List of Irish Nobel laureates and nominees

Since 1923, Ireland (which consists of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, a constituent part of the United Kingdom) has produced twelve Nobel laureates: two in Physics, one in Physiology or Medicine, four in Literature and five in Peace category. ^[1]

Laureates

Year	Image	Laureate	Born	Died	Field	Citation
Citizens
1923		William Butler Yeats	13 June 1865 in Sandymount, Leinster, Ireland	28 January 1939 in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, Alpes-Maritimes, France	Literature	"for his always inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation." [2]
1925		George Bernard Shaw	26 July 1856 in Dublin, Ireland	2 November 1950 in Ayot St Lawrence, Hertfordshire, England	Literature	"for his work which is marked by both idealism and humanity, its stimulating satire often being infused with a singular poetic beauty." [3]
1951		Ernest Walton	6 October 1903 in Abbeyside, County Waterford, Ireland	25 June 1995 in Belfast, Northern Ireland	Physics	"for their pioneer work on the transmutation of atomic nuclei by artificially accelerated atomic particles." [4] (shared with British physicist John Cockcroft)
1969		Samuel Beckett	13 April 1906 in Foxrock, Dublin Ireland	22 December 1989 in Paris, France	Literature	"for his writing, which - in new forms for the novel and drama - in the destitution of modern man acquires its elevation." [5]
1974		Seán MacBride	26 January 1904 in Paris, France	15 January 1988 in Dublin, Ireland	Peace	"for his efforts to secure and develop human rights throughout the world." [6] (shared with Japanese politician Eisaku Satō)
1976		Betty Williams	22 May 1943 in Belfast, Northern Ireland	17 March 2020 in Belfast, Northern Ireland	Peace	"for the courageous efforts in founding a movement to put an end to the violent conflict in Northern Ireland." [7]
		Mairead Maguire	27 January 1944 in Belfast, Northern Ireland	—
1995		Seamus Heaney	13 April 1939 in Tamniaran, near Castledawson, Northern Ireland	30 August 2013 in Blackrock, Dublin, Ireland	Literature	"for works of lyrical beauty and ethical depth, which exalt everyday miracles and the living past." [8]
1998		John Hume	18 January 1937 in Derry, Northern Ireland	3 August 2020 in Derry, Northern Ireland	Peace	"for their efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict in Northern Ireland." [9]
		David Trimble	15 October 1944 in Belfast, Northern Ireland	25 July 2022 in Belfast, Northern Ireland
2010		William Cecil Campbell [lower-alpha 1]	28 June 1930 in Ramelton, County Donegal, Ireland	—	Physiology or Medicine	"for their discoveries concerning a novel therapy against infections caused by roundworm parasites." [11] (shared with Japanese biochemist Satoshi Ōmura and Chinese malariologist Tu Youyou)
Naturalised Citizens
1951		Erwin Schrödinger	12 August 1887 in Vienna, Austria	4 January 1961 in Vienna, Austria	Physics	"for the discovery of new productive forms of atomic theory." [12] (shared with English theoretical physicist Paul Dirac)

