The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded 117 times to 235 Nobel Prize laureates between 1901 and 2026.
2020s
| Year |
Laureates |
Why the Prize Was Awarded |
| 2026 |
Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel |
“for their discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics” |
| 2025 |
Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi |
“for their discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance” |
| 2024 |
Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun |
“for the discovery of microRNA and its role in post-transcriptional gene regulation” |
| 2023 |
Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman |
“for their discoveries concerning nucleoside base modifications that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19” |
| 2022 |
Svante Pääbo |
“for his discoveries concerning the genomes of extinct hominins and human evolution” |
| 2021 |
David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian |
“for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch” |
| 2020 |
Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice |
“for the discovery of Hepatitis C virus” |
2010s
| Year |
Laureates |
Why the Prize Was Awarded |
| 2019 |
William G. Kaelin Jr, Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe and Gregg L. Semenza |
“for their discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability” |
| 2018 |
James P. Allison and Tasuku Honjo |
“for their discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation” |
| 2017 |
Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael W. Young |
“for their discoveries of molecular mechanisms controlling the circadian rhythm” |
| 2016 |
Yoshinori Ohsumi |
“for his discoveries of mechanisms for autophagy” |
| 2015 |
William C. Campbell and Satoshi Ōmura |
“for their discoveries concerning a novel therapy against infections caused by roundworm parasites” |
|
Tu Youyou |
“for her discoveries concerning a novel therapy against Malaria” |
| 2014 |
John O'Keefe, May-Britt Moser and Edvard I. Moser |
“for their discoveries of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain” |
| 2013 |
James E. Rothman, Randy W. Schekman and Thomas C. Südhof |
“for their discoveries of machinery regulating vesicle traffic, a major transport system in our cells” |
| 2012 |
Sir John B. Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka |
“for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent” |
| 2011 |
Bruce A. Beutler and Jules A. Hoffmann |
“for their discoveries concerning the activation of innate immunity” |
|
Ralph M. Steinman |
“for his discovery of the dendritic cell and its role in adaptive immunity” |
| 2010 |
Robert G. Edwards |
“for the development of in vitro fertilisation” |
2000s
| Year |
Laureates |
Why the Prize Was Awarded |
| 2009 |
Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak |
“for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase” |
| 2008 |
Harald zur Hausen |
“for his discovery of human papilloma viruses causing cervical cancer” |
|
Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier |
“for their discovery of human immunodeficiency virus” |
| 2007 |
Mario R. Capecchi, Sir Martin J. Evans and Oliver Smithies |
“for their discoveries of principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem cells” |
| 2006 |
Andrew Z. Fire and Craig C. Mello |
“for their discovery of RNA interference - gene silencing by double-stranded RNA” |
| 2005 |
Barry J. Marshall and J. Robin Warren |
“for their discovery of the bacterium Helicobacter pylori and its role in gastritis and peptic ulcer disease” |
| 2004 |
Richard Axel and Linda B. Buck |
“for their discoveries of odorant receptors and the organisation of the olfactory system” |
| 2003 |
Paul C. Lauterbur and Sir Peter Mansfield |
“for their discoveries concerning magnetic resonance imaging” |
| 2002 |
Sydney Brenner, H. Robert Horvitz and John E. Sulston |
“for their discoveries concerning genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death” |
| 2001 |
Leland Hartwell, Tim Hunt and Sir Paul Nurse |
“for their discoveries of key regulators of the cell cycle” |
| 2000 |
Arvid Carlsson, Paul Greengard and Eric Kandel |
“for their discoveries concerning signal transduction in the nervous system” |
1990s
| Year |
Laureates |
Why the Prize Was Awarded |
| 1999 |
Günter Blobel |
“for the discovery that proteins have intrinsic signals that govern their transport and localisation in the cell” |
| 1998 |
Robert F. Furchgott, Louis J. Ignarro and Ferid Murad |
“for their discoveries concerning nitric oxide as a signalling molecule in the cardiovascular system” |
| 1997 |
Stanley B. Prusiner |
“for his discovery of Prions - a new biological principle of infection” |
