Nobel Laureates in Physics 1901 - 1998

REVISED: Mar. 15, 1999

This page is a service of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center Library. It contains a list in reverse chronological order of the award winners with brief biographical information and a description of the discovery taken from the Nobel Foundation's text describing each Laureate's discovery and other sources.

Additional information, corrections and comments are welcome.

If your browser does not support keyword searching within a document, or if you wish to perform more complex searches, use the search page of the Nobel Foundation.

The Center for the History of Physics of the American Institute of Physics provides a rich supplemental resource for this subject. Credits.

Jump to: 1990; 1980; 1970; 1960; 1950; 1940; 1930; 1920; 1910.

Explanation of institutional affiliations: CA; AA; WA.

Physics 1998

The prize "for their discovery of a new form of quantum fluid with fractionally charged excitations" was awarded jointly to:

Robert B. Laughlin, U.S.A.
b. 1950
CA: Stanford University, Stanford, California, U.S.A.
AA: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California, U.S.A.
WA: Bell Laboratories, New Jersey, U.S.A.

Horst L. Stormer, Germany
b. 1949
CA: Columbia University, New York, New York, U.S.A.
AA: Bell Laboratories, New Jersey, U.S.A.
WA: Bell Laboratories, New Jersey, U.S.A.

Daniel C. Tsui, U.S.A.
b. 1939
CA: Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, U.S.A.
AA: Bell Laboratories, New Jersey, U.S.A.
WA: Bell Laboratories, New Jersey, U.S.A.

Additional Information:

Physics 1997

The prize "for development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light" was awarded jointly to:

Chu, Steven, U.S.A
b. 1948,
CA: Stanford University, Stanford, California, U.S.A.
AA: Stanford University, Stanford, California, U.S.A.
WA: Bell Laboratories, New Jersey, U.S.A in 1985.

Cohen-Tannoudji, Claude, France,
b. 1933,
CA: College de France and École normale supérieure, Paris, France
AA: College de France and École normale supérieure, Paris, France
WA: College de France and École normale supérieure, Paris, France

Phillips, William D., U.S.A.,
b, 1948,
CA: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland, U.S.A.
AA: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland, U.S.A.
WA: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland, U.S.A.

Additional Information:

Physics 1996

The prize was awarded jointly to:

Lee, David M., U.S.A.,
b. 1931,
CA: Cornell University, Ithaca, NY,
AA: Cornell University, Ithaca, NY,
WA: Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
Cornell University press release;

and

Osheroff, Douglas D., U.S.A.,
b. 1945,
CA: Stanford University, Stanford, CA,
AA: Cornell University, Ithaca, NY,
WA: Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
Stanford University Department of Physics press release;

and

Richardson, Robert C., U.S.A.,
b. 1937,
CA: Cornell University, Ithaca, NY,
AA: Cornell University, Ithaca, NY,
WA: Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
Cornell University press release;

Additional background material from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences;
"The Science Behind the Prize" from Cornell University;
"for their discovery of superfluidity in helium-3".

Physics 1995

The prize was awarded jointly to:

Perl, Martin L., U.S.A.,
b. 1927,
CA: Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Stanford University, Stanford, CA,
AA: Stanford Linear Accelerator Center and Stanford University, Stanford, CA,
WA: Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
"for pioneering experimental contributions to lepton physics, specifically for the discovery of the tau lepton ";

and

Reines, Frederick , U.S.A.,
b. 1918,
CA: University of California at Irvine, Irvine, CA,
AA: University of California at Irvine, Irvine, CA,
WA: Hanford, WA and Savannah River Plant, South Carolina
"for pioneering experimental contributions to lepton physics, specifically for the detection of the neutrino ".

Physics 1994

The prize was awarded jointly to:

Brockhouse, Bertramin N., Canada,
b. 1918,
CA: McMaster Nuclear Reactor, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario,
AA: Atomic Energy Project of the Nationa Research Council of Canada (AECL),
WA: Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories, Ottawa, Canada
"for pioneering contributions to the development of neutron scattering techniques for studies of condensed matter, specifically for the development of neutron spectroscopy";

and

Shull, Clifford G., U.S.A.,
b. 1915,
CA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA,
AA: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN,
WA: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN
News article from MIT;
"for pioneering contributions to the development of neutron scattering techniques for studies of condensed matter, specifically for the development of the neutron diffraction technique".

