956 and 1972. Two others have won Nobel Prizes twice, one in chemistry and one in another subject: Maria Skłodowska-Curie (physics in 1903, chemistry in 1911) and Linus Carl Pauling (chemistry in 1954, peace in 1962). Four women have won the prize: Maria Skłodowska-Curie, Irène Joliot-Curie (1935), Dorothy Hodgkin (1964), and Ada Yonath (2009). As of 2012, the prize has been awarded to 162 individuals. There have been eight years in which the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was not awarded.
Nobel Prize Winners in Chemistry Alfred Noble:
He was a Swedish chemist and the inventor of dynamite. Nobel recognized the destructive power of dynamite, but hoped that such power would lead to an end to warfare. However, dynamite was quickly exploited to develop newer, more deadly weapons. Not wanting to be remembered as the “merchant of death”, an epitaph given him by a French newspaper in a mistaken obituary, Nobel wrote his will such that it would establish prizes in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and peace to “those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind.” A sixth category, economics, was added in 1969. It took some time to implement Nobel’s wishes. The first Nobel prize was awarded in 1901, which was five years after Alfred Nobel’s death. Note that the Nobel prize can only be won by individuals, there can be no more than three winners in a given year, and money is split equally between multiple winners. Each winner gets a gold medal, a sum of money, and a diploma.
List of Nobel Prize Winners in Chemistry:
Year | Laureate | Country | Research |
---|---|---|---|
1901 | Jacobus H. van’t Hoff | Netherlands | Discovered laws of chemical dynamics and osmotic pressure in solutions |
1902 | Emil Hermann Fischer | Germany | Synthetic studies of sugar and purine groups |
1903 | Svante A. Arrhenius | Sweden | Theory of electrolytic dissociation |
1904 | Sir William Ramsay | Great Britain | Discovered the noble gases |
1905 | Adolf von Baeyer | Germany | Organic dyes and hydroaromatic compounds |
1906 | Henri Moissan | France | Studied and isolated the element fluorine |
1907 | Eduard Buchner | Germany | Biochemical studies, discovered fermentation without cells |
1908 | Sir Ernest Rutherford | Great Britain | Decay of the elements, chemistry of radioactive substances |
1909 | Wilhelm Ostwald | Germany | Catalysis, chemical equilibria, and reaction rates |
1910 | Otto Wallach | Germany | Alicyclic compounds |
1911 | Marie Curie | Poland-France | Discovered radium and polonium |
1912 | Victor Grignard Paul Sabatier |
France France |
Grignard’s reagent Hydrogenation of organic compounds in the presence of finely divided metals |
1913 | Alfred Werner | Switzerland | Bonding relations of atoms in molecules (inorganic chemistry) |
1914 | Theodore W. Richards | United States | Determined atomic weights |
1915 | Richard M. Willstätter | Germany | Investigated plant pigments, particularly chlorophyll |
1916 | The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section | ||
1917 | The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section | ||
1918 | Fritz Haber | Germany | Synthesized ammonia from its elements |
1919 | The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section | ||
1920 | Walther H. Nernst | Germany | Studies on thermodynamics |
1921 | Frederick Soddy | Great Britain | Chemistry of radioactive substances, occurrence and nature of the isotopes |
1922 | Francis William Aston | Great Britain | Discovered several isotopes, mass spectrograph |
1923 | Fritz Pregl | Austria | Microanalysis of organic compounds |
1924 | The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section | ||
1925 | Richard A. Zsigmondy | Germany, Austria | Colloid chemistry (ultramicroscope) |
1926 | Theodor Svedberg | Sweden | Disperse systems (ultracentrifuge) |
1927 | Heinrich O. Wieland | Germany | Constitution of bile acids |
1928 | Adolf Otto Reinhold Windaus | Germany | Study of sterols and their relation with vitamins (vitamin D) |
1929 | Sir Arthur Harden Hans von Euler-Chelpin |
Great Britain Sweden, Germany |
Studied fermentation of sugars and enzymes |
1930 | Hans Fischer | Germany | Studied blood and plant pigments, synthesized hemin |
1931 | Friedrich Bergius Karl Bosch |
Germany Germany |
Developed chemical high-pressure processes |
1932 | Irving Langmuir | United States | Surface chemistry |
1933 | The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section. | ||
1934 | Harold Clayton Urey | United States | Discovery of heavy hydrogen (deuterium) |
1935 | Frederic Joliot-Curie Iréne Joliot-Curie |
France France |
Syntheses of new radioactive elements (artificial radioactivity) |
1936 | Peter J. W. Debye | Netherlands, Germany | Studied dipole moments and the diffraction of X rays and electron beams by gases |
1937 | Walter N. Haworth Paul Karrer |
Great Britain Switzerland |
Studied carbohydrates and vitamin C Studied carotenoids and flavins and vitamins A and B2 |
1938 | Richard Kuhn | Germany | Studied carotenoids and vitamins |
1939 | Adolf F. J. Butenandt Lavoslav Stjepan Ruzicka |
Germany Switzerland |