| 1996 |
Peter C. Doherty and Rolf M. Zinkernagel |
“for their discoveries concerning the specificity of the cell mediated immune defence” |
| 1995 |
Edward B. Lewis, Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard and Eric F. Wieschaus |
“for their discoveries concerning the genetic control of early embryonic development” |
| 1994 |
Alfred G. Gilman and Martin Rodbell |
“for their discovery of G-proteins and the role of these proteins in signal transduction in cells” |
| 1993 |
Richard J. Roberts and Phillip A. Sharp |
“for their discoveries of split genes” |
| 1992 |
Edmond H. Fischer and Edwin G. Krebs |
“for their discoveries concerning reversible protein phosphorylation as a biological regulatory mechanism” |
| 1991 |
Erwin Neher and Bert Sakmann |
“for their discoveries concerning the function of single ion channels in cells” |
| 1990 |
Joseph E. Murray and E. Donnall Thomas |
“for their discoveries concerning organ and cell transplantation in the treatment of human disease” |
1980s
| Year |
Laureates |
Why the Prize Was Awarded |
| 1989 |
J. Michael Bishop and Harold E. Varmus |
“for their discovery of the cellular origin of retroviral oncogenes” |
| 1988 |
Sir James W. Black, Gertrude B. Elion and George H. Hitchings |
“for their discoveries of important principles for drug treatment” |
| 1987 |
Susumu Tonegawa |
“for his discovery of the genetic principle for generation of antibody diversity” |
| 1986 |
Stanley Cohen and Rita Levi-Montalcini |
“for their discoveries of growth factors” |
| 1985 |
Michael S. Brown and Joseph L. Goldstein |
“for their discoveries concerning the regulation of cholesterol metabolism” |
| 1984 |
Niels K. Jerne, Georges J. F. Köhler and César Milstein |
“for theories concerning the specificity in development and control of the immune system and the discovery of the principle for production of monoclonal antibodies” |
| 1983 |
Barbara McClintock |
“for her discovery of mobile genetic elements” |
| 1982 |
Sune K. Bergström, Bengt I. Samuelsson and John R. Vane |
“for their discoveries concerning prostaglandins and related biologically active substances” |
| 1981 |
Roger W. Sperry |
“for his discoveries concerning the functional specialisation of the cerebral hemispheres” |
|
David H. Hubel and Torsten N. Wiesel |
“for their discoveries concerning information processing in the visual system” |
| 1980 |
Baruj Benacerraf, Jean Dausset and George D. Snell |
“for their discoveries concerning genetically determined structures on the cell surface that regulate immunological reactions” |
1970s
| Year |
Laureates |
Why the Prize Was Awarded |
| 1979 |
Allan M. Cormack and Godfrey N. Hounsfield |
“for the development of computer assisted tomography” |
| 1978 |
Werner Arber, Daniel Nathans and Hamilton O. Smith |
“for the discovery of restriction enzymes and their application to problems of molecular genetics” |
| 1977 |
Roger Guillemin and Andrew V. Schally |
“for their discoveries concerning the peptide hormone production of the brain” |
|
Rosalyn Yalow |
“for the development of radioimmunoassays of peptide hormones” |
| 1976 |
Baruch S. Blumberg and D. Carleton Gajdusek |
“for their discoveries concerning new mechanisms for the origin and dissemination of infectious diseases” |
| 1975 |
David Baltimore, Renato Dulbecco and Howard M. Temin |
“for their discoveries concerning the interaction between tumour viruses and the genetic material of the cell” |
| 1974 |
Albert Claude, Christian de Duve and George E. Palade |
“for their discoveries concerning the structural and functional organisation of the cell” |
| 1973 |
Karl von Frisch, Konrad Lorenz and Nikolaas Tinbergen |
“for their discoveries concerning organisation and elicitation of individual and social behaviour patterns” |
| 1972 |
Gerald M. Edelman and Rodney R. Porter |
“for their discoveries concerning the chemical structure of antibodies” |
| 1971 |
Earl W. Sutherland, Jr. |
“for his discoveries concerning the mechanisms of the action of hormones” |
| 1970 |
Sir Bernard Katz, Ulf von Euler and Julius Axelrod |
“for their discoveries concerning the humoral transmitters in the nerve terminals and the mechanism for their storage, release and inactivation” |
1960s
| Year |
Laureates |
Why the Prize Was Awarded |
| 1969 |
Max Delbrück, Alfred D. Hershey and Salvador E. Luria |
“for their discoveries concerning the replication mechanism and the genetic structure of viruses” |
| 1968 |
Robert W. Holley, H. Gobind Khorana and Marshall W. Nirenberg |
“for their interpretation of the genetic code and its function in protein synthesis” |
| 1967 |
Ragnar Granit, Keffer Hartline and George Wald |
