--- title: "Nobel Prize in Physics winners, 1901–2026" description: "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." canonical_url: "https://sandboxphysics.com/nobel/physics/" language: "en" page_type: "story" alternate_languages: zh-CN: "https://sandboxphysics.com/zh/nobel/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](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/) How did spectra, collisions and single atoms reveal the quantum rules? 26 citations 2. ### [Light, waves and imaging](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/) How do X-rays, lasers, electrons and neutrons show structures too small to see? 26 citations 3. ### [Materials, devices and quantum fluids](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/) Why do transistors, superconductors and superfluids behave the way they do? 25 citations 4. ### [Heat, chance and collective behaviour](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/thermal-complexity/) How do vast numbers of particles add up to gases, phase changes, climate and memory? 11 citations 5. ### [Nuclei, particles and detectors](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/) How did detectors and accelerators find the particles and forces inside matter? 39 citations 6. ### [Astronomy, cosmology and gravity](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/astronomy-gravity/) What can starlight, radio pulses and gravitational waves tell us about the universe? 13 citations 7. ### [Neutrinos](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/neutrinos/) How did physicists catch a particle that passes through almost everything? 5 citations ## 1900s 1. ### 1901 - Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen [Röntgen: what a shadow could prove](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/rontgen-rays-and-shadow-evidence/) [Light, waves and imaging](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1901/summary/) 2. ### 1902 - Hendrik A. Lorentz · Pieter Zeeman [Why a magnetic field splits a spectral line](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/zeeman-lines-polarization-lorentz/) [Quantum physics and atoms](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1902/summary/) 3. ### 1903 - Henri Becquerel [How an unexposed plate led to radioactivity](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/becquerel-curie-radioactivity/) [Nuclei, particles and detectors](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1903/summary/) - Pierre Curie · Marie Curie [How an unexposed plate led to radioactivity](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/becquerel-curie-radioactivity/) [Nuclei, particles and detectors](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1903/summary/) 4. ### 1904 - Lord Rayleigh [The extra weight that revealed argon](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/thermal-complexity/rayleigh-argon-density/) [Heat, chance and collective behaviour](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/thermal-complexity/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1904/summary/) 5. ### 1905 - Philipp Lenard [Lenard lets cathode rays out of the tube](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/particle-evidence/lenard-cathode-ray-window/) [Nuclei, particles and detectors](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1905/summary/) 6. ### 1906 - J.J. Thomson [Thomson finds a common particle in cathode rays](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/particle-evidence/thomson-electron-charge-mass/) [Nuclei, particles and detectors](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1906/summary/) 7. ### 1907 - Albert A. Michelson [Michelson: a fringe count becomes a length](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/michelson-fringes-and-length/) [Light, waves and imaging](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1907/summary/) 8. ### 1908 - Gabriel Lippmann [Lippmann: colour stored through the depth of a plate](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/lippmann-recorded-colour/) [Light, waves and imaging](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1908/summary/) 9. ### 1909 - Guglielmo Marconi · Ferdinand Braun [Wireless and the ionosphere: reception was only the beginning](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/wireless-signals-and-ionosphere/) [Light, waves and imaging](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1909/summary/) ## 1910s 1. ### 1910 - Johannes Diderik van der Waals [How a gas becomes a liquid and loses the boundary](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/thermal-complexity/van-der-waals-critical-point/) [Heat, chance and collective behaviour](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/thermal-complexity/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1910/summary/) 2. ### 1911 - Wilhelm Wien [Blackbody radiation: a whole curve, not one quantum](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/blackbody-spectrum-planck-wien/) [Quantum physics and atoms](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1911/summary/) 3. ### 1912 - Gustaf Dalén [The rods that switched a lighthouse off at dawn](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/thermal-complexity/dalen-sun-valve/) [Heat, chance and collective behaviour](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/thermal-complexity/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1912/summary/) 4. ### 1913 - Heike Kamerlingh Onnes [How liquid helium opened the way to superconductivity](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/liquid-helium-onnes/) [Materials, devices and quantum fluids](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1913/summary/) 5. ### 1914 - Max von Laue [Laue and the Braggs: from spots to a crystal model](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/laue-bragg-crystal-inference/) [Light, waves and imaging](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1914/summary/) 6. ### 1915 - William Bragg · Lawrence Bragg [Laue and the Braggs: from spots to a crystal model](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/laue-bragg-crystal-inference/) [Light, waves and imaging](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1915/summary/) 7. ### 1916 No prize was awarded. 