Physics 1993

The prize was awarded jointly to:

Hulse, Russell A., U.S.A.,
b. 1950,
Princeton University, Princeton, NJ,

and

Taylor, Joseph H., Jr., U.S.A.,
b. 1941,
Princeton University, Princeton, NJ,
"for the discovery of a new type of pulsar , a discovery that has opened up new possibilities for the study of gravitation".

Physics 1992

Charpak, Georges , France,
b. 1924, (in Poland),
Ecole Superieure de Physique et Chimie, Paris and CERN, Geneva, Switzerland,
"for his invention and development of particle detectors, in particular the multiwire proportional chamber".

Physics 1991

de Gennes, Pierre-Gilles, France,
b. 1932,
College de France, Paris,
Article (French) from L'Attracteur(No.1, Sept. 1995);
"for discovering that methods developed for studying order phenomena in simple systems can be generalized to more complex forms of matter, in particular to liquid crystals and polymers".

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Physics 1990

The prize was awarded to:

Friedman, Jerome I., U.S.A.,
b. 1930,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA,

and

Kendall, Henry W., U.S.A.,
b. 1926, d. 1999
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA,
Obituary

and

Taylor, Richard E., Canada,
b. 1929,
CA: Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Stanford University, Stanford, CA,
AA: Stanford Linear Accelerator Center and Stanford University, Stanford, CA,
WA: Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
Stanford University, Department of Physics Faculty listing
"for their pioneering investigations concerning deep inelastic scattering of electrons on protons and bound neutrons, which have been of essential importance for the development of the quark model in particle physics".

Physics 1989

The prize was divided, with one half awarded to:

Ramsey, Norman F., U.S.A.,
b. 1915,
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA,
Press release: Vannevar Bush Award;
"for the invention of the separated oscillatory fields method and its use in the hydrogen maser and other atomic clocks".

and the other half awarded jointly to:

Dehmelt, Hans G., U.S.A.,
b. 1922 (in Gorlitz, Germany),
University of Washington, Seattle, WA,
Physics News Sept. 22, 1995;

and

Paul, Wolfgang, Federal Republic of Germany,
b. 1913,
University of Bonn,
"for the development of the ion trap technique".

Physics 1988

The prize was awarded to:

Lederman, Leon M. , U.S.A.,
b. 1922,
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, IL,
Bottom quark within the Standard Model;
Papers in the Fermilab Archives;

and

Schwartz, Melvin , U.S.A.,
b. 1932,
CA: AssureNet Pathways (formerly Digital Pathways), Inc., Mountain View, CA,
AA: Stanford University, Stanford, CA,
WA: Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Stanford University, Stanford, CA

and

Steinberger, Jack , U.S.A.,
b. 1921 (in Bad Kissingen, FRG),
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland, brief bio;
"for the neutrino beam method and the demonstration of the doublet structure of the leptons through the discovery of the muon-neutrino".

Physics 1987

The prize was awarded jointly to:

Bednorz, J. Georg, Federal Republic of Germany,
b. 1950,
IBM Research Laboratory, Ruschlikon, Switzerland,
Interview;

and

Muller, Karl Alexander, Switzerland,
b. 1927,
IBM Research Laboratory, R�schlikon, Switzerland,
"for their important breakthrough in the discovery of superconductivity in ceramic materials".

Physics 1986

The prize was divided, with one half awarded to:

Ruska, Ernst, Federal Republic of Germany,
b. 1906, d. 1988,
Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Berlin,
"for his fundamental work in electron optics, and for the design of the first electron microscope".

and the other half jointly to:

Binnig, Gerd, Federal Republic of Germany,
b. 1947,
IBM Research Laboratory, Zurich, Switzerland,

and

Rohrer, Heinrich, Switzerland,
b. 1933,
IBM Research Laboratory, Zurich, Switzerland,
"for their design of the scanning tunneling microscope".

Physics 1985

Von Klitzing, Klaus, Federal Republic of Germany,
b. 1943,
Max-Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Stuttgart,
brief bio (Polish);
"for the discovery of the quantized Hall effect".

Physics 1984

The prize was awarded jointly to:

Rubbia, Carlo , Italy,
b. 1934,
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland,

and

Van Der Meer, Simon, the Netherlands,
b. 1925,
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland,
"for their decisive contributions to the large project, which led to the discovery of the field particles W and Z, communicators of weak interaction".

