Since 1915 there have been fifteen Australians awarded the Nobel Prize. [1] Almost half of these prizes (eight) have been awarded in the field of Physiology or Medicine [2] Most Australians awarded Nobel prizes before the end of the awarding of British/Imperial honours (in 1992) also received (or were offered) knighthoods.
This list includes laureates who were not born in Australia, but who nevertheless spent a significant portion of their training or career there.
In 2017, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, which was launched in Australia, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
| Year | Laureate | Field | Life | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Brian P. Schmidt | Physics | 1967– | "for the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe through observations of distant supernovae" shared with Saul Perlmutter and Adam G. Riess [3] |
| 2009 | Elizabeth Blackburn | Physiology or Medicine | 1948– | "for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase" shared with Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak [4] |
| 2005 | Barry J. Marshall | Physiology or Medicine | 1951– | "for their discovery of the bacterium Helicobacter pylori and its role in gastritis and peptic ulcer disease" shared with J. Robin Warren [5] |
| 2005 | J. Robin Warren | Physiology or Medicine | 1937– | "for their discovery of the bacterium Helicobacter pylori and its role in gastritis and peptic ulcer disease" shared with Barry J. Marshall [6] |
| 2003 | J. M. Coetzee | Literature | 1940– | "who in innumerable guises portrays the surprising involvement of the outsider" [7] |
| 1996 | Peter C. Doherty | Physiology or Medicine | 1940– | "for their discoveries concerning the specificity of the cell mediated immune defence" shared with Rolf M. Zinkernagel [8] |
| 1975 | Sir John Cornforth | Chemistry | 1918–2013 | "for his work on the stereochemistry of enzyme-catalyzed reactions" shared with Vladimir Prelog [9] |
| 1973 | Patrick White | Literature | 1912–1990 | "for an epic and psychological narrative art which has introduced a new continent into literature" [10] |
| 1970 | Sir Bernard Katz | Physiology or Medicine | 1911–2003 | "for their discoveries concerning the humoral transmittors in the nerve terminals and the mechanism for their storage, release and inactivation" shared with Ulf von Euler and Julius Axelrod [11] |
| 1964 | Alexander M. Prokhorov | Physics | 1916–2002 | "for fundamental work in the field of quantum electronics, which has led to the construction of oscillators and amplifiers based on the maser-laser principle" shared with Charles H. Townes and Nicolay G. Basov [12] |
| 1963 | Sir John Carew Eccles | Physiology or Medicine | 1903–1997 | "for their discoveries concerning the ionic mechanisms involved in excitation and inhibition in the peripheral and central portions of the nerve cell membrane" shared with Alan L. Hodgkin and Andrew F. Huxley [13] |
| 1960 | Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet | Physiology or Medicine | 1899–1985 | "for discovery of acquired immunological tolerance" shared with Peter Medawar [14] |
| 1945 | Howard Florey | Physiology or Medicine | 1898–1968 | "for the discovery of penicillin and its curative effect in various infectious diseases" shared with Alexander Fleming and Ernst B. Chain [15] |
| 1915 | Sir William Henry Bragg | Physics | 1862–1942 | "for their services in the analysis of crystal structure by means of X-rays" shared with William Lawrence Bragg [16] |
| 1915 | Sir William Lawrence Bragg | Physics | 1890–1971 | "for their services in the analysis of crystal structure by means of X-rays" shared with William Henry Bragg [17] |
Sir John Carew Eccles was an Australian neurophysiologist and philosopher who won the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on the synapse. He shared the prize with Andrew Huxley and Alan Lloyd Hodgkin.
The Nobel Prize in Physics is a yearly award given by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for those who have made the most outstanding contributions for humankind in the field of physics. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901, the others being the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Physics is traditionally the first award presented in the Nobel Prize ceremony.
Sir Bernard Katz, FRS was a German-born British physician and biophysicist, noted for his work on nerve physiology; specifically, for his work on synaptic transmission at the nerve-muscle junction. He shared the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine in 1970 with Julius Axelrod and Ulf von Euler. He was made a Knight Bachelor in 1969.
Sir Alan Lloyd Hodgkin was an English physiologist and biophysicist who shared the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Andrew Huxley and John Eccles.
Sir William Henry Bragg was an English physicist, chemist, mathematician, and active sportsman who uniquely shared a Nobel Prize with his son Lawrence Bragg – the 1915 Nobel Prize in Physics: "for their services in the analysis of crystal structure by means of X-rays". The mineral Braggite is named after him and his son. He was knighted in 1920.
Barry James Marshall is an Australian physician, Nobel Prize Laureate in Physiology or Medicine, Professor of Clinical Microbiology and Co-Director of the Marshall Centre at the University of Western Australia. Marshall and Robin Warren showed that the bacterium Helicobacter pylori plays a major role in causing many peptic ulcers, challenging decades of medical doctrine holding that ulcers were caused primarily by stress, spicy foods, and too much acid. This discovery has allowed for a breakthrough in understanding a causative link between Helicobacter pylori infection and stomach cancer.
Elizabeth Helen Blackburn, is an Australian-American Nobel laureate who is the former president of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. In 1984, Blackburn co-discovered telomerase, the enzyme that replenishes the telomere, with Carol W. Greider. For this work, she was awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, sharing it with Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak, becoming the first Australian woman Nobel laureate.
Sir John Warcup Cornforth Jr., was an Australian–British chemist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1975 for his work on the stereochemistry of enzyme-catalysed reactions, becoming the only Nobel laureate born in New South Wales.
Rolf Martin Zinkernagel AC is a professor of experimental immunology at the University of Zurich. Along with Peter C. Doherty, he shared the 1996 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of how the immune system recognizes virus-infected cells.
Stephen William Kuffler was a Hungarian-American neurophysiologist. He is often referred to as the "Father of Modern Neuroscience". Kuffler, alongside noted Nobel Laureates Sir John Eccles and Sir Bernard Katz gave research lectures at the University of Sydney, strongly influencing its intellectual environment while working at Sydney Hospital. He founded the Harvard neurobiology department in 1966, and made numerous seminal contributions to our understanding of vision, neural coding, and the neural implementation of behavior. He is known for his research on neuromuscular junctions in frogs, presynaptic inhibition, and the neurotransmitter GABA. In 1972, he was awarded the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize from Columbia University.
The John Curtin School of Medical Research (JCSMR) is an Australian multidisciplinary translational medical research institute and postgraduate education centre that forms part of the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra. The school was founded in 1948 as a result of the vision of Nobel Laureate Sir Howard Florey and was named in honour of Australia's World War II Prime Minister John Curtin, who had died in office a few years earlier.
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 will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in chemistry, physics, literature, peace, and physiology or medicine. This award is administered by the Nobel Foundation, and awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences on proposal of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry which consists of five members elected by the Academy. The award is presented in Stockholm at an annual ceremony on 10 December, the anniversary of Nobel's death.
The Australian College of Educators (ACE) is an Australian national professional association for educators. Membership is open to all professional educators working in the early childhood, school, and tertiary education sectors, as well as to education researchers and managers. The College advocates for its members in seeking improvements in the status of the education profession.
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1 Nobel Memorial Prize (not one of the original Nobel Prizes). | |||||||||
