Nobel Prize for Chemistry

Updated September 9, 2022 | Infoplease Staff

The following table lists every winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, from 1901 through 2016. For years not listed, no award was made.


1901
Jacobus H. van't Hoff (Netherlands), for laws of chemical dynamics and osmotic pressure in solutions
1902
Emil Fischer (Germany), for experiments in sugar and purin groups of substances
1903
Svante A. Arrhenius (Sweden), for his electrolytic theory of dissociation
1904
Sir William Ramsay (U.K.), for discovery and determination of place of inert gaseous elements in air
1905
Adolf von Baeyer (Germany), for work on organic dyes and hydroaromatic combinations
1906
Henri Moissan (France), for isolation of fluorine, and introduction of electric furnace
1907
Eduard Buchner (Germany), discovery of cell-less fermentation and investigations in biological chemistry
1908
Sir Ernest Rutherford (U.K.), for investigations into disintegration of elements
1909
Wilhelm Ostwald (Germany), for work on catalysis and investigations into chemical equilibrium and reaction rates
1910
Otto Wallach (Germany), for work in the field of alicyclic compounds
1911
Marie Curie (France), for discovery of elements radium and polonium
1912
Victor Grignard (France), for reagent discovered by him; and Paul Sabatier (France), for methods of hydrogenating organic compounds
1913
Alfred Werner (Switzerland), for linking up atoms within the molecule
1914
Theodore W. Richards (U.S.), for determining atomic weight of many chemical elements
1915
Richard Willstätter (Germany), for research into coloring matter of plants, especially chlorophyll
1918
Fritz Haber (Germany), for synthetic production of ammonia
1920
Walther Nernst (Germany), for work in thermochemistry
1921
Frederick Soddy (U.K.), for investigations into origin and nature of isotopes
1922
Francis W. Aston (U.K.), for discovery of isotopes in nonradioactive elements and for discovery of the whole number rule
1923
Fritz Pregl (Austria), for method of microanalysis of organic substances discovered by him
1925
In 1926, the 1925 prize was awarded to Richard Zsigmondy (Germany), for work on the heterogeneous nature of colloid solutions
1926
Theodor Svedberg (Sweden), for work on disperse systems
1927
In 1928, the 1927 prize was awarded to Heinrich Wieland (Germany), for investigations of bile acids and kindred substances
1928
Adolf Windaus (Germany), for investigations on constitution of the sterols and their connection with vitamins
1929
Sir Arthur Harden (U.K.) and Hans K. A. S. von Euler-Chelpin (Sweden), for research of fermentation of sugars
1930
Hans Fischer (Germany), for work on coloring matter of blood and leaves and for his synthesis of hemin
1931
Karl Bosch and Friedrich Bergius (both Germany), for invention and development of chemical high-pressure methods
1932
Irving Langmuir (U.S.), for work in realm of surface chemistry
1934
Harold C. Urey (U.S.), for discovery of heavy hydrogen
1935
Frédéric and Irène Joliot-Curie (both France), for synthesis of new radioactive elements
1936
Peter J. W. Debye (Netherlands), for investigations on dipole moments and diffraction of X-rays and electrons in gases
1937
Walter N. Haworth (U.K.), for research on carbohydrates and vitamin C; and Paul Karrer (Switzerland), for work on carotenoids, flavins, and vitamins A and B
1938
Richard Kuhn (Germany), for carotenoid study and vitamin research (declined)
1939
Adolf Butenandt (Germany), for work on sexual hormones (declined the prize); and Leopold Ruzicka (Switzerland), for work with polymethylenes
1943
Georg Hevesy De Heves (Hungary), for work on use of isotopes as indicators
1944
Otto Hahn (Germany), for work on atomic fission
1945
Artturi Illmari Virtanen (Finland), for research in the field of conservation of fodder
1946
James B. Sumner (U.S.), for crystallizing enzymes; John H. Northrop and Wendell M. Stanley (both U.S.), for preparing enzymes and virus proteins in pure form
1947
Sir Robert Robinson (U.K.), for research in plant substances
1948
Arne Tiselius (Sweden), for biochemical discoveries and isolation of mouse paralysis virus
1949
William Francis Giauque (U.S.), for research in thermodynamics, especially effects of low temperature
1950
