Translations of Encyclopedia about Physics

Nobel Prize Winners

The Swedish chemist and industrialist of Alfred Nobel, who became famous for his invention of dynamite and who became very wealthy due to his patent of it, decided to establish a foundation in his will where funds from this foundation would be used to finance the Nobel Prize. The prize is the oldest distinction awarded in the area of science and has been awarded every year since 1901, always on the tenth of December, which is the date when A. Nobel deceased. According to the foundation founding deed, the award is in the form of a golden Nobel medal and a monetary amount. This tradition was stopped several times during both world wars.

Since 1901, the international Nobel prize has been awarded to scientists who, according to a panel, have earned the award for their service in advancing mankind, world peace or understanding between people. The prize is awarded in the following fields: physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and economics. The Nobel Peace Prize was also founded.

The Nobel Peace Prize is always handed over in Oslo by the Norwegian king, where the decision who is awarded the prize is made by the Nobel Institute of Peace in Oslo. The other prizes are handed over by the Swedish king in Stockholm, where the decision who is awarded the prize is made by the Royal Swedish Academy of Science.

The financial amount awarded depends on the annual interest revenue of the Nobel Foundation. These revenues have been increasing since 1970 from an amount of 288,000 DM to 1.8 million DM in 1999.

The following table shows Nobel Prize winners between 1900 and the year 2000.