Nominations

Nominees

• Physics
• Chemistry
• Physiology or Medicine
• Literature
• Peace

Image	Nominee	Born	Died	Years Nominated	Citation	Nominator(s)
Physics
	John Sealy Townsend	7 June 1868 in Galway, County Galway, Ireland	16 February 1957 in Oxford, England	1924, 1942	"for studies concerning the electrical conduction of gases (concerning the kinetics of electrons and ions) and directly measured the electrical charge. " [13]	Jean Baptiste Perrin (1870–1942)   France
				1944	"for his discovery of a phenomenon of the electron avalanche in electromagnetism (Townsend discharge)." [13]	Victor Albert Bailey (1895–1964)   Australia
Literature
	William Butler Yeats	13 June 1865 in Sandymount, Leinster, Ireland	28 January 1939 in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, Alpes-Maritimes, France	1902	The Land of Heart's Desire (1894) Cathleen ni Houlihan (1902) The King's Threshold (1904) Deirdre (1907) The Green Helmet (1910) The Wild Swans at Coole (1919) The Tower (1928) Last Poems and Plays (1940) [14]	William E. H. Lecky (1838–1903)   Ireland
				1914		George Noble Plunkett (1851–1948)   Ireland
				1915, 1918		Per Hallström (1866–1960)   Sweden
				1921		Erik Axel Karlfeldt (1864–1931)   Sweden
				1922, 1923		Nobel Committee
	George Bernard Shaw	26 July 1856 in Dublin, Ireland	2 November 1950 in Ayot St Lawrence, Hertfordshire, England	1911	Candida (1898) Caesar and Cleopatra (1901) Man and Superman (1902) Major Barbara (1907) The Doctor's Dilemma (1909) Pygmalion (1913) Saint Joan (1923) [15]	Gilbert Murray (1866–1957)   Great Britain
				1912		Kristian Birch-Reichenwald Aars (1868–1917)   Norway
				1921		Henrik Schück (1855–1947)   Sweden
				1924, 1925 , 1926		Tor Hedberg (1862–1931)   Sweden
				1926		Nathan Söderblom (1866–1931)   Sweden
	Edward Dowden [lower-alpha 2]	3 May 1843 in Cork, County Cork, Ireland	4 April 1913 in Dublin, Ireland	1913	Shakspere: A Critical Study of His Mind and Art (1875) Shakespeare Primer (1877) The Life of Percy Bysshe Shelley (1886) [16]	James Lindsay (1847–1913)   Great Britain
	Darrell Figgis	17 September 1882 in Dublin, Ireland	27 October 1925 in London, England	1922	Recollections of the Irish War (1900) A Vision of Life (1909) A Chronicle of Jails (1917) The Return of the Hero (1923) [17]	Thomas Rudmose-Brown (1878–1942)   Ireland
	James Cousins	22 July 1873 in Belfast, Northern Ireland	20 February 1956 in Madanapalle, Andhra Pradesh, India	1935 [lower-alpha 3]	The Sleep of the King (1902) New Ways in English Literature (1912) The Renaissance in India (1918) A Bardic Pilgrimage (1934) [19]	Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941)   India
	Seán O'Casey	30 March 1880 Dublin, Ireland	18 September 1964 Torquay, Devon, England	1949, 1950	The Shadow of a Gunman (1923) Juno and the Paycock (1924) The Plough and the Stars (1926) The Silver Tassie (1927) The End of the Beginning (1937) Red Roses for Me (1942) Cock-a-Doodle Dandy (1949) [20]	Oscar Wieselgren (1886–1971)   Sweden
				1950		Mary Elizabeth Morton (1876–1957)   Ireland
				1955		Una Ellis-Fermor (1894–1958)   Great Britain
				1957		Oscar Cargill (1898–1972)   United States
				1959, 1961, 1962		Geoffrey Tillotson (1905–1969)   Great Britain
				1961		Roy Pascal (1904–1980)   Great Britain
				1963		The English PEN Club
	Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany	July 24, 1878 in London, England	25 October 1957 in Dublin, Ireland	1950	The Gods of Pegāna (1905) The King of Elfland's Daughter (1924) The Travel Tales of Mr. Joseph Jorkens (1931) [21]	The Irish PEN Club
	Lennox Robinson	4 October 1886 in Douglas, County Cork, Ireland	15 October 1958 in Dublin, Ireland	1957	The Clancy Name (1908) The Whiteheaded Boy (1916) The Big House (1926) Drama at Inish (1933) [22]
	Samuel Beckett	13 April 1906 in Foxrock, Dublin Ireland	22 December 1989 in Paris, France	1957	Murphy (1938) Molloy (1951) Malone Dies (1951) Waiting for Godot (1952) The Unnamable (1953) Krapp's Last Tape (1958) How It Is (1961) Happy Days (1961) [23]	Robert-Léon Wagner (1905–1982)   France
				1963, 1966		Johannes Edfelt (1904–1997)   Sweden
				1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968		William Stuart Maguinness (1903–1983)   Great Britain
				1964		Bengt Holmqvist (1924–2002)   Finland
				1966		Léon Cellier et al. [lower-alpha 4] (1911–1976)   France
				1967, 1968		Nelly Sachs (1891–1970)   Sweden
				1967		The Swedish PEN Club et al. [lower-alpha 5]
				1967, 1968		Siegbert Salomon Prawer (1925–2012)   Great Britain
				1968		Matthew Hodgart et al. [lower-alpha 6] (1916–1996)   Great Britain
				1969		Christopher Ricks et al. [lower-alpha 7] (born 1933)   Great Britain
	Elizabeth Bowen	7 June 1899 in Dublin, Ireland	22 February 1973 in London, England	1958	The Last September (1929) The House in Paris (1936) The Heat of the Day (1949) Eva Trout (1968) [24]	Roman Jakobson (1896–1982)   Russia
	Austin Clarke	9 May 1896 in Stoneybatter, Dublin, Ireland	19 March 1974 in Templeogue, Dublin, Ireland	1972	Night and Morning (1938) Ancient Lights (1955) Twice Round the Black Church (1962) A Penny in the Clouds (1968) [25]	Kenneth Deale (1907–1974)   Ireland
						Desmond Clarke (1907–1979)   Ireland
	Stanislaus Lynch	1907 in Ballyjamesduff, County Cavan, Ireland	1983 in County Cavan, Ireland	1972	Echoes of the Hunting Horn (1947) A Hunting Man's Rambles (1951) Hounds are Running! (1950) [25]
	Francis Stuart	29 April 1902 in Townsville, Queensland, Australia	2 February 2000 in Fanore, County Clare, Ireland	1972	The Pillar of Cloud (1948) Redemption (1949) The Flowering Cross (1950) Black List, Section H (1971) [25]
Peace
	Arthur Griffith [lower-alpha 8]	31 March 1871 in Dublin, Ireland	12 August 1922 in Dublin, Ireland	1922	"for [his role in the] peaceful negotiations with the Anglo-Irish Treaty in establishing Irish Free State." [26]	Halvdan Koht (1873–1965)   Norway
	Fr. William Ferris	1881 in Rattoo, County Kerry, Ireland	1971 in Ballylongford, County Kerry, Ireland	1938	"for his brochure The Democratic Constitution, in which he outlined an electoral system which guaranteed unanimity in choice of every spokesman or representative, securing perfect harmony in the counsels of all assemblies, local, national, and international." [27]	Jed O'Sullivan [lower-alpha 9] (?)   Ireland
	Raphael Armattoe [lower-alpha 10]	12 August 1913 in Keta, Volta, Ghana	22 December 1953 in Hamburg, Germany	1948	"for his campaigns for the unification of British Togoland, the Gold Coast and French Togoland." [29]	members of the Parliament of Ireland [lower-alpha 11]
	The Shop Stewards of the Belfast Shipyards	Belfast, Northern Ireland		1970	"for their devoted efforts to prevent sectarian violence breaking out in the shipyards and contributing to inter-communal peace." [30]	members of the Parliament of Ireland
	Bloody Sunday families	Bogside, Derry, Northern Ireland		2023	"for their commitment to peace and reconciliation during their long fight for truth and justice." [31] [32]	Colum Eastwood (born 1983)   Ireland