Otto Diels and Kurt Alder (both Germany), for discovery of diene synthesis enabling scientists to study structure of organic matter
1951
Glenn T. Seaborg and Edwin H. McMillan (both U.S.), for discovery of plutonium
1952
Archer John Porter Martin and Richard Laurence Millington Synge (both U.K.), for development of partition chromatography
1953
Hermann Staudinger (Germany), for research in giant molecules
1954
Linus C. Pauling (U.S.), for study of forces holding together protein and other molecules
1955
Vincent du Vigneaud (U.S.), for work on pituitary hormones
1956
Sir Cyril Hinshelwood (U.K.) and Nikolai N. Semenov (U.S.S.R.), for parallel research on chemical reaction kinetics
1957
Sir Alexander Todd (U.K.), for research with chemical compounds that are factors in heredity
1958
Frederick Sanger (U.K.), for determining molecular structure of insulin
1959
Jaroslav Heyrovsky (Czechoslovakia), for development of polarography, an electrochemical method of analysis
1960
Willard F. Libby (U.S.), for “atomic time clock” to measure age of objects by measuring their radioactivity
1961
Melvin Calvin (U.S.), for establishing chemical steps during photosynthesis
1962
Max F. Perutz and John C. Kendrew (U.K.), for mapping protein molecules with X-rays
1963
Carl Ziegler (Germany) and Giulio Natta (Italy), for work in uniting simple hydrocarbons into large molecule substances
1964
Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin (U.K.), for determining structure of compounds needed in combatting pernicious anemia
1965
Robert B. Woodward (U.S.), for work in synthesizing complicated organic compounds
1966
Robert Sanderson Mulliken (U.S.), for research on bond holding atoms together in molecule
1967
Manfred Eigen (Germany), Ronald G. W. Norrish, and George Porter (both U.K.), for work in high-speed chemical reactions
1968
Lars Onsager (U.S.), for development of system of equations in thermodynamics
1969
Derek H. R. Barton (U.K.) and Odd Hassel (Norway), for study of organic molecules
1970
Luis F. Leloir (Argentina), for discovery of sugar nucleotides and their role in biosynthesis of carbohydrates
1971
Gerhard Herzberg (Canada), for contributions to knowledge of electronic structure and geometry of molecules, particularly free radicals
1972
Christian Boehmer Anfinsen, Stanford Moore, and William Howard Stein (all U.S.), for pioneering studies in enzymes
1973
Ernst Otto Fischer (W. Germany) and Geoffrey Wilkinson (U.K.), for work that could solve problem of automobile exhaust pollution
1974
Paul J. Flory (U.S.), for developing analytic methods to study properties and molecular structure of long-chain molecules
1975
John W. Cornforth (Australia) and Vladimir Prelog (Switzerland), for research on structure of biological molecules such as antibiotics and cholesterol
1976
William N. Lipscomb, Jr. (U.S.), for work on the structure and bonding mechanisms of boranes
1977
Ilya Prigogine (Belgium), for contributions to nonequilibrium thermodynamics, particularly the theory of dissipative structures
1978
Peter Mitchell (U.K.), for contributions to the understanding of biological energy transfer
1979
Herbert C. Brown (U.S.) and Georg Wittig (West Germany), for developing a group of substances that facilitate very difficult chemical reactions
1980
Paul Berg, Walter Gilbert (both U.S.), and Frederick Sanger (U.K.), for developing methods to map the structure and function of DNA, the substance that controls the activity of the cell
1981
Roald Hoffmann (U.S.) and Kenichi Fukui (Japan), for applying quantum-mechanics theories to predict the course of chemical reactions
1982
Aaron Klug (U.K.), for research in the detailed structures of viruses and components of life
1983
Henry Taube (U.S.), for research on how electrons transfer between molecules in chemical reactions
1984
R. Bruce Merrifield (U.S.), for research that revolutionized the study of proteins
1985
Herbert A. Hauptman and Jerome Karle (both U.S.), for their outstanding achievements in the development of direct methods for the determination of crystal structures
1986
Dudley R. Herschback, Yuan T. Lee (both U.S.), and John C. Polanyi (Canada), for their work on “reaction dynamics”
1987
Donald J. Cram, Charles J. Pedersen (both U.S.), and Jean-Marie Lehn (France), for wide-ranging research that has included the creation of artificial molecules that can mimic vital chemical reactions of the processes of life