Year	Name	Country	Accomplishment
1901	Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen	Germany	Discovered X-rays
1902	Hendrik A. Lorentz	The Netherlands	Researched the influence of magnetic fields on the flow of a beam of rays
	Pieter Zeeman	The Netherlands
1903	Henri A. Becquerel	France	Discovered spontaneous radioactivity
	Marie Curie Pierre Curie	France	Researched the phenomena of radiation discovered by Becquerel.
1904	Lord John W. Rayleigh	Great Britain	Researched the grossness/density of gas and discovered argon
1905	Philipp E. Lenard	Germany	Researched short term radiation
1906	Joseph J. Thomson	Great Britain	Electrical effects in gases
1907	Albert A. Michelson	USA	Measured the speed of light
1908	Gabriel Lippmann	France	Discovered methods of colour photographs on the principle of light interference
1909	Karl Ferdinand Braun Guglielmo Marconi	Germany	Merited with developing wireless telegraphy
1910	Johann D. van der Waals	The Netherlands	Molecular forces/equation of state of gases and liquids
1911	Wilhelm Wien	Germany	Discovered laws relating to heat radiation
1912	Nils Gustav Dalén	Sweden	Research in the area of regulating techniques
1913	Heike Kamerlingh Onnes	The Netherlands	Research of the characteristics of an object during extremely low temperatures
1914	Max von Laue	Germany	Deflection interference of X-rays according to organised crystal atoms (Laue diagram)
1915	Sir William Henry Bragg William Lawrence Bragg	Great Britain	Research of the structure of crystals using an X-ray scope
1916	None awarded
1917	Charles G. Barkia (awarded in 1918)	Great Britain	Discovery of X-ray elements
1918	Max Planck	Germany	Research in the field of heat radiation, radiation / quantum theory
1919	Johannes Stark	Germany	Discovery of the Stark effect in positive ion rays and split spectral lines in electrical fields
1920	Charles E. Guillaume	France	Introduced the metric convention, measurement anomalies in nickel and steel alloys
1921	Albert Einstein	Germany	The theory of photoelectric effects, luminescent effects
1922	Niels Bohr	Denmark	The atom model, quantum theory
1923	Robert A. Millikan	USA	Measuring electron charges
1924	Karl M. G. Siegbahn	Sweden	X-ray spectroscope
1925	James Franck Gustav Hertz	Germany	Work on atom and quantum theory, studied energising and ionising voltage in diluted gases, laws of the effect of electrons on atoms
1926	Jean Baptiste Perrin	France	Conductivity of gases, the behaviour of emulsion and suspended particles, the negative charge of cathode rays, discontinuity of matter, discovered sedimentary equilibrium
1927	Arthur H. Compton	USA	Discovered the Compton effect, visualisation of the path taken by electrically charged particles from condensed rays
	Charles Thomas Rees Wilson	Brit.	Observed electrically charged particles
1928	Sir Owen Williams Richardson	Brit.	Research on heat ions
1929	Prinz Louis Victor de Broglie	Fr.	Researched the mechanics of waves
1930	Sir Ch. V. Raman	India	Raman effect during the molecular diffusion of light
1931	None awarded
1932	Werner Heisenberg	Germany	Laid the foundation of quantum mechanics
1933	Paul Adiren M. Dirac Erwin Schrödinger	Brit. Austr.	Quantum theory, wave mechanics
1934	None awarded
1935	James Chadwick	Brit.	Discovered neutrons
1936	Carl D. anderson	USA	Discovered cosmic radiation
	Victor F. Heß	Austr.	Discovered positrons
1937	Clinton J. Davisson Sir George P. Thomson	USA Brit.	Discovered the inflection of electrons when passing through crystal
1938	Enrico Fermi	Italy	Transformation of atom nucleus using neutron radiation
1939	Ernest O. Lawrence	USA	Discovered cyclotrons
1940	None awarded
1941	None awarded
1942	None awarded
1943	Otto Stern	USA	Molecular radiation, magnetic moment of protons
1944	Isidor I. Rabi	USA	Magnetic characteristics of atom nucleus protons
1945	Wolfgang Pauli	Austr.	Quantum physics Paul’s principle
1946	Percy Williams Bridgman	USA	Research in the field of high pressures
1947	Sir Edward Victor Appleton	Brit.	Research of ionospheres (Appleton layers)
1948	Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett	Brit.	Research in cosmic radiation
1949	Hideki Yukawa	Jap.	Prognosis of the existence of mesons
1950	Cecil F. Powell	Brit.	Discovered mesons Research of the processes of atom nucleuses using photographic methods
1951	Sir John D. Cockcroft Ernest T. Walton	Brit. Ireland	Transformation of atom nucleuses by artificially accelerated atom particles (particle accelerator)
1952	Felix Bloch Edward M. Purcell	USA	Development of new and exact methods of measuring nuclear magnetism (NMR)
1953	Frits Zernike	The Netherlands	Perfected the radiation microscope using phase contrast
1954	Max Born	Brit.	Quantum mechanics
	Walther Bothe	Germany	Developed coincidental methods
1955	Polykarp Kusch	USA	Determined magnetic momentum in electrons
	Willis Eugene Lamp (jun.)	USA	Discovered the fine structures of the hydrogen spectrum
1956	John Bardeen Walter H. Brattain William Shockley	USA	Development of the transistor
1957	Tsung Dao Lee Cheng Ning Yang	USA	Laws of parity
1958	Ilya M. Frank Igor J. Tamm Pavel A. Čerenkov	Russia	Discovery and explanation of Cherenkev’s effect
1959	Owen Chamberlain Emilio G. Serge	USA, Italy	Discovered antiprotons
1960	Donald A. Glaser	USA	Invented bubble chambers
1961	Robert Hofstadter	USA	Discovered nucleon structures
	Rudolf Mößbauer	Germany	Research in resonance absorption of gamma radiation