Physics 1983

The prize was divided with one half awarded to:

Chandrasekhar, Subrahmanyan , U.S.A.,
b. 1910 (in Lahore, India), d. 1995,
University of Chicago, Chicago, IL,
Obituary
"for his theoretical studies of the physical processes of importance to the structure and evolution of the stars".

and the other half awarded to:

Fowler, William Alfred, U.S.A.,
b. 1911, d. 1995,
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA,
"for his theoretical and experimental studies of the nuclear reactions of importance in the formation of the chemical elements in the universe".

Physics 1982

Wilson, Kenneth G., U.S.A.,
b. 1936,
CA: Ohio State University, Columbus, OH,
AA: Cornell University, Ithaca, NY,
"for his theory for critical phenomena in connection with phase transitions".

Physics 1981

The prize was divided, with one half awarded jointly to:

Bloembergen, Nicolaas, U.S.A.,
b. 1920 (in the Netherlands),
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA,

and

Schawlow, Arthur L., U.S.A.,
b. 1921,
CA: Stanford University, Stanford, CA,
AA: Stanford University, Stanford, CA,
WA: Stanford University, Stanford, CA
"for their contribution to the development of laser spectroscopy ";

and the other half awarded to:

Siegbahn, Kai M. B., Sweden,
b. 1918,
Uppsala University, Uppsala,
"for his contribution to the development of high-resolution electron spectroscopy".

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Physics 1980

The prize was awarded jointly to:

Cronin, James W., U.S.A.,
b. 1931,
University of Chicago, Chicago, IL,

and

Fitch, Val Logsdon, U.S.A.,
b. 1923,
Princeton University, Princeton, NJ,
"for the discovery of violations of fundamental symmetry principles in the decay of neutral K-mesons".

Physics 1979

The prize was awarded to:

Glashow, Sheldon, L., U.S.A.,
b. 1932,
Lyman Laboratory, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA,

and

Salam, Abdus, Pakistan,
b. 1926,
International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, and Imperial College of Science and Technology, London,

and

Weinberg, Steven, U.S.A.,
b. 1933,
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA,
"for their contributions to the theory of the unified weak and electromagnetic interaction between elementary particles, including inter alia the prediction of the weak neutral current".

Physics 1978

The prize was divided with one half awarded to:

Kapitsa, Pyotr Leonidovich, USSR,
b. 1894, d. 1984,
Academy of Sciences, Moscow,
"for his basic inventions and discoveries in the area of low-temperature physics";

and the other half awarded jointly to:

Penzias, Arno A., U.S.A.,
b. 1933 (in Munich, Germany),
Bell Laboratories, Holmden, NJ,

and

Wilson, Robert W., U.S.A.,
b. 1936,
Bell Laboratories, Holmden, NJ,
"for their discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation".

Physics 1977

The prize was awarded to:

Anderson, Philip W., U.S.A.,
b. 1923,
Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ,

and

Mott, Nevill Francis, Sir, Great Britain,
b. 1905,
Cambridge University, Cambridge,

and

Van Vleck, John H., U.S.A.,
b. 1899, d. 1980,
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA,
"for their fundamental theoretical investigations of the electronic structure of magnetic and disordered systems".

Physics 1976

The prize was awarded jointly to:

Richter, Burton, U.S.A.,
b. 1931,
CA: Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Stanford University, Stanford, CA,
AA: Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Stanford University, Stanford, CA,
WA: Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Stanford University, Stanford, CA

and

Ting, Samuel C. C., U.S.A.,
b. 1936,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, and CERN, Geneva, Switzerland,
"for their pioneering work in the discovery of a heavy elementary particle of a new kind".

Physics 1975

The prize was awarded to:

Bohr, Aage Niels, Denmark,
b. 1922,
Niels Bohr Institute, Copenhagen,

and

Mottelson, Benjamin R., Denmark,
b. 1926 (in Chicago, U.S.A.),
Nordic Institute for Theoretical Atomic Physics, Copenhagen,

and

Rainwater, Leo James, U.S.A.,
b. 1917, d. 1986,
Columbia University, New York,
"for the discovery of the connection between collective motion and particle motion in atomic nuclei and the development of the theory of the structure of the atomic nucleus based on this connection".

Physics 1974

The prize was awarded jointly to:

Ryle, Martin, Sir, Great Britain,
b. 1918, d. 1984,
Cambridge University, Cambridge,
"for their pioneering research in radio astrophysics: Ryle for his observations and inventions, in particular of the aperture synthesis technique;

and

Hewish, Antony, Great Britain,
b. 1924,
Cambridge University, Cambridge,
"for their pioneering research in radio astrophysics: Hewish for his decisive role in the discovery of pulsars".

