Nobel Prize for Medicine: Winners by Year

Award years

• 2025

  • Mary E. Brunkow, Frederick J. Ramsdell, Shimon Sakaguchi

    for their discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance

• 2024

  • Victor Ambros, Gary Ruvkun

    for the discovery of microRNA and its role in post-transcriptional gene regulation

• 2023

  • Katalin Karikó, 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, Ardem Patapoutian

    for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch

• 2020

  • Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton, Charles M. Rice

    for the discovery of Hepatitis C virus

• 2019

  • William G. Kaelin, Peter J. Ratcliffe, Gregg L. Semenza

    for their discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability

• 2018

  • James P. Allison, Tasuku Honjo

    for their discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation

• 2017

  • Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash, 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, 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, Edvard I. Moser

    for their discoveries of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain

• 2013

  • James E. Rothman, Randy W. Schekman, Thomas C. Südhof

    for their discoveries of machinery regulating vesicle traffic, a major transport system in our cells

• 2012

  • John B. Gurdon, Shinya Yamanaka

    for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent

• 2011

  • Bruce A. Beutler, 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 fertilization

• 2009

  • Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider, 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, Luc Montagnier

    for their discovery of human immunodeficiency virus

• 2007

  • Mario R. Capecchi, Martin J. Evans, 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, Craig C. Mello

    for their discovery of RNA interference - gene silencing by double-stranded RNA

• 2005

  • Barry J. Marshall, J. Robin Warren

    for their discovery of the bacterium Helicobacter pylori and its role in gastritis and peptic ulcer disease

• 2004

  • Richard Axel, Linda B. Buck

    for their discoveries of odorant receptors and the organization of the olfactory system

• 2003

  • Paul C. Lauterbur, Sir Peter Mansfield

    for their discoveries concerning magnetic resonance imaging

• 2002

  • Sydney Brenner, H. Robert Horvitz, John E. Sulston

    for their discoveries concerning genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death'

• 2001

  • Leland H. Hartwell, Tim Hunt, Paul M. Nurse

    for their discoveries of key regulators of the cell cycle

• 2000

  • Arvid Carlsson, Paul Greengard, Eric R. Kandel

    for their discoveries concerning signal transduction in the nervous system

• 1999

  • Günter Blobel

    for the discovery that proteins have intrinsic signals that govern their transport and localization in the cell

• 1998

  • Robert F. Furchgott, Louis J. Ignarro, 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, Rolf M. Zinkernagel

    for their discoveries concerning the specificity of the cell mediated immune defence

• 1995

  • Edward B. Lewis, Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, Eric F. Wieschaus

    for their discoveries concerning the genetic control of early embryonic development

• 1994

  • Alfred G. Gilman, Martin Rodbell

    for their discovery of G-proteins and the role of these proteins in signal transduction in cells

• 1993

  • Richard J. Roberts, Phillip A. Sharp

    for their discoveries of split genes

• 1992

  • Edmond H. Fischer, Edwin G. Krebs

    for their discoveries concerning reversible protein phosphorylation as a biological regulatory mechanism

• 1991

  • Erwin Neher, Bert Sakmann

    for their discoveries concerning the function of single ion channels in cells

• 1990

  • Joseph E. Murray, E. Donnall Thomas

    for their discoveries concerning organ and cell transplantation in the treatment of human disease

• 1989

  • J. Michael Bishop, Harold E. Varmus

    for their discovery of the cellular origin of retroviral oncogenes

• 1988

  • James W. Black, Gertrude B. Elion, 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, Rita Levi-Montalcini

    for their discoveries of growth factors

• 1985

  • Michael S. Brown, Joseph L. Goldstein

    for their discoveries concerning the regulation of cholesterol metabolism

• 1984

  • Niels K. Jerne, Georges J. F. Köhler, 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

  • Karl Sune Bergström, Bengt I. Samuelsson, John R. Vane

    for their discoveries concerning prostaglandins and related biologically active substances