“for their discoveries concerning the primary physiological and chemical visual processes in the eye” |
| 1966 |
Peyton Rous |
“for his discovery of tumour-inducing viruses” |
|
Charles B. Huggins |
“for his discoveries concerning hormonal treatment of prostatic cancer” |
| 1965 |
François Jacob, André Lwoff and Jacques Monod |
“for their discoveries concerning genetic control of enzyme and virus synthesis” |
| 1964 |
Konrad Bloch and Feodor Lynen |
“for their discoveries concerning the mechanism and regulation of the cholesterol and fatty acid metabolism” |
| 1963 |
Sir John Eccles, Alan Hodgkin and Andrew Huxley |
“for their discoveries concerning the ionic mechanisms involved in excitation and inhibition in the peripheral and central portions of the nerve cell membrane” |
| 1962 |
Francis Crick, James Watson and Maurice Wilkins |
“for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material” |
| 1961 |
Georg von Békésy |
“for his discoveries of the physical mechanism of stimulation within the cochlea” |
| 1960 |
Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet and Peter Medawar |
“for discovery of acquired immunological tolerance” |
1950s
| Year |
Laureates |
Why the Prize Was Awarded |
| 1959 |
Severo Ochoa and Arthur Kornberg |
“for their discovery of the mechanisms in the biological synthesis of ribonucleic acid and deoxyribonucleic acid” |
| 1958 |
George Beadle and Edward Tatum |
“for their discovery that genes act by regulating definite chemical events” |
|
Joshua Lederberg |
“for his discoveries concerning genetic recombination and the organisation of the genetic material of bacteria” |
| 1957 |
Daniel Bovet |
“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” |
| 1956 |
André F. Cournand, Werner Forssmann and Dickinson W. Richards |
“for their discoveries concerning heart catheterisation and pathological changes in the circulatory system” |
| 1955 |
Hugo Theorell |
“for his discoveries concerning the nature and mode of action of oxidation enzymes” |
| 1954 |
John F. Enders, Thomas H. Weller and Frederick C. Robbins |
“for their discovery of the ability of poliomyelitis viruses to grow in cultures of various types of tissue” |
| 1953 |
Hans Krebs |
“for his discovery of the citric acid cycle” |
|
Fritz Lipmann |
“for his discovery of co-enzyme A and its importance for intermediary metabolism” |
| 1952 |
Selman A. Waksman |
“for his discovery of streptomycin, the first antibiotic effective against tuberculosis” |
| 1951 |
Max Theiler |
“for his discoveries concerning yellow fever and how to combat it” |
| 1950 |
Edward C. Kendall, Tadeus Reichstein and Philip S. Hench |
“for their discoveries relating to the hormones of the adrenal cortex, their structure and biological effects” |
1940s
| Year |
Laureates |
Why the Prize Was Awarded |
| 1949 |
Walter Hess |
“for his discovery of the functional organisation of the interbrain as a coordinator of the activities of the internal organs” |
|
Egas Moniz |
“for his discovery of the therapeutic value of leucotomy in certain psychoses” |
| 1948 |
Paul Müller |
“for his discovery of the high efficiency of DDT as a contact poison against several arthropods” |
| 1947 |
Carl Cori and Gerty Cori |
“for their discovery of the course of the catalytic conversion of glycogen” |
|
Bernardo Houssay |
“for his discovery of the part played by the hormone of the anterior pituitary lobe in the metabolism of sugar” |
| 1946 |
Hermann J. Muller |
“for the discovery of the production of mutations by means of X-ray irradiation” |
| 1945 |
Sir Alexander Fleming, Ernst B. Chain and Sir Howard Florey |
“for the discovery of penicillin and its curative effect in various infectious diseases” |
| 1944 |
Joseph Erlanger and Herbert S. Gasser |
“for their discoveries relating to the highly differentiated functions of single nerve fibres” |
| 1943 |
Henrik Dam |
“for his discovery of vitamin K” |
|
Edward A. Doisy |
“for his discovery of the chemical nature of vitamin K” |
| 1942 |
No Nobel Prize was awarded this year. |
1/3 of the prize money was allocated to the main fund and 2/3 was allocated to the special fund of this prize section. |
| 1941 |
No Nobel Prize was awarded this year. |
1/3 of the prize money was allocated to the main fund and 2/3 was allocated to the special fund of this prize section. |
| 1940 |
No Nobel Prize was awarded this year. |
1/3 of the prize money was allocated to the main fund and 2/3 was allocated to the special fund of this prize section. |
1930s
| Year |
Laureates |
Why the Prize Was Awarded |
| 1939 |
Gerhard Domagk |
“for the discovery of the antibacterial effects of prontosil” |
| 1938 |
Corneille Heymans |
“for the discovery of the role played by the sinus and aortic mechanisms in the regulation of respiration” |
| 1937 |
