List of female Nobel laureates

All Nobel Prizes won by women

The Nobel Prizes are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institute, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals who make outstanding contributions in the fields of Chemistry, Physics, Literature, Peace, Physiology or Medicine and Economics.^[1] All but the economics prize were established by the 1895 will of Alfred Nobel, which dictates that the awards should be administered by the Nobel Foundation. The Nobel prize in Economics, or The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, was established in 1968 by the Sveriges Riksbank, the central bank of Sweden, for outstanding contributions in the field of Economics.^[2] Each prize is awarded by a separate committee; the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awards the Prizes in Physics, Chemistry, and Economics, the Swedish Academy awards the Prize in Literature, the Karolinska Institute awards the Prize in Physiology or Medicine, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee awards the Prize in Peace.^[3] Each recipient receives a medal, a diploma and a cash prize that has varied throughout the years.^[2] In 1901, the winners of the first Nobel Prizes were given 150,782 SEK, which is equal to 7,731,004 SEK in December 2007. In 2008, the winners were awarded a prize amount of 10,000,000 SEK.^[4] The awards are presented in Stockholm (Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature and Economics) and Oslo (Peace) in an annual ceremony on December 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death.^[5]

Following the awards of 2009, the Nobel Prize has been awarded 765 times to men and 41 times to women (there have also been 23 awards to organizations).^[6][7][8] 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.^[9][10] Curie is also the only woman to have won multiple Nobel Prizes; in 1911, she won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (and is accordingly included twice in the total figure of 41 for female laureates). 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.^[7] Twelve women have won the Nobel Peace Prize, twelve have won the Nobel Prize in Literature, ten have won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, four have won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, two have won the Nobel Prize in Physics and only one woman (in 2009) has won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.^[11] The most Nobel Prizes awarded to women in a single year was in 2009, when five women became laureates.

