Nobel Prize Chronology

Frederick Passey of France and Jean Henri Dunant of Switzerland share the first Nobel Peace Prize, Roentgen (physics), Behring (medicine) Prudhomme (Liturature). Ref

1903

The Nobel Prize for physics was awarded to Pierre and Marie Curie and fellow physicist Henri Becquerel for their work with radioactivity. Marie Curie, the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, had coined the term radioactivity.

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1906

Aug 05

Wassily Leontief, Russian-born Nobel Prize-winning American economist (1973), is born.

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1907

Ruyard Kipling receives Nobel prize for literature.

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1910

JD Van de Waals wins Nobel Prize for physics.

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1911

Tobias Asser given Nobel prize for peace.

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Dec 31

Marie Curie receives her 2nd Nobel Prize.

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1913

Kamerlingh Onnes receives Nobel prize for physics.

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1914

Jan 26

Vatican puts Belgian Nobel winner Maeterlinck's works in their index.

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1915

Nov 12

Theodore W. Richards of Harvard University became the first American to be awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry. Richards was awarded the prize in Stockholm, Sweden.

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1917

The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to the International Red Cross.

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1922

Nobel awarded to Fridtjof Nansen, Niels Bohr & Albert Einstein.

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1924

Willem Einthoven awarded Nobel for medicine.

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1925

George Bernard Shaw awarded Nobel for literature.

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1930

Nov 05

Sinclair Lewis, novelist, playwright, and social critic, won the Nobel Prize for Literature. He was the first American to win the prize and went to him “for his vigorous and graphic art of description and his ability to create, with wit and humour, new types of characters.” Lewis wrote 22 novels and three plays.

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1931

Jane Addams became a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, the first American woman so honored.

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1936

Stockholm: physicist PBJ Debije receives Nobel prize for chemistry.

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1948

Nov 04

T.S. Eliot (Thomas Stearns Eliot) won the Nobel Prize for literature “for his outstanding, pioneer contribution to present-day poetry.”

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1950

Dr. Ralph Bunche became the first black to receive a Nobel Peace Prize. He was undersecretary of the U.N. at the time.

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1952

Oct 23

The Nobel Prize for Medicine is awarded to Ukranian-born microbiologist Selmart A. Waksman for his discovery of an effective treatment of tuberculosis.

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1953

Feb 28

The scientists James D. Watson and Francis H.C. Crick discovered the double-helix structure of DNA, the molecule that contains the human genes, in a Cambridge University laboratory. They would win the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1962.

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1954

Nov 03

Linus Pauling wins Nobel Chemistry Prize

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Albert Schweitzer receives Nobel Peace Prize.

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1957

Oct 17

French author Albert Camus was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature.

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1958

Oct 23

Russian poet and novelist Boris Pasternak was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature for writing "Dr. Zhivago". He,however, was forced to refuse the honor because of negative Soviet reaction.

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1961

May 28

Observer article about prisoners by Brit lawyer Peter Benenson leads to founding of Amnesty International (Nobel Peace Prize 1977).

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1962

Oct 18

Dr Watson (US) & Drs Crick & Wilkins (Britain) win Nobel Prize for Medicine for work in determining structure of DNA.

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Oct 25

Author John Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize for Literature “for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humour and keen social perception.”

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Dr. Linus Pauling becomes first individual to win second Nobel prize (Peace); won Chemistry 1954.

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1964

Jun 12

Nelson Mandela, South African antiapartheid leader, is sentenced to life imprisonment for conspiracy to overthrow the government.

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The youngest person to receive a Nobel Peace Prize received the $54,000 award this day. Martin Luther King, Jr. donated the dollars to support civil rights in the U.S.

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Oct 22

Jean Paul Satre declines the Nobel Prize for Literature.

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Rev. Martin Luther King receives the Nobel Prize for Peace. He is the youngest person to have earned the award. (All Nobel Prizes are awarded on December 10th, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death.)

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1965

Oct 21

The Nobel prize for chemistry was awarded to Robert Burns Woodward for “for his outstanding achievements in the art of organic synthesis.”