Physics 1973

The prize was divided, with one half awarded jointly to:

Esaki, Leo, Japan,
b. 1925,
IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY,

and

Giaever, Ivar, U.S.A.,
b. 1929 (in Bergen, Norway),
General Electric Company, Schenectady, NY,
"for their experimental discoveries regarding tunneling phenomena in semiconductors and superconductors, respectively";

and the other half awarded to:

Josephson, Brian D., Great Britain,
b. 1940 (in Cardiff, Wales, U.K.),
Cambridge University, Cambridge,
"for his theoretical predictions of the properties of a supercurrent through a tunnel barrier, in particular those phenomena which are generally known as the Josephson effects".

Physics 1972

The prize was awarded to:

Bardeen, John, U.S.A.,
b. 1908, d. 1991,
University of Illinois, Urbana, IL,

and

Cooper, Leon, N., U.S.A.,
b. 1930,
Brown University, Providence, RI,

and

Schrieffer, J. Robert, U.S.A.,
b. 1931,
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA,
"for their jointly developed theory of superconductivity, usually called the BCS-theory".

Physics 1971

Gabor, Dennis, Great Britain,
b. 1900 (in Budapest, Hungary), d. 1979,
Imperial College of Science and Technology, London,
"for his invention and development of the holographic method".

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Physics 1970

The prize was divided, with one half awarded to:

Alfven, Hannes Olof Gosta, Sweden,
b. 1908,
Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm,
"for fundamental work and discoveries in magneto-hydrodynamics with fruitful applications in different parts of plasma physics"

and the other half awarded to:

Neel, Louis Eugene Felix, France,
b. 1904,
University of Grenoble,
"for fundamental work and discoveries concerning antiferromagnetism and ferrimagnetism which have led to important applications in solid state physics".

Physics 1969

Gell-Mann, Murray, U.S.A.,
b. 1929,
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA,
Brief biography; Award from Drexel University;,
"for his contributions and discoveries concerning the classification of elementary particles and their interactions".

Physics 1968

Alvarez, Luis W., U.S.A.,
b. 1911, d. 1988,
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA,
"for his decisive contributions to elementary particle physics, in particular the discovery of a large number of resonance states, made possible through his development of the technique of using hydrogen bubble chamber and data analysis".

Physics 1967

Bethe, Hans Albrecht, U.S.A.,
b. 1906, (in Strasbourg, then Germany),
Cornell University, Ithaca, NY,
"for his contributions to the theory of nuclear reactions, especially his discoveries concerning the energy production in stars".

Physics 1966

Kastler, Alfred, France,
b. 1902, d. 1984,
Ecole Normale Superieure, Universite de Paris,
"for the discovery and development of optical methods for studying hertzian resonances in atoms".

Physics 1965

The prize was awarded to:

Tomonaga, Sin-Itiro, Japan,
b. 1906, d. 1979,
Tokyo University, Japan,

and

Schwinger, Julian S., U.S.A.,
b. 1918, d. 1994,
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA,

and

Feynman, Richard P., U.S.A.,
b. 1918, d. 1988,
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA,
Obituary from the Boston Globe;
Feynman Online Information;
"for their fundamental work in quantum electrodynamics, with profound consequences for the physics of elementary particles".

Physics 1964

The prize was divided, with one half awarded to:

Townes, Charles H., U.S.A.,
b. 1915,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA,
"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";

and the other half jointly to:

Basov, Nikolai Gennadievich, USSR,
b. 1922,
Lebedev Institute for Physics, Akademia Nauk, Moscow,

and

Prokhorov, Alexander Mikhailovich, USSR,
b. 1916,
Lebedev Institute for Physics, Akademia Nauk, Moscow,
"for basic researches in the field of experimental physics, which led to the discovery of the maser and the laser".

Physics 1963

The prize was divided, with one half awarded to:

Wigner, Eugene P., U.S.A.,
b. 1902 (in Budapest, Hungary), d. 1995,
Princeton University, Princeton, NJ,
"for his contributions to the theory of the atomic nucleus and the elementary particles, particularly through the discovery and application of fundamental symmetry principles";

and the other half awarded jointly to:

Goeppert-Mayer, Maria, U.S.A.,
b. 1906, (in Kattowitz, then Germany), d. 1972,
AA: Argonne National Laboratory and University of Chicago,
WA: Argonne National Laboratory, University of Chicago

and

Jensen, Johannes Hans D., Germany,
b. 1907, d. 1973,
University of Heidelberg,
"for their discoveries concerning nuclear shell structure".