• 1981

  • Roger Wolcott Sperry

    for his discoveries concerning the functional specialization of the cerebral hemispheres

  • David H. Hubel, Torsten N. Wiesel

    for their discoveries concerning information processing in the visual system

• 1980

  • Baruj Benacerraf, Jean Dausset, George D. Snell

    for their discoveries concerning genetically determined structures on the cell surface that regulate immunological reactions

• 1979

  • Allan M. Cormack, Godfrey N. Hounsfield

    for the development of computer assisted tomography

• 1978

  • Werner Arber, Daniel Nathans, Hamilton O. Smith

    for the discovery of restriction enzymes and their application to problems of molecular genetics

• 1977

  • Roger Guillemin, Andrew V. Schally

    for their discoveries concerning the peptide hormone production of the brain

  • Rosalyn Sussman Yalow

    for the development of radioimmunoassays of peptide hormones

• 1976

  • Baruch S. Blumberg, D. Carleton Gajdusek

    for their discoveries concerning new mechanisms for the origin and dissemination of infectious diseases

• 1975

  • David Baltimore, Renato Dulbecco, Howard Martin Temin

    for their discoveries concerning the interaction between tumour viruses and the genetic material of the cell

• 1974

  • Albert Claude, Christian de Duve, George E. Palade

    for their discoveries concerning the structural and functional organization of the cell

• 1973

  • Karl von Frisch, Konrad Lorenz, Nikolaas Tinbergen

    for their discoveries concerning organization and elicitation of individual and social behaviour patterns

• 1972

  • Gerald M. Edelman, Rodney R. Porter

    for their discoveries concerning the chemical structure of antibodies

• 1971

  • Earl Wilbur Sutherland

    for his discoveries concerning the mechanisms of the action of hormones

• 1970

  • Sir Bernard Katz, Ulf von Euler, Julius Axelrod

    for their discoveries concerning the humoral transmittors in the nerve terminals and the mechanism for their storage, release and inactivation

• 1969

  • Max Delbrück, Alfred D. Hershey, Salvador E. Luria

    for their discoveries concerning the replication mechanism and the genetic structure of viruses

• 1968

  • Robert W. Holley, Har Gobind Khorana, Marshall W. Nirenberg

    for their interpretation of the genetic code and its function in protein synthesis

• 1967

  • Ragnar Granit, Haldan Keffer Hartline, 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 Brenton Huggins

    for his discoveries concerning hormonal treatment of prostatic cancer

• 1965

  • François Jacob, André Lwoff, Jacques Monod

    for their discoveries concerning genetic control of enzyme and virus synthesis

• 1964

  • Konrad Bloch, Feodor Lynen

    for their discoveries concerning the mechanism and regulation of the cholesterol and fatty acid metabolism

• 1963

  • Sir John Carew Eccles, Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, Andrew Fielding 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 Harry Compton Crick, James Dewey Watson, Maurice Hugh Frederick 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

  • Frank Macfarlane Burnet, Peter Brian Medawar

    for discovery of acquired immunological tolerance

• 1959

  • Severo Ochoa, Arthur Kornberg

    for their discovery of the mechanisms in the biological synthesis of ribonucleic acid and deoxyribonucleic acid

• 1958

  • George Wells Beadle, Edward Lawrie Tatum

    for their discovery that genes act by regulating definite chemical events

  • Joshua Lederberg

    for his discoveries concerning genetic recombination and the organization 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 Frédéric Cournand, Werner Forssmann, Dickinson W. Richards

    for their discoveries concerning heart catheterization and pathological changes in the circulatory system

• 1955

  • Axel Hugo Theodor Theorell

    for his discoveries concerning the nature and mode of action of oxidation enzymes

• 1954

  • John Franklin Enders, Thomas Huckle Weller, Frederick Chapman Robbins

    for their discovery of the ability of poliomyelitis viruses to grow in cultures of various types of tissue