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1966

Israeli Shmuel Yosef Agnon wins Nobel Prize for literature; Nobel for chemistry awarded to Robert S Mulliken.

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1970

Soviet author Alexander Solzhenitsyn was named winner of the Nobel Prize for literature.

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Oct 20

Norman Ernest Borlaug, credited with saving millions of people from starvation in the ‘Green Revolution’, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

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Nov 18

Nobel Prize-winner Linus Pauling declared that large doses of Vitamin C could ward off the common cold.

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1971

West German union chancellor W Burns receives Nobel Peace Prize.

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1973

Oct 16

Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho were named winners of the Nobel Peace Prize; Tho declined the award.

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1974

Feb 13

Dissident Nobel writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn expelled from USSR.

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1975

Soviet scientist Andrei Sakharov was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

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Dec 09

Jelena Bonner receives Andrei Sacharov's Nobel Prize.

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Andrei Sakharov's wife Yelena Bonner, accepts his Nobel Peace Prize.

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1976

Oct 21

American Saul Bellow won the Nobel Prize for Literature “for the human understanding and subtle analysis of contemporary culture that are combined in his work.”

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1978

Isaac Bashevis Singer wins the Nobel Prize for literature.

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Oct 27

The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded jointly to Israel’s Menachem Begin and Egypt’s Anwar Sadat. They were honored for the Camp David Agreement, which brought about a negotiated peace between Egypt and Israel.

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In Oslo, Menachem Begin & Anwar Sadat accept 1978 Nobel Peace Prize.

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1979

Allan McLeod Cormack & Godfrey Newbold Hounsfield win Nobel Prize for medicine for developing the CAT scan.

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Oct 17

Mother Teresa of India was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her years of work on behalf of the destitute in Calcutta.

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1983

Solidarity founder Lech Walesa was named winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, founder of Solidarity, campaigner for human rights, for his efforts on behalf of Polish workers.

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Danuta Walesa accepts the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of her husband Lech Walesa, the Polish labor leader

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1984

May 12

South Africa prisoner Nelson Mandela sees his wife for first time in 22 years.

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Oct 16

Bishop Desmond Tutu, General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for “his role as a unifying leader figure in the campaign to resolve the problem of apartheid in South Africa.”

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South African Bishop Desmond Tutu received the Nobel Peace Prize.

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1985

Feb 03

In South Africa, Desmond Tutu, 53, became Johannesburg's first black Anglican bishop.

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Oct 12

Intl Physicians for Prevention of Nuclear War receives Nobel Prize.

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1986

Sep 07

Bishop Desmond Tutu becomes the archbishop of Cape Town, two years after winning the Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent opposition to apartheid in South Africa. As archbishop, he was the first black to head South Africa's Anglican church. (XDG, p 4A, 9/7/2000)

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Holocaust survivor and human rights advocate Elie Wiesel was named winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

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Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel accepts 1986 Nobel Peace Prize.

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1987

Oct 13

Costa Rican Pres Oscar Arias wins Nobel Peace Prize.

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1988

Sep 29

UN peacekeeping forces win Nobel Peace prize.

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Oct 18

French economist Maurice Allais won the Nobel Prize for Economics (or, more precisely, the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel) “for his pioneering contributions to the theory of markets and efficient utilization of resources.”

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Oct 19

Americans Leon Lederman, Melvin Schwartz and Jack Steinberger were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics “for their neutrino beam method and the discoveries made using this.”

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Oct 19

Hartmut Michel, Robert Huber and Johann Deisenhofer of West Germany were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry “for the determination of the three-dimensional structure of a photosynthetic reaction centre.”

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1989

May 17

Nelson Mandela receives a BA degree from University of South Africa.

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Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the 14th Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso), was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for nonviolent efforts to free his homeland from China. The Committee’s citation read, “The Committee wants to emphasize the fact that the Dalai Lama in his struggle for the liberation of Tibet consistently has opposed the use of violence. He has instead advocated peaceful solutions based upon tolerance and mutual respect in order to preserve the historical and cultural heritage of his people.”

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Dec 13

South African President F.W. de Klerk met for the first time with imprisoned African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela, at de Klerk's office in Cape Town.