Physics 1962

Landau, Lev Davidovich, USSR,
b. 1908, d. 1968,
Academy of Sciences, Moscow,
"for his pioneering theories for condensed matter, especially liquid helium".

Physics 1961

The prize was divided, with one half awarded to:

Hofstadter, Robert, U.S.A.,
b. 1915, d. 1990,
Stanford University, Stanford, CA,
"for his pioneering studies of electron scattering in atomic nuclei and for his thereby achieved discoveries concerning the stucture of the nucleons";

and the other half awarded to:

Moessbauer, Rudolf L., Germany,
b. 1929,
Technische Hochschule, Munich, and California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA,
"for his researches concerning the resonance absorption of gamma radiation and his discovery in this connection of the effect which bears his name".

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Physics 1960

Glaser, Donald A., U.S.A.,
b. 1926,
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA,
"for the invention of the bubble chamber".

Physics 1959

The prize was awarded jointly to:

Segre, Emilio Gino, U.S.A.,
b. 1905 (in Tivoli, Italy), d. 1989,
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA,

and

Chamberlain, Owen, U.S.A.,
b. 1920,
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA,
"for their discovery of the antiproton".

Physics 1958

The prize was awarded to:

Cherenkov, Pavel Alekseyevich, USSR,
b.1904, d. 1990,
Physics Institute of USSR Academy of Sciences, Moscow,

and

Frank, Ilya Mikhailovich, USSR,
b. 1908, d. 1990,
University of Moscow and Physics Institute of USSR Academy of Sciences, Moscow,

and

Tamm, Igor Yevgenyevich, USSR,
b. 1885, d. 1971,
University of Moscow and Physics Institute of USSR Academy of Sciences, Moscow,
"for the discovery and the interpretation of the Cherenkov effect".

Physics 1957

The prize was awarded jointly to:

Yang, Chen Ning, China,
U.S.A. citizen since 1964,
b. 1922,
CA:State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook, Long Island, NY,
AA:Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ,
WA:Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ, and Brookhaven National Laboratory, NY

and

Lee, Tsung-Dao, China,
b.1926,
Columbia University, New York, NY,
"for their penetrating investigation of the so-called parity laws which has led to important discoveries regarding the elementary particles".

Physics 1956

The prize was awarded to:

Shockley, William, U.S.A.,
b. 1910, (in London, Great Britain), d. 1989,
Semiconductor Laboratory of Beckman Instruments, Inc., Mountain View, CA,
Invention description

and

Bardeen, John, U.S.A.,
b. 1908, d. 1991,
University of Illinois, Urbana, IL,
Invention description

and

Brattain, Walter Houser, U.S.A.,
b. 1902, d. 1987,
Bell Telephone Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ,
Invention description
"for their researches on semiconductors and their discovery of the transistor effect".

Physics 1955

The prize was divided, with one half awarded to:

Lamb, Willis Eugene, U.S.A.,
b. 1913,
Stanford University, Stanford, CA,
"for his discoveries concerning the fine structure of the hydrogen spectrum";

and the other half awarded to:

Kusch, Polykarp, U.S.A.,
b. 1911, (in Blankenburg, then Germany), d. 1993,
Columbia University, New York, NY,
"for his precision determination of the magnetic moment of the electron".

Physics 1954

The prize was divided, with one half awarded to:

Born, Max, Great Britain,
b. 1882, (in Breslau, then Germany), d. 1970,
Edinburgh University,
"for his fundamental research in quantum mechanics, especially for his statistical interpretation of the wavefunction";

and the other half awarded to:

Bothe, Walther W. G., Germany,
b. 1891, d. 1957,
Heidelberg University, Max-Planck Institut (former Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut) for Medizinische Forschung, Heidelberg,
"for the coincidence method and his discoveries made therewith".

Physics 1953

Zernike, Frits (Frederik), the Netherlands,
b. 1888, d. 1966,
Groningen University,
"for his demonstration of the phase contrast method, especially for his invention of the phase contrast microscope".

