The Nobel Prize has been award to Italians a total of 21 times as of 2021 [update] .
Field | Number of recipients |
---|---|
Physics | |
Chemistry | |
Physiology or Medicine | |
Literature | |
Peace | |
Economic Sciences |
The Nobel Prize is a set of annual international awards bestowed on "those who conferred the greatest benefit on humankind" in the fields of Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, Peace, and Economic Sciences, [nb 1] [2] instituted by Alfred Nobel's last will, which specified that a part of his fortune be used to create the prizes. Each laureate (recipient) receives a gold medal, a diploma, and a sum of money, which is decided annually by the Nobel Foundation. [3] They are widely recognized as one of the most prestigious honours awarded in the aforementioned fields. [4]
First instituted in 1901, the Nobel Prize has been awarded to a total of 965 individuals and 27 organizations as of 2023 [update] . [5] Among them, 21 Italian nationals have been honored with the Nobel Prize. [6] [7]
The latest Italian laureate is Giorgio Parisi, who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2021. Two women received the award: Grazia Deledda in 1926, and Rita Levi-Montalcini in 1986. [8]
Year | Image | Laureate | Born | Died | Field | Rationale |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1906 | ![]() | Camillo Golgi | 7 July 1843 in Corteno | 21 January 1926 in Pavia | Physiology or Medicine | "in recognition of their work on the structure of the nervous system" [9] prize shared with Santiago Ramón y Cajal |
1906 | ![]() | Giosuè Carducci | 27 July 1835 in Valdicastello | 16 February 1907 in Bologna | Literature | "not only in consideration of his deep learning and critical research, but above all as a tribute to the creative energy, freshness of style, and lyrical force which characterize his poetic masterpieces" [10] |
1907 | ![]() | Ernesto Teodoro Moneta | 20 September 1833 in Milan, Austrian Empire | 10 February 1918 in Milan | Peace | "for his work in the press and in peace meetings, both public and private, for an understanding between France and Italy" [11] prize shared with Louis Renault |
1909 | ![]() | Guglielmo Marconi | 25 April 1874 in Bologna | 20 July 1937 in Rome | Physics | "in recognition of their contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy" [12] prize shared with Karl Ferdinand Braun |
1926 | ![]() | Grazia Deledda | 27 September 1871 in Nuoro | 15 August 1936 in Rome | Literature | "for her idealistically inspired writings which with plastic clarity picture the life on her native island and with depth and sympathy deal with human problems in general" [13] |
1934 | ![]() | Luigi Pirandello | 28 June 1867 in Agrigento | 10 December 1936 in Rome | Literature | "for his bold and ingenious revival of dramatic and scenic art" [14] |
1938 | ![]() | Enrico Fermi | 29 September 1901 in Rome since 1944 also American citizen [15] | 28 November 1954 in Chicago, USA | Physics | "for his demonstrations of the existence of new radioactive elements produced by neutron irradiation, and for his related discovery of nuclear reactions brought about by slow neutrons" [16] |
1957 | ![]() | Daniel Bovet | 23 March 1907 in Neuchâtel, Switzerland acquired Italian citizenship in 1947 or 1948 [17] | 8 April 1992 in Rome | Physiology or Medicine | "for his discoveries relating to synthetic compounds that inhibit the action of certain body substances, and especially their action on the vascular system and the skeletal muscles" [18] |
1959 | ![]() | Emilio Segrè | 1 February 1905 in Tivoli since 1944 also American citizen [19] | 22 April 1989 in Lafayette, USA | Physics | "for their discovery of the antiproton" [20] prize shared with Owen Chamberlain |
1959 | ![]() | Salvatore Quasimodo | 20 August 1901 in Modica | 14 June 1968 in Naples | Literature | "for his lyrical poetry, which with classical fire expresses the tragic experience of life in our own times" [21] |
1963 | ![]() | Giulio Natta | 26 February 1903 in Imperia | 2 May 1979 in Bergamo | Chemistry | "for their discoveries in the field of the chemistry and technology of high polymers" [22] prize shared with Karl Ziegler |
1969 | ![]() | Salvador Luria | 13 August 1912 in Turin since 1947 also American citizen [23] | 6 February 1991 in Lexington, USA | Physiology or Medicine | "for their discoveries concerning the replication mechanism and the genetic structure of viruses" [24] prize shared with Max Delbrück and Alfred D. Hershey |
1975 | ![]() | Renato Dulbecco | 22 February 1914 in Catanzaro since 1953 also American citizen [25] | 19 February 2012 in La Jolla, USA | Physiology or Medicine | "for their discoveries concerning the interaction between tumour viruses and the genetic material of the cell" [26] prize shared with David Baltimore and Howard Martin Temin |
1975 | ![]() | Eugenio Montale | 12 October 1896 in Genoa | 12 September 1981 in Milan | Literature | "for his distinctive poetry which, with great artistic sensitivity, has interpreted human values under the sign of an outlook on life with no illusions" [27] |
1984 | ![]() | Carlo Rubbia | 31 March 1934 in Gorizia | — | Physics | "for their decisive contributions to the large project, which led to the discovery of the field particles W and Z, communicators of weak interaction" [28] prize shared with Simon van der Meer |
1985 | ![]() | Franco Modigliani | 18 June 1918 in Rome since 1946 also American citizen [29] | 25 September 2003 in Cambridge, USA | Economics | "for his pioneering analyses of saving and of financial markets" [30] |
1986 | ![]() | Rita Levi-Montalcini | 22 April 1909 in Turin | 30 December 2012 in Rome | Physiology or Medicine | "for their discoveries of growth factors" [31] prize shared with Stanley Cohen |
1997 | ![]() | Dario Fo | 24 March 1926 in Leggiuno-Sangiano | 13 October 2016 in Milan | Literature | "who emulates the jesters of the Middle Ages in scourging authority and upholding the dignity of the downtrodden" [32] |
2002 | ![]() | Riccardo Giacconi | 6 October 1931 in Genoa since 1960 also American citizen [33] | 16 December 2018 in La Jolla | Physics | "for pioneering contributions to astrophysics, which have led to the discovery of cosmic X-ray sources" [34] prize shared with Raymond Davis Jr. and Masatoshi Koshiba |
2007 | | Mario Capecchi | 6 October 1937 in Verona later naturalized American [35] | — | Physiology or Medicine | "for their discoveries of principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem cells" [36] prize shared with Martin J. Evans and Oliver Smithies |
2021 | ![]() | Giorgio Parisi | 4 August 1948 in Rome | — | Physics | "for the discovery of the interplay of disorder and fluctuations in physical systems from atomic to planetary scales" [37] prize shared with Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann |