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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." Additionally, the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel was established by Sveriges Riksbank in 1968 and awarded to a "person or persons in the field of economic sciences who have produced work of outstanding importance."
Contents
- Female laureates
- Physiology or Medicine
- Physics
- Chemistry
- Literature
- Peace
- Economic Sciences
- See also
- Notes
- References
- Further reading
As of 2023, 65 Nobel Prizes and the Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences have been awarded to 64 women. [1] [3] Unique Nobel Prize laureates include 894 men, 64 women, and 27 organizations. [4]
The distribution of Nobel prizes awarded to women is as follows:
- nineteen women have won the Nobel Peace Prize (16.3% of 110 awarded); [5]
- eighteen have won the Nobel Prize in Literature (15% of 120 awarded); [6]
- thirteen have won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (5.6% of 230 awarded); [7]
- eight have won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (4.1% of 191 awarded); [8]
- five have won the Nobel Prize in Physics (1.8% of 224 awarded); [9]
- and three (Elinor Ostrom, Esther Duflo and Claudia Goldin) have won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2.17% of 92 awarded). [10]
The first woman to win a Nobel Prize was Marie Curie, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 with her husband, Pierre Curie, and Henri Becquerel. [11] [12] Curie is also the first person and the only woman to have won multiple Nobel Prizes; in 1911, she won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Curie's daughter, Irène Joliot-Curie, won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1935, making the two the only mother–daughter pair to have won Nobel Prizes [11] and of Pierre and Irène Curie the only father-daughter pair to have won Nobel Prizes by the same occasion, whilst there are 6 father-son pairs who have won Nobel Prizes by comparison. [13]
The most Nobel Prizes awarded to women in a single year was in 2009, when five women became laureates in four categories.
The most recent women to be awarded a Nobel Prize were Han Kang in Literature (2024), Claudia Goldin in Economics, Narges Mohammadi for Peace, Anne L'Huillier in Physics and Katalin Karikó in Physiology or Medicine (2023), Annie Ernaux in Literature and Carolyn R. Bertozzi for Chemistry (2022), Maria Ressa for Peace (2021), Louise Glück in Literature, Andrea M. Ghez in Physics, Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna in Chemistry (2020).