Physics 1952

The prize was awarded jointly to:

Bloch, Felix, U.S.A.,
b. 1905, (in Zurich, Switzerland), d. 1983,
Stanford University, Stanford, CA,
Brief biographical sketch with photo,

and

Purcell, Edward Mills, U.S.A.,
b. 1912,
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA,
Brief biographical sketch,
"for their development of new methods for nuclear magnetic precision measurements and discoveries in connection therewith".
Lecture notes in MRI physics.

Physics 1951

The prize was awarded jointly to:

Cockcroft, John D., Sir, Great Britain,
b. 1897, d. 1967,
Atomic Energy Research Establishment, Harwell, Didcot, Berks.,

and

Walton, Ernest T. S., Ireland,
b. 1903, d. 1995,
Dublin University,
"for their pioneer work on the transmutation of atomic nuclei by artificially accelerated atomic particles".

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Physics 1950

Powell, Cecil F., Great Britain,
b. 1903, d. 1969,
Bristol University,
"for his development of the photographic method of studying nuclear processes and his discoveries regarding mesons made with this method".

Physics 1949

Yukawa, Hideki,, Japan,
b. 1907, d. 1981,
Kyoto Imperial University and Columbia University, New York, NY,
"for his prediction of the existence of mesons on the basis of theoretical work on nuclear forces".

Physics 1948

Blackett, Patrick M. S., Lord, Great Britain,
b. 1897, d. 1974,
Victoria University, Manchester,
"for his development of the Wilson cloud chamber method, and his discoveries therewith in the fields of nuclear physics and cosmic radiation".

Physics 1947

Appleton, Edward V., Sir, Great Britain,
b. 1892, d. 1965,
Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, London,
"for his investigations of the physics of the upper atmosphere especially for the discovery of the so-called Appleton layer".

Physics 1946

Bridgman, Percy W., U.S.A.,
b. 1882, d. 1961,
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA,
"for the invention of an apparatus to produce extremely high pressures, and for the discoveries he made therewith in the field of high pressure physics".

Physics 1945

Pauli, Wolfgang, Austria,
b. 1900, d. 1958,
Princeton University, NJ,
"for the discovery of the Exclusion Principle, also called the Pauli Principle".

Physics 1944

Rabi, Isidor Isaac, U.S.A.,
b. 1898, (in Rymanow, then Austria-Hungary) d. 1988,
Columbia University, New York, NY,
"for his resonance method for recording the magnetic properties of atomic nuclei".

Physics 1943

The prize was reserved and awarded in 1944 to:

Stern, Otto, U.S.A.,
b. 1888, (in Sorau, then Germany), d. 1969,
Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburg, PA,
"for his contribution to the development of the molecular ray method and his discovery of the magnetic moment of the proton".

Physics 1942

The prize money was withheld and not awarded subsequently for this year.

Physics 1941

The prize money was withheld and not awarded subsequently for this year.

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Physics 1940

The prize money was withheld and not awarded subsequently for this year.

Physics 1939

Lawrence, Ernest Orlando, U.S.A.,
b. 1901, d. 1958,
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA,
Lawrence Hall of Science;
"for the invention and development of the cyclotron and for results obtained with it, especially with regard to artificial radioactive elements".

Physics 1938

Fermi, Enrico, Italy,
b. 1901, d. 1954,
Rome University,
Photo and brief factual bio (from Italy);
Longer, public audience bio;
"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".

Physics 1937

The prize was awarded jointly to:

Davisson, Clinton Joseph, U.S.A.,
b. 1881, d. 1958,
Bell Telephone Laboratories, New York, NY,

and

Thomson, George Paget, Sir, Great Britain,
b. 1892, d. 1975,
London University,
"for their experimental discovery of the diffraction of electrons by crystals".

Physics 1936

The prize was divided, with one half awarded to:

Hess, Victor Franz, Austria,
b. 1883, d. 1964,
Innsbruck University,
"for his discovery of cosmic radiation";

and the other half awarded to:

Anderson, Carl David, U.S.A.,
b. 1905, d. 1991,
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA,
"for his discovery of the positron".

Physics 1935

Chadwick, James, Sir, Great Britain,
b. 1891, d. 1974,
Liverpool University,
"for the discovery of the neutron".

Physics 1934

The prize money was withheld and not awarded subsequently for this year.

Physics 1933

The prize was awarded jointly to:

Schrodinger, Erwin, Austria,
b. 1887, d. 1961,
Berlin University,

and

Dirac, Paul Adrien Maurice, Great Britain,
b. 1902, d. 1984,
Cambridge University,
"for the discovery of new productive forms of atomic theory".