Albert Szent-Györgyi |
“for his discoveries in connection with the biological combustion processes, with special reference to vitamin C and the catalysis of fumaric acid” |
| 1936 |
Sir Henry Dale and Otto Loewi |
“for their discoveries relating to chemical transmission of nerve impulses” |
| 1935 |
Hans Spemann |
“for his discovery of the organiser effect in embryonic development” |
| 1934 |
George H. Whipple, George R. Minot and William P. Murphy |
“for their discoveries concerning liver therapy in cases of anaemia” |
| 1933 |
Thomas H. Morgan |
“for his discoveries concerning the role played by the chromosome in heredity” |
| 1932 |
Sir Charles Sherrington and Edgar Adrian |
“for their discoveries regarding the functions of neurons” |
| 1931 |
Otto Warburg |
“for his discovery of the nature and mode of action of the respiratory enzyme” |
| 1930 |
Karl Landsteiner |
“for his discovery of human blood groups” |
1920s
| Year |
Laureates |
Why the Prize Was Awarded |
| 1929 |
Christiaan Eijkman |
“for his discovery of the antineuritic vitamin” |
|
Sir Frederick Hopkins |
“for his discovery of the growth-stimulating vitamins” |
| 1928 |
Charles Nicolle |
“for his work on typhus” |
| 1927 |
Julius Wagner-Jauregg |
“for his discovery of the therapeutic value of malaria inoculation in the treatment of dementia paralytica” |
| 1926 |
Johannes Fibiger |
“for his discovery of the Spiroptera carcinoma” |
| 1925 |
No Nobel Prize was awarded this year. |
The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section. |
| 1924 |
Willem Einthoven |
“for his discovery of the mechanism of the electrocardiogram” |
| 1923 |
Frederick G. Banting and John Macleod |
“for the discovery of insulin” |
| 1922 |
Archibald V. Hill |
“for his discovery relating to the production of heat in the muscle” |
|
Otto Meyerhof |
“for his discovery of the fixed relationship between the consumption of oxygen and the metabolism of lactic acid in the muscle” |
| 1921 |
No Nobel Prize was awarded this year. |
The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section. |
| 1920 |
August Krogh |
“for his discovery of the capillary motor regulating mechanism” |
1910s
| Year |
Laureates |
Why the Prize Was Awarded |
| 1919 |
Jules Bordet |
“for his discoveries relating to immunity” |
| 1918 |
No Nobel Prize was awarded this year. |
The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section. |
| 1917 |
No Nobel Prize was awarded this year. |
The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section. |
| 1916 |
No Nobel Prize was awarded this year. |
The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section. |
| 1915 |
No Nobel Prize was awarded this year. |
The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section. |
| 1914 |
Robert Bárány |
“for his work on the physiology and pathology of the vestibular apparatus” |
| 1913 |
Charles Richet |
“in recognition of his work on anaphylaxis” |
| 1912 |
Alexis Carrel |
“in recognition of his work on vascular suture and the transplantation of blood vessels and organs” |
| 1911 |
Allvar Gullstrand |
“for his work on the dioptrics of the eye” |
| 1910 |
Albrecht Kossel |
“in recognition of the contributions to our knowledge of cell chemistry made through his work on proteins, including the nucleic substances” |
1900s
| Year |
Laureates |
Why the Prize Was Awarded |
| 1909 |
Theodor Kocher |
“for his work on the physiology, pathology and surgery of the thyroid gland” |
| 1908 |
Ilya Mechnikov and Paul Ehrlich |
“in recognition of their work on immunity” |
| 1907 |
Alphonse Laveran |
“in recognition of his work on the role played by protozoa in causing diseases” |
| 1906 |
Camillo Golgi and Santiago Ramón y Cajal |
“in recognition of their work on the structure of the nervous system” |
| 1905 |
Robert Koch |
“for his investigations and discoveries in relation to tuberculosis” |
| 1904 |
Ivan Pavlov |
“in recognition of his work on the physiology of digestion, through which knowledge on vital aspects of the subject has been transformed and enlarged” |
| 1903 |
Niels Ryberg Finsen |
“in recognition of his contribution to the treatment of diseases, especially lupus vulgaris, with concentrated light radiation, whereby he has opened a new avenue for medical science” |
| 1902 |
Ronald Ross |
“for his work on malaria, by which he has shown how it enters the organism and thereby has laid the foundation for successful research on this disease and methods of combating it” |
| 1901 |
Emil von Behring |
“for his work on serum therapy, especially its application against diphtheria, by which he has opened a new road in the domain of medical science and thereby placed in the hands of the physician a victorious weapon against illness and deaths” |