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1990

Feb 02

South Africa's President F[rederik] W[illem] de Klerk promises to free Nelson Mandela & legalizes African National Congress & 60 other political organizations.

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Feb 10

South Africa President de Klerk announces Nelson Mandela will be free Feb 11th.

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Feb 11

Nelson Mandela is released from in Paarl, South Africa, after being detained for 27 years as a political prisoner fighting against Apartheid.

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Jun 20

Nelson Mandela lands in NYC to begin a tour of the US.

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Jun 21

At Yankee Stadium rally, Nelson Mandela dons a NY Yankee baseball cap & proclaims "I am a Yankee!".

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American doctors Joseph E. Murray and E. Donnall Thomas won the Nobel Prize for medicine, “for their discoveries concerning organ and cell transplantation in the treatment of human disease.”

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Octavio Paz wins Nobel Prize for literature.

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Oct 15

Mikhail Gorbachev, President of the USSR (1985-1991), won the Nobel Prize for Peace. Gorbachev is widely credited for “helping to end the Cold War, change the map of Europe and usher in a new era in world affairs.”

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A stand-in for Mikhail Gorbachev accepted the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize. (XDG, p 4A, 12/10/2000)

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Dec 13

President De Klerk of South Africa meets with Nelson Mandela to talk of end of apartheid.

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1991

Jun 05

Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev delivered his delayed Nobel Peace lecture in Oslo, Norway, warning that Western failure to heed his call for economic aid could dash hopes for a peaceful new world order.

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Oct 03

Nadine Gordimer is named the winner of the Nobel Prize in literature. (XDG, p 4A, 10/3/2001)

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Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was named winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for her struggle to achieve democracy in her homeland.

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1992

Apr 13

Nelson Mandela announces he will seek divorce from Winnie.

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West Indian poet Derek Walcott was the winner of the 1992 Nobel Prize for literature.

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1993

Oct 07

Toni Morrison was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature. She was the first black woman to received the award and one of America’s most significant novelists of the twentieth century. She is the Author of six major Novels, The Bluest Eye, Sula, Song of Solomon, Tar Baby, Beloved and Jazz. Song of Solomon won the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1977 and Beloved won the Pulitzer Prize in 1988.

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Oct 15

African National Congress leader Nelson (Rolihlahla) Mandela and South African President F.W. (Frederik Willem) de Klerk were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to usher in reforms that 1) ended South Africa’s era of white minority rule and 2) laid the foundations for democracy.

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South African President FW de Klerk and African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela accepted their Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo Norway. (XDG, p 4A, 12/10/2003)

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1994

Feb 09

Nelson Mandela becomes the first black president of South Africa.

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Mar 07

ANC chief Nelson Mandela rejects demand by white right-wingers for separate homeland in South Africa.

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Apr 26

Nelson Mandela wins the presidency in South Africa's first multiracial elections.

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May 02

Nelson Mandela claimed victory in the wake of South Africa's first democratic elections; President F.W. de Klerk acknowledged defeat.

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May 06

Nelson Mandela & his ANC, finally confirmed winners in South Africa.

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May 09

South Africa's newly elected parliament chose Nelson Mandela to be the country's first black president.

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May 10

Nelson Mandela sworn in as South Africa's first Black president at 12:17 p.m.; apartheid official end.

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May 27

Nobel Prize-winning author Alexander Solzhenitsyn returned to Russia to the emotional cheers of thousands after spending two decades in exile.

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Palestine Liberation Organization chairman Yasser Arafat, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin shared the Nobel Peace Prize “for their efforts to diminish the part played by nuclear arms in international politics and in the longer run to eliminate such arms.”

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Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin received the Nobel Peace Prize, pledging to pursue their mission of healing the anguished Middle East.

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1995

Jul 10

Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi was freed from almost six years of house arrest in Yangon, Myanmar.

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Americans Mario Molina and Sherwood Rowland and Dutch Scientist Paul Crutzen win the Nobel Prize in chemistry for their controversial work warning that gases once used in spary cans and other items were eating away at the Earth's ozone layer. (Xenia Daily Gazette, p. 4A, 10/11/2000).