Physics 1932

The prize was reserved and awarded in 1933 to:

Heisenberg, Werner, Germany,
b. 1901, d. 1976,
Leipzig University,
"for the creation of quantum mechanics, the application of which has, inter alia, led to the discovery of the allotropic forms of hydrogen".

Physics 1931

The prize money was withheld and not awarded subsequently for this year.

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Physics 1930

Raman, Chandrasekhara Venkata, Sir, India,
b. 1888, d. 1970,
Calcutta University,
"for his work on the scattering of light and for the discovery of the effect named after him".

Physics 1929

The prize was reserved and awarded in 1930 to:

de Broglie, Louis-Victor Pierre Raymond, Prince, France,
b. 1892, d. 1987,
Sorbonne University, Institut Henri Poincare, Paris,
"for his discovery of the wave nature of electrons".

Physics 1928

The prize was reserved and awarded in 1929 to:

Richardson, Owen Willans, Sir, Great Britain,
b. 1879, d. 1959,
London University,
"for his work on the thermionic phenomenon and especially for the discovery of the law named after him".

Physics 1927

The prize was divided, with one half awarded to:

Compton, Arthur Holly, U.S.A.,
b. 1892, d. 1962,
Chicago University,
"for his discovery of the effect named after him";

and the other half awarded to:

Wilson, Charles Thomson Rees, Great Britain,
b. 1869, (in Glencorse, Scotland), d. 1959,
Cambridge University,
"for his method of making the paths of electrically charged particles visible by condensation of vapour".

Physics 1926

Perrin, Jean Baptiste, France,
b. 1870, d. 1942,
Sorbonne University, Paris,
"for his work on the discontinuous structure of matter, and especially for his discovery of sedimentation equilibrium".

Physics 1925

The prize was reserved and awarded in 1926 to:

Franck, James, Germany,
b. 1882, d. 1964,
Goettingen University,

and

Hertz, Gustav Ludwig, Germany,
b. 1887, d. 1975,
Halle University,
"for their discovery of the laws governing the impact of an electron upon an atom".

Physics 1924

The prize was reserved and awarded in 1925 to:

Siegbahn, Karl Manne Georg, Sweden,
b. 1886, d. 1978,
Uppsala University,
"for his discoveries and research in the field of x-ray spectroscopy".

Physics 1923

Millikan, Robert Andrews, U.S.A.,
b. 1868, d. 1953,
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA,
"for his work on the elementary charge of electricity and on the photoelectric effect".

Physics 1922

The prize for 1922 was awarded to:

Bohr, Niels Henrik David, Denmark,
b. 1885, d. 1962,
Copenhagen University,
"for his services in the investigation of the structure of atoms and of the radiation emanating from them".

Physics 1921:

The prize was reserved and awarded in 1922 to:

Einstein, Albert, Ulm, Germany,
b. 1879, d. 1955,
Kaiser-Wilhelm Institut (now Max-Planck-Institut) fur Physik, Berlin,
Photo gallery; American Institute of Physics exhibit.
"for his services to theoretical physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect".

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Physics 1920

Guillaume, Charles Edouard, Switzerland,
b. 1861, d. 1938,
Bureau International des Poids et Mesures, (International Bureau of Weights and Measures), Sevres,
"in recognition of the service he has rendered to precision measurements in physics by his discovery of anomalies in nickel steel alloys".

Physics 1919

Stark, Johannes, Germany,
b. 1874, d. 1957,
Greifswald University,
"for his discovery of the Doppler effect in canal rays and the splitting of spectral lines in electric fields".

Physics 1918

The prize was reserved and awarded in 1919 to:

Planck, Max Karl Ernst Ludwig, Germany,
b. 1858, d. 1947,
Berlin University,
"in recognition of the services he rendered to the advancement of physics by his discovery of energy quanta".

Physics 1917

The prize was reserved and awarded in 1918 to:

Barkla, Charles Glover, Great Britain,
b. 1877, d. 1944,
Edinburgh University,
"for his discovery of the characteristic Roentgen radiation of the elements".

Physics 1916

The prize money was withheld and not awarded subsequently for this year.

Physics 1915

The prize was awarded jointly to:

Bragg, William Henry, Sir, Great Britain,
b. 1862, d. 1942,
London University,

and his son,

Bragg, William Lawrence, Sir, Great Britain,
b. 1890, (in Adelaide, Australia), d. 1971,
Victoria University, Manchester,
"for their services in the analysis of crystal structure by means of x-rays".