Laureates

Year	Image	Laureate	Country	Category	Rationale
1903		Curie, MarieMarie Curie (shared with Pierre Curie and Henri Becquerel)	Poland and France	Physics	"in recognition of the extraordinary services they have rendered by their joint researches on the radiation phenomena discovered by Professor Henri Becquerel"[10]
1905		Suttner, Bertha vonBertha von Suttner	Austria–Hungary	Peace	Honorary President of Permanent International Peace Bureau, Bern, Switzerland; Author of Lay Down Your Arms.[12]
1909		Lagerlof, SelmaSelma Lagerlöf	Sweden	Literature	"in appreciation of the lofty idealism, vivid imagination and spiritual perception that characterize her writings"[13]
1911		Curie, MarieMarie Curie	Poland and France	Chemistry	"for her discovery of radium and polonium"[14]
1926		Deledda, GraziaGrazia Deledda	Italy	Literature	"for her idealistically inspired writings which with plastic clarity picture the life on her native island and with depth and sympathy deal with human problems in general"[15]
1928		Undset, SigridSigrid Undset	Norway	Literature	"principally for her powerful descriptions of Northern life during the Middle Ages"[16]
1931		Addams, JaneJane Addams (shared with Nicholas Murray Butler)	United States	Peace	Sociologist; International President, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.[17]
1935		Joliot-Curie, IreneIrène Joliot-Curie (shared with Frédéric Joliot-Curie)	France	Chemistry	"for their synthesis of new radioactive elements"[18]
1938		Buck, Pearl S.Pearl S. Buck	United States	Literature	"for her rich and truly epic descriptions of peasant life in China and for her biographical masterpieces"[19]
1945		Mistral, GabrielaGabriela Mistral	Chile	Literature	"for her lyric poetry which, inspired by powerful emotions, has made her name a symbol of the idealistic aspirations of the entire Latin American world"[20]
1946		Balch, Emily GreeneEmily Greene Balch (shared with John Raleigh Mott)	United States	Peace	Formerly Professor of History and Sociology; Honorary International President, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.[21]
1947		Cori, Gerty TheresaGerty Theresa Cori (shared with Carl Ferdinand Cori and Bernardo Houssay)	United States	Physiology or Medicine	"for their discovery of the course of the catalytic conversion of glycogen"[22]
1963		Goeppert-Mayer, MariaMaria Goeppert-Mayer (shared with J. Hans D. Jensen and Eugene Wigner)	United States	Physics	"for their discoveries concerning nuclear shell structure"[23]
1964		Hodgkin, Dorothy CrowfootDorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin	United Kingdom	Chemistry	"for her determinations by X-ray techniques of the structures of important biochemical substances"[24]
1966		Sachs, NellyNelly Sachs (shared with Samuel Agnon)	Sweden	Literature	"for her outstanding lyrical and dramatic writing, which interprets Israel's destiny with touching strength"[25]
1976		Williams, BettyBetty Williams	United Kingdom	Peace	Founder of the Northern Ireland Peace Movement (later renamed Community of Peace People)[26]
1976		Corrigan, MaireadMairead Corrigan	United Kingdom	Peace	Founder of the Northern Ireland Peace Movement (later renamed Community of Peace People)[26]
1977		Sussman Yalow, RosalynRosalyn Sussman Yalow (shared with Roger Guillemin and Andrew Schally)	United States	Physiology or Medicine	"for the development of radioimmunoassays of peptide hormones"[27]
1979		Teresa, MotherMother Teresa	India and Macedonia	Peace	Leader of Missionaries of Charity, Calcutta.[28]
1982		Myrdal, AlvaAlva Myrdal (shared with Alfonso García Robles)	Sweden	Peace	Former Cabinet Minister; Diplomat; Writer.[29]
1983		McClintock, BarbaraBarbara McClintock	United States	Physiology or Medicine	"for her discovery of mobile genetic elements"[30]
1986		Levi-Montalcini, RitaRita Levi-Montalcini (shared with Stanley Cohen)	Italy and United States	Physiology or Medicine	"for their discoveries of growth factors"[31]
1988		Elion, Gertrude B.Gertrude B. Elion (shared with James W. Black and George H. Hitchings)	United States	Physiology or Medicine	"for their discoveries of important principles for drug treatment"[32]
1991		Gordimer, NadineNadine Gordimer	South Africa	Literature	"who through her magnificent epic writing has - in the words of Alfred Nobel - been of very great benefit to humanity"[33]
1991		Suu Kyi, Aung SanAung San Suu Kyi	Burma	Peace	"for her non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights"[34]
1992		Menchu, RigobertaRigoberta Menchú	Guatemala	Peace	"in recognition of her work for social justice and ethno-cultural reconciliation based on respect for the rights of indigenous peoples"[35]
1993		Morrison, ToniToni Morrison	United States	Literature	"who in novels characterized by visionary force and poetic import, gives life to an essential aspect of American reality"[36]
1995		Nusslein-Volhard, ChristianeChristiane Nüsslein-Volhard (shared with Edward B. Lewis and Eric F. Wieschaus)	Germany	Physiology or Medicine	"for their discoveries concerning the genetic control of early embryonic development"[37]
1996		Szymborska, WislawaWisława Szymborska	Poland	Literature	"for poetry that with ironic precision allows the historical and biological context to come to light in fragments of human reality"[38]
1997		Williams, JodyJody Williams (shared with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines)	United States	Peace	"for their work for the banning and clearing of anti-personnel mines"[39]
2003		Ebadi, ShirinShirin Ebadi	Iran	Peace	"for her efforts for democracy and human rights. She has focused especially on the struggle for the rights of women and children"[40]
2004		Jelinek, ElfriedeElfriede Jelinek	Austria	Literature	"for her musical flow of voices and counter-voices in novels and plays that with extraordinary linguistic zeal reveal the absurdity of society's clichés and their subjugating power"[41]
2004		Maathai, WangariWangari Maathai	Kenya	Peace	"for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace"[42]
2004		Buck, Linda B.Linda B. Buck (shared with Richard Axel)	United States	Physiology or Medicine	"for their discoveries of odorant receptors and the organization of the olfactory system"[43]
2007		Lessing, DorisDoris Lessing	United Kingdom	Literature	"that epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny"[44]
2008		Barre-Sinoussi, FrancoiseFrançoise Barré-Sinoussi (shared with Harald zur Hausen and Luc Montagnier)	France	Physiology or Medicine	"for their discovery of human immunodeficiency virus"[45]
2009		Blackburn, ElizabethElizabeth Blackburn (shared with Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak)	Australia and United States	Physiology or Medicine	"for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase"[46]
2009		Greider, Carol W.Carol W. Greider (shared with Elizabeth Blackburn and Jack W. Szostak)	United States	Physiology or Medicine	"for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase"[46]
2009		Yonath, Ada E.Ada E. Yonath (shared with Venkatraman Ramakrishnan and Thomas A. Steitz)	Israel	Chemistry	"for studies of the structure and function of the ribosome"[47]
2009		Muller, HertaHerta Müller	Germany and Romania	Literature	"who, with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, depicts the landscape of the dispossessed"[48]
2009		Elinor OstromElinor Ostrom (shared with Oliver E. Williamson)	United States	Economics	"for her analysis of economic governance, especially the commons"[49]

References

General

Specific

External links

• Official website of the Nobel Foundation
• "How the Academy Rejected the Women" - Article (in Swedish; based on documents in the Nobel Archive) about the women writers, that were nominated from 1901 to 1950/1959 (due to secrecy rules, 50 years); in all, 44 women writers were nominated 124 times, among whom only five were awarded the prize (Lagerlöf 1909, Deledda 1926, Undset 1928, Buck 1938, Mistral 1945).