updated 15-OCT-1997 by PEG
updated 9-OCT-1996 by PEG
updated 12-OCT-1994 by SIC
original by Scott I. Chase
The following is a complete listing of Nobel Prize awards, from the first award in 1901. Prizes were not awarded in every year. The date in brackets is the approximate date of the work. The description following the names is an abbreviation of the official citation.
The Physics prize is announced near the beginning of October each year. One of the quickest ways to get the announcement is to watch the Nobel Foundation web site at http://www.nobel.se/.
1901 [1895] Wilhelm Konrad Roentgen X-rays
1902 [1896] Hendrik Antoon Lorentz Magnetism in radiation phenomena
Pieter Zeeman
1903 [1896] Antoine Henri Bequerel Spontaneous radioactivity
[1898] Pierre Curie
Marie Sklodowska-Curie
1904 [1894] Lord Rayleigh Density of gases and
(a.k.a. John William Strutt) discovery of argon
1905 [1899] Pilipp Eduard Anton von Lenard Cathode rays
1906 [1897] Joseph John Thomson Conduction of electricity by gases
1907 Albert Abraham Michelson Precision meteorological investigations
1908 Gabriel Lippman Reproducing colors photographically
based on the phenomenon of interference
1909 [1901] Guglielmo Marconi Wireless telegraphy
Carl Ferdinand Braun
1910 [1873] Johannes Diderik van der Waals Equation of state of fluids
1911 [1896] Wilhelm Wien Laws of radiation of heat
1912 [1909] Nils Gustaf Dalen Automatic gas flow regulators
1913 [1911] Heike Kamerlingh Onnes Matter at low temperature
1914 [1912] Max von Laue Crystal diffraction of X-rays
1915 [1913] William Henry Bragg X-ray analysis of crystal structure
William Lawrence Bragg
1916 no award
1917 [1911] Charles Glover Barkla Characteristic X-ray spectra of elements
1918 [1900] Max Planck Energy quanta
1919 [1913] Johannes Stark Splitting of spectral lines in E fields
1920 Charles-Edouard Guillaume Anomalies in nickel steel alloys
1921 [1905] Albert Einstein Photoelectric Effect
1922 [1913] Niels Bohr Structure of atoms
1923 [1909] Robert Andrew Millikan Elementary charge of electricity
1924 Karl Manne Georg Siegbahn X-ray spectroscopy
1925 [1914] James Franck Impact of an electron upon an atom
Gustav Hertz
1926 Jean Baptiste Perrin Sedimentation equilibrium
1927 [1924] Arthur Holly Compton Compton effect
[1912] Charles Thomson Rees Wilson Invention of the Cloud chamber
1928 [1903] Owen Willans Richardson Thermionic phenomena, Richardson's Law
1929 [1923] Prince Louis-Victor de Broglie Wave nature of electrons
1930 [1928] Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman Scattering of light, Raman effect
1931 no award
1932 [1925] Werner Heisenberg Quantum Mechanics
1933 [1926] Erwin Schrodinger Atomic theory
[1928] Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac
1934 no award
1935 [1932] James Chadwick The neutron
1936 [1911] Victor Franz Hess Cosmic rays
[1932] Carl D. Anderson The positron
1937 [1925] Clinton Joseph Davisson Crystal diffraction of electrons
George Paget Thomson
1938 [1935] Enrico Fermi New radioactive elements
1939 [1929] Ernest Orlando Lawrence Invention of the Cyclotron
1940 no award
1941 no award
1942 no award
1943 [1933] Otto Stern Proton magnetic moment
1944 [1935] Isador Isaac Rabi Magnetic resonance in atomic nuclei
1945 [1924] Wolfgang Pauli The Exclusion principle
1946 [1925] Percy Williams Bridgman Production of extremely high pressures
1947 [1924] Sir Edward Victor Appleton Physics of the upper atmosphere
1948 [1932] Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett Cosmic ray showers in cloud chambers
1949 [1935] Hideki Yukawa Prediction of Mesons
1950 [1947] Cecil Frank Powell Photographic emulsion for meson studies
1951 [1932] Sir John Douglas Cockroft Artificial acceleration of atomic
Ernest Thomas Sinton Walton particles and transmutation of nuclei
1952 [1946] Felix Bloch Nuclear magnetic precision methods
Edward Mills Purcell
1953 [1935] Frits Zernike Phase-contrast microscope
1954 [1926] Max Born Fundamental research in QM
[1925] Walther Bothe Coincidence counters
1955 [1947] Willis Eugene Lamb Hydrogen fine structure
[1947] Polykarp Kusch Electron magnetic moment