Physics 1914

von Laue, Max Theodor Felix, Germany,
b. 1879, d. 1960,
Frankfurt-on-the Main University,
"for his discovery of the diffraction of x-rays by crystals".

Physics 1913

Kamerlingh Onnes, Heike, the Netherlands,
b. 1853, d. 1926,
Leyden University
"for his investigations on the properties of matter at low temperatures which led, inter alia to the production of liquid helium".

Physics 1912

Dalen, Nils Gustaf, Sweden,
b. 1869, d. 1937,
Swedish Gas-Accumulator Co., Stockholm,
"for his invention of automatic regulators for use in conjunction with gas accumulators for illuminating lighthouses and buoys".

Physics 1911

Wien, Wilhelm Carl Werner Otto Fritz Franz, Germany,
b. 1864, d. 1928,
Wurzburg University,
"for his discoveries regarding the laws governing the radiation of heat".

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Physics 1910

Van der Waals, Johannes Diderik, the Netherlands,
b. 1837, d. 1923,
Amsterdam University,
"for his work on the equation of state for gases and liquids".

Physics 1909

The prize was awarded jointly to:

Marconi, Guglielmo, Italy,
b. 1874, d.1937,
Marconi Wireless Telegraph Co. Ltd., London,

and

Braun, Karl Ferdinand, Germany,
b. 1850, d. 1918,
Strasbourg University, Alsace (then Germany),
"in recognition of their contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy".

Physics 1908

Lippmann, Gabriel Jonas, France,
b. 1845 (in Hollerich, Luxembourg), d. 1921,
Sorbonne University, Paris,
"for his method of reproducing colors photographically based on the phenomenon of interference".

Physics 1907

Michelson, Albert Abraham, U.S.A.,
b. 1852, (in Strelno, then Prussia), d. 1931,
Chicago University,
"for his optical precision instruments and the spectroscopic and metrological investigations carried out with their aid".

Physics 1906

Thomson, Joseph John, Sir, Great Britain,
b. 1856, d. 1940,
Cambridge University,
"in recognition of the great merits of his theoretical and experimental investigations on the conduction of electricity by gases".

Physics 1905

von Lenard, Philipp Eduard Anton, Germany,
b. 1862, (in Pressburg, then Hungary), d. 1947,
Kiel University,
"for his work on cathode rays".

Physics 1904

Strutt, John William, Lord Rayleigh, Great Britain,
b. 1842, d. 1919,
Royal Institution of Great Britain, London,
"for his investigations of the densities of the most important gases and for his discovery of argon in connection with these studies".

Physics 1903

The prize was divided, with one half awarded to:

Becquerel, Antoine Henri, France,
b. 1852, d. 1908,
Ecole Polytechnique, Paris,
"in recognition of the extraordinary services he has rendered by his discovery of spontaneous radioactivity";

and the other half jointly to:

Curie, Pierre, France,
b. 1859, d. 1906,
Ecole Municipale de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles, (Sorbonne) Paris,

and

Curie, Marie (Sklodowska), France,
b. 1867, (in Warsaw, Poland), d. 1934,
"in recognition of the extraordinary services they have rendered by their joint researches on the radiation phenomena discovered by Professor Henri Becquerel".

Physics 1902

The prize was awarded jointly to:

Lorentz, Hendrik Antoon, the Netherlands,
b. 1853, d. 1928,
Leyden University,

and

Zeeman, Pieter, the Netherlands,
b. 1865, d. 1943,
Amsterdam University,
"in recognition of the extraordinary service they rendered by their researches into the influence of magnetism upon radiation phenomena".

Physics 1901

Roentgen, Wilhelm Conrad, Germany,
b. 1845, d. 1923,
Munich University,
"in recognition of the extraordinary services he has rendered by the discovery of the remarkable rays subsequently named after him".

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Explanation of institutional affiliations:

CA = Laureate's Current Affiliation, usually a university or a laboratory.
AA = Award Affiliation(s), the institution(s) with which the Laureate was officially associated when s/he did the Nobel award work.
WA = Where the actual Nobel work was performed. Particularly in recent years, work leading to experimental discoveries is often conducted at one of a few large physics laboratories in the world.

CREDITS: The original idea for this page came from Robin Chandler and Patrick Clancey who created the first edition. Much thanks to Georgia Row, Louise Addis, and Kathryn Henniss who patiently assisted the author's learning curve.