1962	Lev D. Landau	Russia	Condensed state of matter and the theory of low temperature
1963	Maria Goeppert- Mayer Johannes Hans D. Jensen	USA, Germany	Discovered the structure of atom shells
	Eugene Paul Wigner	USA Hungary	Discovered the principle of symmetry
1964	Nikolaj Basov Alexander Prochorov Charles Townes	Russia USA	Construction of oscillators and amplifiers which have led to the construction of lasers
1965	Richard P. Feynman Julian S. Schwinger Shin‘ichiro Tomonaga	USA Jap.	Research in quantum electrodynamics
1966	Alfred Kastler	Fr.	Development of optical methods when studying frequency resonance
1967	Hans A. Bethe	Germany	Contributed to the theory of nuclear reactions and made discoveries in energy production in stars
1968	Luis W. Alvarez	USA	Major contribution to the physics of elementary particles
1969	Murray Gell-Mann	USA	Classified elementary particles, discovered resonance states and the use of bubble chambers
1970	Hannes O. Alfvén	Sweden	Discoveries in magnetohydrodynamics and application in plasma physics
	Louis E. Néel	Fr.	Work in antiferromagnetism and ferromagnetism
1971	Dennis Gabor	Brit.	Development of holographics
1972	John Bardeen Leon N. Cooper John R. Schrieffer	USA	Theory of superconductivity
1973	Leo Esaki Ivar Giaever	Jap. USA, Austr.	Tunnel effects in semiconductors and superconductors
	Brian Josephson	Brit.	Theoretical prediction of tunnel currents and Joseph’s effect in tunnel barriers
1974	Sir Martin Ryle Antony Hewish	Brit.	Radiostrophysics and contributed to the discovery of pulsars
1975	Aage Bohr Ben Mottelson James Rainwater	Denmark, USA	Work which led to the understanding of the atom nucleus, movement of particles and paths to nuclear fusion
1976	Burton Richter Samuel C.C. Ting	USA	Discovered new classes of heavy elementary particles (Y or J)
1977	Phillip W. anderson John H. van Vleck Neville F. Mott	USA Brit	Contributions to the behaviour of electrons in magnetic, non-crystal solid substances
1978	Pjotr Leonidovič	Russia	Discoveries in low temperature physics
	Arno A. Penzias Robert Wilson	USA	Discoveries in microwave remains of cosmic radiation
1979	Sheldon Lee Glashow Steven Weinberg Abdus Salam	USA Pakist.	Discovered an analogy between electromagnetism and weak interactions between subatomic particles
1980	James W. Cronin Val L. Fitch	USA	Demonstrated the concurrent disturbance of symmetry of charged conjugation and parity inversion
1981	Nicolaas Bloembergen Arthur Leonard Schawlow	USA	Laser spectroscope and spectroscope methods
	Kai Manne Siegbahn	Sweden	Development of the electron spectroscope
1982	Kenneth G. Wilson	USA	Analysis of continuous phase conversions
1983	Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar William A. Fowler	USA	The meaning of nuclear reaction for the formation of stars, problems relating to star formation
1984	Carlo Rubbia Simon van der Meer	Italy, the Netherlands	Discovery of W and Z subatomic particles, theory of weak electrical interactions
1985	Klaus v. Klitzing	Germany	Discovery of the quantum Hallo effect, which enables the exact measurement of electrical resistance
1986	Ernst Ruska Gerd Binnig Heinrich Rohrer	Germany, Switzerland	Fundamental work in electron optics and development of the first electron tunnel microscope
1987	Johannes Georg Bednorz Karl Alex Müller	Germany	Discovery of superconductor ceramic material
1988	Leon Max Lederman Melvin Schwartz Jack Steinberger	USA	Fundamental work in subatomic particles - neutrino
1989	Wolfgang Paul	Germany	Development of ion traps
	Hans Georg Dehmelt	USA, Germany	Preparing methods of ionisation of atoms and subatomic particles
	Norman Foster Ramsey	USA	Basic work for the hydrogen maser and other atomic levels, transformation between energy states in atoms
1990	Jerome I. Friedman Henry W. Kendall Richard E. Taylor	USA Canada	Non-elastic diffusion of electrons and protons which has led to discoveries in the atomic quark model
1991	Pierre-Gilles de Gennes	Fr.	Work in liquid crystals, polymers, gels, magnets and superconductors
1992	Georges Charpak	Fr.	Drift and proportional chambers, detection of elementary particles in an accelerator during collisions
1993	Russell A. Hulse Joseph Taylor (jun.)	USA	Discovery of binary pulsars which paved the ground for new studies in gravity
1994	Bertram N. Brockhouse Clifford G. Shull	Canada USA	Development and application of methods of neutron diffusion for studies in condensed matter
1995	Martin L. Perl	USA	Entdeckung des Tauons (Tau Leptons)
	Frederick Reines	USA	Nachweis des Neutrinos
1996	David M. Lee Douglas D. Osheroff Robert C. Richardson	USA	Discovery of super liquidity in helium 3
1997	Steven Chu Claude Cohen-Tannoudji William D. Phillips	USA, Fr. USA	Development of methods which enable the cooling and capture of atoms using laser radiation
1998	Robert B. Laughlin Horst L. Störmer Daniel C. Tsui	USA Germany USA USA	Discoveries in a new type of quantum fluids with fraction charged impulses and strong magnetic fields of mutually working electrons - Hall’s effect
1999	Gerardus ´t Hooft Martinus J.G. Veltman	The Netherlands	Theory of quantum structures in weak electrical interactions
2000	Zhores I Alferov	Russia	Fundamental work in communication and information technology
	Herbert Kroemer	D	Development of semiconductor techniques in high-crystal techniques and optoelectronics
	Jack S Kilby	USA	Participation in the development of integrated switching circuits

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