Notes

1. Campbell acquired United States citizenship in 1964. ^[10]
2. Dowden died before the only chance to be rewarded.
3. The Nobel Prize in Literature has not been awarded this year. ^[18]
4. With another 1966 nominator namely William York Tindall (1903–1981)of the   United States.
5. Other 1967 nominators included Per-Olof Barck (1912–1978) of   Finland and Barbara Hardy (1924–2016) of   Great Britain.
6. Other 1968 nominators included Robert Brustein (1927–2023) of the   United States and Gerhard Heilfurth (1909–2006) of   Germany.
7. Other 1969 nominators included Jan Kott (1914–2001) of   Poland, Wolfgang Clemen (1909–1990) of   Germany, Martin Price (1920–2010) of the   United States and Helmut Kreuzer (1927–2004) of   Germany.
8. Griffiths was jointly nominated with David Lloyd George but died before the only chance to be rewarded.
9. The nomination was made by two members of the Irish national assembly, but the other name was illegible.
10. Armattoe was a resident of Northern Ireland at the time he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. ^[28]
11. The nomination was also signed by MPs from Belfast, Northern Ireland. The nomination was also supported by Anthony Mulvey, R. Cinningham and Fred Peart, Baron Peart.

References

1. "Ireland's greatest and brightest – the nation's Nobel laureates". Irish Central. 24 November 2018. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
2. "The Nobel Prize in Literature 1923". nobelprize.org. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
3. "The Nobel Prize in Literature 1925". nobelprize.org. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
4. "The Nobel Prize in Physics 1951". nobelprize.org. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
5. "The Nobel Prize in Literature 1969". nobelprize.org. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
6. "The Nobel Prize in Literature 1974". nobelprize.org. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
7. "The Nobel Peace Prize 1976". nobelprize.org. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
8. "The Nobel Prize in Literature 1995". nobelprize.org. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
9. "The Nobel Prize in Literature 1998". nobelprize.org. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
10. Murphy, Darragh (9 October 2015). "Meet Ireland's new Nobel Laureate, William C Campbell". The Irish Times . Retrieved 23 December 2023.
11. "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2015". nobelprize.org. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
12. "The Nobel Prize in Physics 1933". nobelprize.org. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
13. "Nomination archive – Sir John S Townsend". nobelprize.org. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
14. "Nomination archive – William B Yeats". nobelprize.org. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
15. "Nomination archive – George Bernard Shaw". nobelprize.org. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
16. "Nomination archive – Edward Dowden". nobelprize.org. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
17. "Nomination archive – Darrell Figgis". nobelprize.org. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
18. Achintyarup Ray (19 October 2022). "When Nobel winner Rabindranath Tagore became Nobel nominator". The Times of India. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
19. "Nomination archive – James H Cousins". nobelprize.org. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
20. "Nomination archive – Sean O'Casey". nobelprize.org. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
21. "Nomination archive – Edward J Moreton Drax Plunkett Dunsany". nobelprize.org. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
22. "Nomination archive – Lennox Robinson". nobelprize.org. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
23. "Nomination archive – Samuel Beckett". nobelprize.org. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
24. "Nomination archive – Elisabeth Bowen". nobelprize.org. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
25. "Nobelarkivet-1972" (PDF). svenskaakademien.se. April 2020. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
26. "Nomination archive – Arthur Griffiths". nobelprize.org. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
27. "Nomination archive – William Ferris". nobelprize.org. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
28. "R. E. G. Armattoe: the 'Irishman' from West Africa". History Ireland. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
29. "Nomination archive – Raphael Armattoe". nobelprize.org. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
30. "Nomination archive – the Shop Stewards of the Belfast Shipyards". nobelprize.org. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
31. Stanley Adams (29 January 2023). "Bloody Sunday families to be nominated for Nobel Prize". UK Daily News . Retrieved 23 December 2023.
32. Gerard Donaghy (29 January 2023). "MP Colum Eastwood to nominate 'inspirational' Bloody Sunday families for Nobel Peace Prize". The Irish Post . Archived from the original on 30 January 2023. Retrieved 23 December 2023.