• 1953

  • Hans Adolf Krebs

    for his discovery of the citric acid cycle

  • Fritz Albert Lipmann

    for his discovery of co-enzyme A and its importance for intermediary metabolism

• 1952

  • Selman Abraham 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 Calvin Kendall, Tadeus Reichstein, Philip Showalter Hench

    for their discoveries relating to the hormones of the adrenal cortex, their structure and biological effects

• 1949

  • Walter Rudolf Hess

    for his discovery of the functional organization of the interbrain as a coordinator of the activities of the internal organs

  • Antonio Caetano de Abreu Freire Egas Moniz

    for his discovery of the therapeutic value of leucotomy in certain psychoses

• 1948

  • Paul Hermann Müller

    for his discovery of the high efficiency of DDT as a contact poison against several arthropods

• 1947

  • Carl Ferdinand Cori, Gerty Theresa Cori, née Radnitz

    for their discovery of the course of the catalytic conversion of glycogen

  • Bernardo Alberto Houssay

    for his discovery of the part played by the hormone of the anterior pituitary lobe in the metabolism of sugar

• 1946

  • Hermann Joseph Muller

    for the discovery of the production of mutations by means of X-ray irradiation

• 1945

  • Sir Alexander Fleming, Ernst Boris Chain, Sir Howard Walter Florey

    for the discovery of penicillin and its curative effect in various infectious diseases

• 1944

  • Joseph Erlanger, Herbert Spencer Gasser

    for their discoveries relating to the highly differentiated functions of single nerve fibres

• 1943

  • Henrik Carl Peter Dam

    for his discovery of vitamin K

  • Edward Adelbert Doisy

    for his discovery of the chemical nature of vitamin K

• 1939

  • Gerhard Domagk

    for the discovery of the antibacterial effects of prontosil

• 1938

  • Corneille Jean François Heymans

    for the discovery of the role played by the sinus and aortic mechanisms in the regulation of respiration

• 1937

  • Albert von Szent-Györgyi Nagyrápolt

    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 Hallett Dale, Otto Loewi

    for their discoveries relating to chemical transmission of nerve impulses

• 1935

  • Hans Spemann

    for his discovery of the organizer effect in embryonic development

• 1934

  • George Hoyt Whipple, George Richards Minot, William Parry Murphy

    for their discoveries concerning liver therapy in cases of anaemia

• 1933

  • Thomas Hunt Morgan

    for his discoveries concerning the role played by the chromosome in heredity

• 1932

  • Sir Charles Scott Sherrington, Edgar Douglas Adrian

    for their discoveries regarding the functions of neurons

• 1931

  • Otto Heinrich 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

• 1929

  • Christiaan Eijkman

    for his discovery of the antineuritic vitamin

  • Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins

    for his discovery of the growth-stimulating vitamins

• 1928

  • Charles Jules Henri 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 Andreas Grib Fibiger

    for his discovery of the Spiroptera carcinoma

• 1924

  • Willem Einthoven

    for his discovery of the mechanism of the electrocardiogram

• 1923

  • Frederick Grant Banting, John James Rickard Macleod

    for the discovery of insulin

• 1922

  • Archibald Vivian Hill

    for his discovery relating to the production of heat in the muscle

  • Otto Fritz Meyerhof

    for his discovery of the fixed relationship between the consumption of oxygen and the metabolism of lactic acid in the muscle

• 1920

  • Schack August Steenberg Krogh

    for his discovery of the capillary motor regulating mechanism

• 1919

  • Jules Bordet

    for his discoveries relating to immunity

• 1914

  • Robert Bárány

    for his work on the physiology and pathology of the vestibular apparatus

• 1913

  • Charles Robert 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

• 1909

  • Emil Theodor Kocher

    for his work on the physiology, pathology and surgery of the thyroid gland

• 1908

  • Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov, Paul Ehrlich

    in recognition of their work on immunity

• 1907

  • Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran

    in recognition of his work on the role played by protozoa in causing diseases

• 1906

  • Camillo Golgi, 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 Petrovich 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 Adolf 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