1956 [1948] William Shockley Transistors
John Bardeen
Walter Houser Brattain
1957 [1956] Chen Ning Yang Parity violation
Tsung Dao Lee
1958 [1934] Pavel Aleksejevic Cerenkov Interpretation of the Cerenkov effect
[1937] Il'ja Mickajlovic Frank
Igor' Evgen'evic Tamm
1959 [1955] Emilio Gino Segre The Antiproton
Owen Chamberlain
1960 [1952] Donald Arthur Glaser The Bubble Chamber
1961 [1953] Robert Hofstadter Electron scattering on nucleons
Rudolf Ludwig Mossbauer Resonant absorption of photons
1962 [1941] Lev Davidovic Landau Theory of liquid helium
1963 [1931] Eugene P. Wigner Fundamental symmetry principles
[1949] Maria Goeppert Mayer Nuclear shell structure
J. Hans D. Jensen
1964 [1958] Charles H. Townes Maser-Laser principle
Nikolai G. Basov
Alexander M. Prochorov
1965 [1948] Sin-Itiro Tomonaga Quantum electrodynamics
Julian Schwinger
Richard P. Feynman
1966 [1950] Alfred Kastler Study of Hertzian resonance in atoms
1967 [1938] Hans Albrecht Bethe Energy production in stars
1968 [1955] Luis W. Alvarez Discovery of many particle resonances
1969 [1964] Murray Gell-Mann Quark model for particle classification
1970 [1942] Hannes Alfven Magneto-hydrodynamics in plasma physics
[1932] Louis Neel Antiferromagnetism and ferromagnetism
1971 [1947] Dennis Gabor Principles of holography
1972 [1957] John Bardeen Theory of superconductivity
Leon N. Cooper
J. Robert Schrieffer
1973 [1960] Leo Esaki Tunneling in superconductors
Ivar Giaever
[1962] Brian D. Josephson Super-current through tunnel barriers
1974 [1974] Antony Hewish Discovery of pulsars
[1958] Sir Martin Ryle Pioneering radioastronomy work
1975 [1950] Aage Bohr Structure of the atomic nucleus
Ben Mottelson
James Rainwater
1976 [1974] Burton Richter Discovery of the J/Psi particle
Samual Chao Chung Ting
1977 [1958] Philip Warren Anderson Electronic structure of magnetic and
[1967] Nevill Francis Mott disordered solids
John Hasbrouck Van Vleck
1978 [1932] Pyotr Kapitsa Liquefaction of helium
[1965] Arno A. Penzias Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation
Robert W. Wilson
1979 [1961] Sheldon Glashow Electroweak Theory, especially
[1967] Steven Weinberg weak neutral currents
[1968] Abdus Salam
1980 [1964] James Cronin Discovery of CP violation in the
Val Fitch asymmetric decay of neutral K-mesons
1981 Kai M. Seigbahn High resolution electron spectroscopy
[1962] Nicolaas Bloembergen Laser spectroscopy
Arthur L. Schawlow
1982 [1972] Kenneth G. Wilson Critical phenomena in phase transitions
1983 [1935] Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar Evolution of stars
[1957] William A. Fowler
1984 [1983] Carlo Rubbia Discovery of W,Z
[1970] Simon van der Meer Stochastic cooling for colliders
1985 [1977] Klaus von Klitzing Discovery of quantum Hall effect
1986 [1981] Gerd Binnig Scanning Tunneling Microscopy
Heinrich Rohrer
[1932] Ernst August Friedrich Ruska Electron microscopy
1987 [1986] Georg Bednorz High-temperature superconductivity
Alex K. Muller
1988 [1962] Leon Max Lederman Discovery of the muon neutrino leading
Melvin Schwartz to classification of particles in
Jack Steinberger families
1989 Hans Georg Dehmelt Penning Trap for charged particles
Wolfgang Paul Paul Trap for charged particles
Norman F. Ramsey Control of atomic transitions by the
separated oscillatory fields method
1990 [1972] Jerome Isaac Friedman Deep inelastic scattering experiments
Henry Way Kendall leading to the discovery of quarks
Richard Edward Taylor
1991 Pierre-Gilles de Gennes Order-disorder transitions in liquid
crystals and polymers
1992 Georges Charpak Multiwire Proportional Chamber
1993 [1974] Russell A. Hulse Discovery of the first binary pulsar
Joseph H. Taylor and subsequent tests of GR
1994 [1960] Bertram N. Brockhouse Neutron scattering experiments
[1946] Clifford G. Shull
1995 [1975] Martin L. Perl Discovery of the tau lepton
[1953] Frederick Reines Detection of the neutrino
1996 David M. Lee Superfluidity in Helium-3
Douglas D. Osheroff
Robert C. Richardson
1997 [1985] Steven Chu Development of methods to cool
Claude Cohen-Tannoudji and trap atoms with laser light
William D. Phillips