Studies on sexual hormones Studied polymethylenes and higher terpenes |
1940 | The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section | ||
1941 | The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section. | ||
1942 | The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section. | ||
1943 | Georg de Hevesy | Hungary | Application of isotopes as indicators in the investigation of chemical processes |
1944 | Otto Hahn | Germany | Discovered nuclear fission of atoms |
1945 | Artturi Ilmari Virtanen | Finland | Discoveries in the area of agricultural and food chemistry, method of preservation of fodder |
1946 | James B. Sumner John H. Northrop Wendell M. Stanley |
United States United States United States |
Prepared enzymes and virus proteins in pure form Crystallizability of enzymes |
1947 | Sir Robert Robinson | Great Britain | Studied alkaloids |
1948 | Arne W. K. Tiselius | Sweden | Analysis using electrophoresis and adsorption, discoveries concerning serum proteins |
1949 | William F. Giauque | United States | Contributions to chemical thermodynamics, properties at extremely low temperatures (adiabatic demagnetization) |
1950 | Kurt Alder Otto P. H. Diels |
Germany Germany |
Developed diene synthesis |
1951 | Edwin M. McMillan Glenn T. Seaborg |
United States United States |
Discoveries in the chemistry of transuranium elements |
1952 | Archer J. P. Martin Richard L. M. Synge |
Great Britain Great Britain |
Invented distribution chromatography |
1953 | Hermann Staudinger | Germany | Discoveries in the area of macromolecular chemistry |
1954 | Linus C. Pauling | United States | Studied the nature of the chemical bond (molecular structure of proteins) |
1955 | Vincent du Vigneaud | United States | Synthesized a polypeptide hormone |
1956 | Sir Cyril Norman Hinshelwood Nikolai N. Semenov |
Great Britain Soviet Union |
Mechanisms of chemical reactions |
1957 | Sir Alexander R. Todd | Great Britain | Studied nucleotides and their coenzymes |
1958 | Frederick Sanger | Great Britain | Structure of proteins, especially insulin |
1959 | Jaroslav Heyrovský | Czech Republic | Polarography |
1960 | Willard F. Libby | United States | Application of carbon 14 for age determinations (radiocarbon dating) |
1961 | Melvin Calvin | United States | Studied the assimilation of carbonic acid by plants (photosynthesis) |
1962 | John C. Kendrew Max F. Perutz |
Great Britain Great Britain, Austria |
Studied the structures of globulin proteins |
1963 | Giulio Natta Karl Ziegler |
Italy Germany |
Chemistry and technology of high polymers |
1964 | Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin | Great Britain | Structure determination of biologically important substances by means of X rays |
1965 | Robert B. Woodward | United States | Syntheses of natural products |
1966 | Robert S. Mulliken | United States | Studied chemical bonds and the electron structure of molecules using the orbital method |
1967 | Manfred Eigen Ronald G. W. Norrish George Porter |
Germany Great Britain Great Britain |
Investigated extremely fast chemical reactions |
1968 | Lars Onsager | United States, Norway | Studied the thermodynamics of irreversible processes |
1969 | Derek H. R. Barton Odd Hassel |
Great Britain Norway |
Development of the concept of conformation |
1970 | Luis F. Leloir | Argentina | Discovery of sugar nucleotides and their role in the biosynthesis of carbohydrates |
1971 | Gerhard Herzberg | Canada | Electron structure and geometry of molecules, particularly of free radicals (molecular spectroscopy) |
1972 | Christian B. Anfinsen Stanford Moore William H. Stein |
United States United States United States |
Studied ribonuclease (Anfinsen) Studied the active center of ribonuclease (Moore & Stein) |
1973 | Ernst Otto Fischer Geoffrey Wilkinson |
Germany Great Britain |
Chemistry of metal-organic sandwich compounds |
1974 | Paul J. Flory | United States | Physical chemistry of macromolecules |
1975 | John Cornforth Vladimir Prelog |
Australia – Great Britain Yugoslavia – Switzerland |
Stereochemistry of enzyme catalysis reactions Studied the stereochemistry of organic molecules and reactions |
1976 | William N. Lipscomb | United States | Structure of boranes |
1977 | Ilya Prigogine | Belgium | Contributions to the thermodynamics of irreversible processes, particularly to the theory of dissipative structures |
1978 | Peter Mitchell | Great Britain | Studied biological energy transfer, development of the chemiosmotic theory |
1979 | Herbert C. Brown Georg Wittig |
United States Germany |
Development of (organic) boron and phosphorous compounds |
1980 | Paul Berg Walter Gilbert Frederick Sanger |
United States United States Great Britain |
Studied the biochemistry of nucleic acids, particularly hybrid DNA (technology of gene surgery) (Berg) Determined base sequences in nucleic acids (Gilbert & Sanger) |
1981 | Kenichi Fukui Roald Hoffmann |
Japan United States |
Theories on the progress of chemical reactions (frontier orbital theory) |
1982 | Aaron Klug | South Africa | Developed crystallographic methods for the elucidation of biologically important nucleic acid protein complexes |