1988
Johann Deisenhofer, Robert Huber, and Hartmut Michel (all West Germany), for unraveling the structure of proteins that play a crucial role in photosynthesis
1989
Thomas R. Cech and Sidney Altman (both U.S.), for their discovery, independently, that RNA could actively aid chemical reactions in the cells
1990
Elias James Corey (U.S.), for developing new ways to synthesize complex molecules ordinarily found in nature
1991
Richard R. Ernst (Switzerland), for refinements he developed in nuclear magnetic-resonance spectroscopy
1992
Rudolph A. Marcus (U.S.), for his mathematical analysis of how the overall energy in a system of interacting molecules changes and induces an electron to jump from one molecule to another
1993
Kary B. Mullis (U.S.) and Michael Smith (Canada), for their contributions to the science of genetics
1994
George A. Olah (U.S.), University of Southern California in Los Angeles, for research that opened new ways to break apart and rebuild compounds of carbon and hydrogen
1995
F. Sherwood Rowland, Mario Molina (both U.S.), and Paul Crutzen (Netherlands), for their pioneering work in explaining the chemical processes that deplete the earth's ozone shield
1996
Richard E. Smalley, Robert F. Curl, Jr. (both U.S.), and Harold W. Kroto (U.K.), for discovery of a new class of carbon molecule
1997
Paul D. Boyer (U.S.), Jens C. Skou (Denmark), and John E. Walker (U.K.), for discoveries about a molecule that allows the human body to store and transfer energy between cells
1998
Walter Kohn (U.S.) and John A. Pople (U.K.), for their developments in the study of the properties of molecules and the chemical processes in which they are involved
1999
Ahmed H. Zewail (Egypt and U.S.), for creating the world's fastest camera, which captures atoms in motion
2000
Alan J. Heeger, Alan G. MacDiarmid (both U.S.), and Hideki Shirakawa (Japan), for the discovery and development of conductive polymers
2001
William S. Knowles (U.S.) and Ryoji Noyori (Japan) “for their work on chirally catalyzed hydrogenation reactions,” and K. Barry Sharpless (U.S.) “for his work on chirally catalyzed oxidation reactions.”
2002
John B. Fenn (U.S.) and Koichi Tanaka (Japan) for ionization methods analyses of biological macromolecules, and Kurt Wüthrich (Switzerland) for determining the three-dimensional structure of biological macromolecules in solution.
2003
Peter Agre and Roderick MacKinnon (both U.S.) for studies on channels in cell walls.
2004
Aaron Ciechanover (Israel), Avram Hershko (Israel), and Irwin Rose (U.S.) “for the discovery of ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation.”
2005
Yves Chauvin (France), Robert H. Grubbs and Richard R. Schrock (both U.S.)
2006
Roger D. Kornberg (U.S.) for “his studies of the molecular basis of eukaryotic transcription”
2007
Gerhard Ertl (Germany) for "his studies of chemical processes on solid surfaces"
2008
Osamu Shimomura, Martin Chalfie, and Roger Tsien (all U.S.) for the discovery of a glowing jellyfish protein that makes cells, tissues, and organs light up
2009
Venkatraman Ramakrishnan (UK), Thomas A. Steitz (U.S.), and Ada E. Yonath (U.S.) for "studies of the structure and function of the ribosome"

2010
Richard F. Heck (U.S.), Ei-ichi Negishi (U.S.), and Akira Suzuki (Japan) for "palladium-catalyzed cross couplings in organic synthesis"

2011
Dan Shechtman (Israel) for "the discovery of quasicrystals"

2012
Jointly to Robert J. Lefkowitz and Brian K. Kobilka (Israel/U.S.) for "studies of G-protein-coupled receptors"

2013
Jointly to Martin Karplus (Austria/France/U.S.), Michael Levitt (South Africa/U.S.), and Arieh Warshel (both U.S.) "for the development of multiscale models for complex chemical systems"

2014
Jointly to Eric Betzig(U.S.), Stefan W. Hell (Romania/Germany), and William E. Moerner (U.S.) "for the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy"

2015
Tomas Lindahl (Sweden/U.K.), Paul Modrich (U.S.), and Aziz Sancar (Turkey/U.S.) for "for mechanistic studies of DNA repair"

2016
Jean-Pierre Sauvage (France), Sir J. Fraser Stoddart (U.K./U.S.), and Bernard L. Feringa (the Netherlands) for "for the design and synthesis of molecular machines"

.com/main/1401features.html
.com/ipa/0/1/0/5/7/8/A0105786.html
Sources +