List of Russian Nobel laureates

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 Mankind."

This list encompasses laureates of the Nobel Prize who were citizens of the Soviet Union or Russia at the time of receiving the award, or at another time during their life. Of note is that Mikhail Sholokhov is the only citizen of the Soviet Union who received approval from the Soviet government to receive their Nobel Prize in literature. ^[1] During the Soviet period, all other Nobel Laureates in literature or peace (except Gorbachev) were dissidents or exiles. ^[1]

Soviet and Russian laureates

Year	Image	Winner	Field	Prize motivation	Notes	Country	Source of information
1904		Ivan Pavlov (1849 – 1936) Russian:Иван Петрович Павлов	Physiology or Medicine	“In recognition of his work on the physiology of digestion, through which knowledge on vital aspects of the subject has been transformed and enlarged”	The first Russian Nobel laureate	Russian Empire	[2] [3] [4]
1908		Ilya Mechnikov (1845 – 1916) Russian:Илья Ильич Мечников	Physiology or Medicine	“In recognition of their work on immunity”	Metchnikoff shared the 1908 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine with German physician and scientist Paul Ehrlich. Both subjects were awarded for their works regarding immunity.	Russian Empire	[5] [6]
1933		Ivan Bunin (1870 – 1953) Russian:Иван Алексеевич Бунин	Literature	“For the strict artistry with which he has carried on the classical Russian traditions in prose writing”	First Russian Nobel laureate in literature, was not a citizen of the USSR at that time.	France (exiled)	[7] [8]
1952		Selman Waksman (1888 – 1973) Russian:Зельман Абрахам Ваксман	Physiology or Medicine	“For his discovery of streptomycin, the first antibiotic effective against tuberculosis”	Born in Russian Empire	United States	[9]
1956		Nikolay Semyonov (1896 – 1986) Russian:Николай Николаевич Семёнов	Chemistry	“For their researches into the mechanism of chemical reactions”	First Russian Nobel laureate in Chemistry	Soviet Union	[10] [11]
1958		Boris Pasternak (1890 – 1960) Russian:Борис Пастернак	Literature	“For his important achievement both in contemporary lyrical poetry and in the field of the great Russian epic tradition”	After Pasternak announced acceptance of the prize, the government of the Soviet Union then threatened Pasternak of not being allowed into back into the country if he left to accept it. [12]	Soviet Union	[12] [13]
1958		Igor Tamm (1895 – 1971) Russian:Игорь Евгеньевич Тамм	Physics	“For the discovery and the interpretation of the Cherenkov effect”		Soviet Union	[14] [15] [16]
		Ilya Frank (1908 – 1990) Russian:Илья Михайлович Франк
		Pavel Cherenkov (1904 – 1990) Russian:Павел Алексеевич Черенков
1962		Lev Landau (1908 – 1968) Russian:Лев Давидович Ландау	Physics	“For his pioneering theories for condensed matter, especially liquid helium”	Landau was awarded for his "pioneering theories for condensed matter, especially liquid helium." [17] He was unable to attend the ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden to receive the prize personally, due to a car accident. [17] Rolf Sulman, the Swedish ambassador in the Soviet Union at the time presented the award to Landau in Moscow in 1962. [17]	Soviet Union	[17] [18]
1964		Nikolay Basov (1922 – 2001) Russian:Николай Геннадиевич Басов	Physics	“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”		Soviet Union	[19] [20]
		Alexander Prokhorov (1916 – 2002) Russian:Александр Михайлович Прохоров
1965		Mikhail Sholokhov (1905 – 1984) Russian:Михаил Александрович Шолохов	Literature	“For the artistic power and integrity with which, in his epic of the Don, he has given expression to a historic phase in the life of the Russian people”		Soviet Union	[21] [22]
1970		Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918 – 2008) Russian:Александр Исаевич Солженицын	Literature	“For the ethical force with which he has pursued the indispensable traditions of Russian literature”	Solzhenitsyn was expelled from the Soviet Union in 1974.	Soviet Union	[1] [23]
1973		Wassily Leontief (1905 – 1999) Russian:Василий Васильевич Леонтьев	Economics	“For the development of the input-output method and for its application to important economic problems”	First Russian Nobel laureate in Economics	United States	[24]
1975		Andrei Sakharov (1921 – 1989) Russian:Андрей Дмитриевич Сахаров	Peace	“For his struggle for human rights in the Soviet Union, for disarmament and cooperation between all nations”	First Russian nobel laureate in Peace	Soviet Union	[25]
		Leonid Kantorovich (1912 – 1986) Russian:Леонид Витальевич Канторович	Economics	“For their contributions to the theory of optimum allocation of resources”		Soviet Union	[26]
1977		Ilya Prigogine (1917 – 2003) Russian:Илья Романович Пригожин	Chemistry	“For his contributions to non-equilibrium thermodynamics, particularly the theory of dissipative structures”		Belgium	[27] [28]
1978		Pyotr Kapitsa (1894 – 1984) Russian:Пётр Леонидович Капица	Physics	“For his basic inventions and discoveries in the area of low-temperature physics”		Soviet Union	[29]
1987		Joseph Brodsky (1940 – 1996) Russian:Иосиф Александрович Бродский	Literature	“For an all-embracing authorship, imbued with clarity of thought and poetic intensity”	He was not a citizen of the USSR from 1972	United States	[30]
1990		Mikhail Gorbachev (1931 – 2022) Russian:Михаил Сергеевич Горбачёв	Peace	“For the leading role he played in the radical changes in East-West relations”		Soviet Union	[31]
2000		Zhores Alferov (1930 – 2019) Жарэс Іванавіч Алфёраcode: bel promoted to code: be	Physics	“For developing semiconductor heterostructures used in high-speed- and opto-electronics”	Alferov shared the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physics with Jack S. Kilby and Herbert Kroemer, both American physicists, for "basic work on information and communication technology".	Russia	[32] [33]
2003		Alexei Alexeyevich Abrikosov (1928 – 1928) Алексей Алексеевич Абрикосовcode: bel promoted to code: be	Physics	“For pioneering contributions to the theory of superconductors and superfluids”		Russia /  United States	[34] [35]
		Vitaly Ginzburg (1916 – 2009) Russian:Виталий Лазаревич Гинзбург				Russia
2010		Andre Geim (род. 1958) Russian:Андрей Константинович Гейм	Physics	“For groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene”		United Kingdom /  Netherlands	[36] [37]
		Konstantin Novoselov (род. 1974) Russian:Константин Сергеевич Новосёлов				United Kingdom /  Russia
2021		Dmitry Muratov (род. 1961) Russian:Дмитрий Андреевич Муратов	Peace	“For their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace”	Muratov shared the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize with Filipino-American journalist and author Maria Ressa.	Russia	[38] [39]
2022		Memorial (осн. 1987) Russian:Мемориал	Peace	“The Peace Prize laureates represent civil society in their home countries. They have for many years promoted the right to criticise power and protect the fundamental rights of citizens. They have made an outstanding effort to document war crimes, human right abuses and the abuse of power. Together they demonstrate the significance of civil society for peace and democracy”	Memorial is an international human rights organisation, founded and originally headquartered in Russia, although it was already banned in Russia in 2021 before the Nobel Prize was awarded to it, and moved abroad.	Russia	[40] [41]

References

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