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1996

Oct 03

Polish poet Wislawa Szymborska is named the winner of the Nobel Prize in literature. (XDG, p 4A, 10/3/2001)

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Seamus Heaney of Ireland won the 1995 Nobel Prize in literature.

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American economist William Vickrey (Columbia University) and British professor James Mirrlees (Cambridge University) were winners of the Nobel Prize for Economics, “for their fundamental contributions to the economic theory of incentives under asymmetric information.”

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Americans Edward B. Lewis and Eric F. Wieschaus and German Christiane Nuesslein-Volhard won the Nobel Prize for medicine for studies of how genes control early embryo development. (Ref 6)

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Oct 10

University of Chicago professor Robert E. Lucas won the Nobel Prize in economics for demonstrating how people's fears and expectations can frustrate policymakers' efforts to shape the economy.

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Americans Mario Molina and Sherwood Rowland and Dutch scientist Paul Crutzen won the Nobel Prize in chemistry for their controversial work warning that gases once used in spray cans and other items were eating away Earth's ozone layer.

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Roman Catholic Bishop Filipe Ximenes Belo and exiled activist Jose Ramos Horta, opponents of Indonesia's occupation of East Timor, accepted the Nobel Peace Prize.

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1997

Oct 06

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for 1997 was awarded to American biology professor Stanley B. Prusiner “for his discovery of Prions a new biological principle of infection”.

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Oct 10

Jodie Williams, key organizer of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, won the Nobel Peace Prize. And what did she say was her secret weapon for organizing 1,000 different human rights and arms control groups on six continents? “E-mail.”

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Dec 20

President Nelson Mandela steps down as leader of South Africa's governing African National Congress. (XDG, p 4A, 12/20/2002)

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1998

Outspoken Portuguese novelist Jose Saramago wins the Nobel Prize for Literature.

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Oct 16

David Trimble and John Hume were named recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize for brokering the Northern Ireland peace accord.

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1999

Feb 05

Wassily Leontief, Russian-born Nobel Prize-winning American economist (1973), dies at age 92.

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Sep 30

German novelist Guenter Grass won the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences credited Grass’ first novel, The Tin Drum, with restoring honor to German literature “after decades of linguistic and moral destruction.”

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Oct 15

The humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders was named winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

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2000

Dr. Guenter Blobel of NY's Rockefeller University won the Nobel Prize for medicine for discovering how proteins find their rightful places in cells.

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Oct 13

South Korean President Kim Dae-jung was named winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

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2001

Leland H. Hartwell, 61, of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, R. Timothy Hunt, 58, of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund in Hertfordshire, England, and Paul M. Nurse, 52, of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund in London were cited for research that sheds light on how cancer cells develop by winning the 2001 Nobel Prize for Medicine. Ref

2002

Oct 07

The Nobel Prize for Medicine is awarded jointly to Sydney Brenner of the Molecular Sciences Institute in Berkley, CA; H. Robert Horvitz, of MIT; and John E. Sulston of England's Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. (USA Today, p. 18A, 10/08/2002)

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Americans Raymond Davis Jr and Riccardo Giacconi, and Japan's Masatoshi Koshiba, win the Nobel Prize in Physics. (XDG, p 4A, 10/08/2003)

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Former President Jimmy Carter accepted the Nobel Peace Prize for his diplomacy in the Middle East in the 1970s.

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2003

Oct 03

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Nobel Prize in literature went to J.M. Coetzee, a South African novelist whose books emphasize the private consequences of public injustice. (WSJ, p A1, 10/03/2003)

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Oct 07

The Swedish Royal Academy announces three winners of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Physics: Russian-American Alexi Abrikosov, 75, Russian Vitaly Ginsburg, 87, for their work on super-conductors and British-American Anthony Leggett for his work with superfluidity of Helium-3. (USA Today, p 7D, 10/08/2003)

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According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, Americans Peter Agre and Roderick MacKinnon win the Nobel Prize in chemistry for their work on cell wall channel studies. (WSJ, p A1, 10/09/2003)

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