This is a list of Nobel laureates who are Poles (ethnic) or Polish (citizenship). The Nobel Prize is a set of annual international awards bestowed on "those who conferred the greatest benefit on humankind", first instituted in 1901. Since 1903, there have been eighteen Poles who were awarded nineteen Nobel Prizes. Poles have been the recipients in all Nobel prize categories: Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, Peace and Economics.
Year | Winner | Field | Contribution | |
---|---|---|---|---|
1903 | Maria Skłodowska Curie [1] | Physics | "for their joint researches on the radiation phenomena discovered by Professor Henri Becquerel" | |
1905 | Henryk Sienkiewicz [2] | Literature | "because of his outstanding merits as an epic writer" | |
1907 | Albert A. Michelson [3] | Physics | "for his optical precision instruments and the spectroscopic and metrological investigations carried out with their aid" | |
1911 | Maria Skłodowska Curie (2nd time) [4] | Chemistry | "for the discovery of the elements radium and polonium, by the isolation of radium and the study of the nature and compounds of this remarkable element" | |
1924 | Władysław Reymont [5] | Literature | "for his great national epic, The Peasants " | |
1944 | Isidor Isaac Rabi [6] | Physics | "for his resonance method for recording the magnetic properties of atomic nuclei" | |
1950 | Tadeusz Reichstein [7] | Medicine | "for their discoveries relating to the hormones of the adrenal cortex, their structure and biological effects" | |
1977 | Andrzej Schally [8] | Medicine | "for their discoveries concerning the peptide hormone production of the brain" | |
1978 | Isaac Bashevis Singer [9] | Literature | "for his impassioned narrative art which, with roots in a Polish-Jewish cultural tradition, brings universal human conditions to life" | |
Menachem Begin [10] | Peace | "for jointly having negotiated peace between Egypt and Israel in 1978" | ||
1980 | Czesław Miłosz [11] | Literature | "who with uncompromising clear-sightedness voices man's exposed condition in a world of severe conflicts" | |
1981 | Roald Hoffmann [12] | Chemistry | "for their theories, developed independently, concerning the course of chemical reactions" | |
1983 | Lech Wałęsa [13] | Peace | "founder of Solidarność; campaigner for human rights" | |
1992 | Jerzy Charpak [14] | Physics | "for his invention and development of particle detectors, in particular the multiwire proportional chamber" | |
1994 | Shimon Peres [15] | Peace | "for their efforts to create peace in the Middle East" | |
1995 | Józef Rotblat [16] | Peace | "for their efforts to diminish the part played by nuclear arms in international politics and, in the longer run, to eliminate such arms" | |
1996 | Wisława Szymborska [17] | Literature | "for poetry that with ironic precision allows the historical and biological context to come to light in fragments of human reality" | |
2007 | Leonid Hurwicz [18] | Economics | “for having laid the foundations of mechanism design theory” | |
2018 | Olga Tokarczuk [19] | Literature | “for a narrative imagination that with encyclopedic passion represents the crossing of boundaries as a form of life” | |
The Nobel Prizes are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfred Nobel was a Swedish chemist, engineer, and industrialist most famously known for the invention of dynamite. He died in 1896. In his will, he bequeathed all of his "remaining realisable assets" to be used to establish five prizes which became known as "Nobel Prizes". Nobel Prizes were first awarded in 1901.
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.
The Nobel Foundation is a private institution founded on 29 June 1900 to manage the finances and administration of the Nobel Prizes. The foundation is based on the last will of Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite.
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.