1983 | Henry Taube | Canada | Reaction mechanisms of electron transfer, especially with metal complexes |
1984 | Robert Bruce Merrifield | United States | Method for the preparation of peptides and proteins |
1985 | Herbert A. Hauptman Jerome Karle |
United States United States |
Developed direct methods for the determination of crystal structures |
1986 | Dudley R. Herschbach Yuan T. Lee John C. Polanyi |
United States United States Canada |
Dynamics of chemical elementary processes |
1987 | Donald James Cram Charles J. Pedersen Jean-Marie Lehn |
United States United States France |
Development of molecules with structurally specific interaction of high selectivity |
1988 | Johann Deisenhofer Robert Huber Hartmut Michel |
Germany Germany Germany |
Determined the three-dimensional structure of a photosynthetic reaction center |
1989 | Thomas Robert Cech Sidney Altman |
United States United States |
Discovered the catalytic properties of ribonucleic acid (RNA) |
1990 | Elias James Corey | United States | Developed novel methods for the synthesis of complex natural compounds (retrosynthetic analysis) |
1991 | Richard R. Ernst | Switzerland | Developed high resolution nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) |
1992 | Rudolph A. Marcus | Canada – United States | Theories of electron transfer |
1993 | Kary B. Mullis Michael Smith |
United States Great Britain – Canada |
Invention of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) Development of site specific mutagenesis |
1994 | George A. Olah | United States | Carbocations |
1995 | Paul Crutzen Mario Molina F. Sherwood Rowland |
Netherlands Mexico – United States United States |
Work in atmospheric chemistry, particularly concerning the formation and decomposition of ozone |
1996 | Harold W. Kroto Robert F. Curl, Jr. Richard E. Smalley |
Great Britain United States United States |
Discovered fullerenes |
1997 | Paul Delos Boyer John E. Walker Jens C. Skou |
United States Great Britain Denmark |
Elucidated the enzymatic mechanism underlying the synthesis of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) first discovery of an ion-transporting enzyme, Na+, K+-ATPase |
1998 | Walter Kohn John A. Pople |
United States Great Britain |
Development of the density-functional theory (Kohn) Development of computational methods in quantum chemistry (GAUSSIAN computer programs) (Pope) |
1999 | Ahmed H. Zewail | Egypt – United States | Studied the transition states of chemical reactions using femtosecond spectroscopy |
2000 | Alan J. Heeger Alan G. MacDiarmid Hideki Shirakawa |
United States United States Japan |
Discovered and developed conductive polymers |
2001 | William S. Knowles Ryoji Noyori Karl Barry Sharpless |
United States Japan United States |
Work on chirally catalysed hydrogenation reactions (Knowles & Noyori) Work on chirally catalysed oxidation reactions (Sharpless) |
2002 | John Bennett Fenn Jokichi Takamine Kurt Wüthrich |
United States Japan Switzerland |
Developed soft desorption ionisation methods for mass spectrometric analyses of biological macromolecules (Fenn & Tanaka) Developed nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy for determining the three-dimensional structure of biological macromolecules in solution (Wüthrich) |
2003 | Peter Agre Roderick MacKinnon |
United States United States |
Discovered water channels for transport of water in cell membranes Performed structural and mechanistic studies of ion channels in cells |
2004 | Aaron Ciechanover Avaram Hershko Irwin Rose |
Israel Israel United States |
Discovered and elucidated the process of ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation |
2005 | Yves Chauvin Robert H. Grubbs Richard R. Schrock |
France United States United States |
Developed the metathesis method of organic synthesis, allowing for advances in ‘green’ chemistry |
2006 | Roger D. Kornberg | United States | “for his studies of the molecular basis of eukaryotic transcription” |
2007 | Gerhard Ertl | Germany | “for his studies of chemical processes on solid surfaces” |
2008 | Shimomura Osamu Martin Chalfie Roger Y. Tsien |
United States | “for the discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein, GFP” |
2009 | Venkatraman Ramakrishnan Thomas A. Steitz Ada E. Yonath |
United Kingdom United States Isreal |
“for studies of the structure and function of the ribosome” |
2010 | Ei-ichi Negishi Akira Suzuki Richard Heck |
Japan Japan United States |
“for the development of palladium-catalyzed cross coupling” |
2011 | Daniel Shechtman | Israel | “for the discovery of quasi-crystals” |
2012 | Robert Lefkowitz and Brian Kobilka | United States | “for studies of G-protein-coupled receptors” |
2013 | Martin Karplus, Michael Levitt, Arieh Warshel | United States | “for the development of multiscale models for complex chemical systems” |
2014 | Eric Betzig, Stefan W. Hell, William E. Moerner (USA) | United States, Germany, United States | “for the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy” |
This are the list of the Nobel laureates in Chemistry:
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