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Sandbox Physics

120 prize years · 145 citations · 7 topics

Nobel Prize in Physics winners, 1901–2026

Every Nobel Prize in Physics from 1901 to 2026 is listed here by year, with its laureates and a story about the work it honoured.

Pick a year and follow its link to the story behind the prize. When one year honoured two separate pieces of work, each has its own line, so 120 prize years hold 145 citations. No prize was awarded in 1916, 1931, 1934, 1940, 1941 or 1942.

Browse by topic

Each prize belongs to one of seven topics. A topic page puts its stories in reading order and links the interactive experiments that go with them.

  1. Quantum physics and atoms

    How did spectra, collisions and single atoms reveal the quantum rules?

    26 citations

  2. Light, waves and imaging

    How do X-rays, lasers, electrons and neutrons show structures too small to see?

    26 citations

  3. Materials, devices and quantum fluids

    Why do transistors, superconductors and superfluids behave the way they do?

    25 citations

  4. Heat, chance and collective behaviour

    How do vast numbers of particles add up to gases, phase changes, climate and memory?

    11 citations

  5. Nuclei, particles and detectors

    How did detectors and accelerators find the particles and forces inside matter?

    39 citations

  6. Astronomy, cosmology and gravity

    What can starlight, radio pulses and gravitational waves tell us about the universe?

    13 citations

  7. Neutrinos

    How did physicists catch a particle that passes through almost everything?

    5 citations

1900s

  1. 1901

  2. 1902

  3. 1903

  4. 1904

  5. 1905

  6. 1906

  7. 1907

  8. 1908

  9. 1909

1910s

  1. 1910

  2. 1911

  3. 1912

  4. 1913

  5. 1914

  6. 1915

  7. 1916

    No prize was awarded.

  8. 1917

  9. 1918

  10. 1919

1920s

  1. 1920

  2. 1921

  3. 1922

  4. 1923

  5. 1924

  6. 1925

  7. 1926

  8. 1927

  9. 1928

  10. 1929

1930s

  1. 1930

  2. 1931

    No prize was awarded.

  3. 1932

  4. 1933

  5. 1934

    No prize was awarded.

  6. 1935

  7. 1936

  8. 1937

  9. 1938

  10. 1939

1940s

  1. 1940

    No prize was awarded.

  2. 1941

    No prize was awarded.

  3. 1942

    No prize was awarded.

  4. 1943

  5. 1944

  6. 1945

  7. 1946

  8. 1947

  9. 1948

  10. 1949

1950s

  1. 1950

  2. 1951

  3. 1952

  4. 1953

  5. 1954

  6. 1955

  7. 1956

  8. 1957

  9. 1958

  10. 1959

1960s

  1. 1960

  2. 1961

  3. 1962

  4. 1963

  5. 1964

  6. 1965

  7. 1966

  8. 1967

  9. 1968

  10. 1969

1970s

  1. 1970

  2. 1971

  3. 1972

  4. 1973

  5. 1974

  6. 1975

  7. 1976

  8. 1977

  9. 1978

  10. 1979

1980s

  1. 1980

  2. 1981

  3. 1982

  4. 1983

  5. 1984

  6. 1985

  7. 1986

  8. 1987

  9. 1988

  10. 1989

1990s

  1. 1990

  2. 1991

  3. 1992

  4. 1993

  5. 1994

  6. 1995

  7. 1996

  8. 1997

  9. 1998

  10. 1999

2000s

  1. 2000

  2. 2001

  3. 2002

  4. 2003

  5. 2004

  6. 2005

  7. 2006

  8. 2007

  9. 2008

  10. 2009

2010s

  1. 2010

  2. 2011

  3. 2012

  4. 2013

  5. 2014

  6. 2015

  7. 2016

  8. 2017

  9. 2018

  10. 2019

2020s

  1. 2020

  2. 2021

  3. 2022

  4. 2023

  5. 2024

  6. 2025

  7. 2026

Where this list comes from

The laureates, and how each year’s prize is split between pieces of work, follow the official records of the Nobel Prize organisation. Each story names the wider team behind the work and lists its own sources.

All Nobel Prizes in Physics at nobelprize.org

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