8. ### 1917 - Charles Glover Barkla [Barkla: why the target material changed the radiation](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/barkla-characteristic-x-rays/) [Light, waves and imaging](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1917/summary/) 9. ### 1918 - Max Planck [Blackbody radiation: a whole curve, not one quantum](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/blackbody-spectrum-planck-wien/) [Quantum physics and atoms](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1918/summary/) 10. ### 1919 - Johannes Stark [Reading atomic motion in the colours of canal rays](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/stark-canal-rays-doppler-emitters/) Also read: [How an electric field splits hydrogen’s spectral lines](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/stark-effect-electric-field-spectra/) [Quantum physics and atoms](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1919/summary/) ## 1920s 1. ### 1920 - Charles Edouard Guillaume [How Invar reduces temperature errors in precision measurement](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/invar-metrology/) [Materials, devices and quantum fluids](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1920/summary/) 2. ### 1921 - Albert Einstein [Photoelectric evidence: the voltage is not yet the energy](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/photoelectric-stopping-potential-contact/) [Quantum physics and atoms](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1921/summary/) 3. ### 1922 - Niels Bohr [Atomic spectra: evidence for states, not photographs of orbits](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/atomic-spectra-stationary-states/) [Quantum physics and atoms](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1922/summary/) 4. ### 1923 - Robert A. Millikan [Oil drops: finding a charge unit in falling times](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/millikan-oil-drop-charge-inference/) Also read: [Photoelectric evidence: the voltage is not yet the energy](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/photoelectric-stopping-potential-contact/) [Quantum physics and atoms](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1923/summary/) 5. ### 1924 - Manne Siegbahn [Manne Siegbahn: what precise X-ray lines revealed about atomic levels](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/manne-siegbahn-x-ray-lines/) [Light, waves and imaging](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1924/summary/) 6. ### 1925 - James Franck · Gustav Hertz [Franck–Hertz: what a drop in current can show](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/franck-hertz-discrete-excitation/) [Quantum physics and atoms](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1925/summary/) 7. ### 1926 - Jean Baptiste Perrin [Perrin counted the grains that refused to settle](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/thermal-complexity/perrin-sedimentation/) [Heat, chance and collective behaviour](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/thermal-complexity/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1926/summary/) 8. ### 1927 - Arthur H. Compton [Compton scattering: light must balance momentum too](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/compton-scattering-energy-momentum/) [Quantum physics and atoms](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1927/summary/) - C.T.R. Wilson [Wilson turns ionisation into a visible track](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/particle-evidence/wilson-cloud-chamber/) [Nuclei, particles and detectors](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1927/summary/) 9. ### 1928 - Owen Willans Richardson [How electrons escape a hot metal](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/thermionic-emission/) [Materials, devices and quantum fluids](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1928/summary/) 10. ### 1929 - Louis de Broglie [de Broglie: a wavelength for matter, a speed for the packet](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/de-broglie-matter-waves-phase-packets/) [Quantum physics and atoms](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1929/summary/) ## 1930s 1. ### 1930 - Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman [Raman: the shifted lines moved with the source](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/raman-shift-and-molecular-evidence/) [Light, waves and imaging](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1930/summary/) 2. ### 1931 No prize was awarded. 3. ### 1932 - Werner Heisenberg [Matrices and waves: two routes to the same predictions](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/matrix-wave-mechanics-observables/) [Quantum physics and atoms](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1932/summary/) 4. ### 1933 - Erwin Schrödinger · Paul A.M. Dirac [Matrices and waves: two routes to the same predictions](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/matrix-wave-mechanics-observables/) Also read: [Dirac’s electron: a successful equation with an unfinished story](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/dirac-electron-spin-relativity/) [Quantum physics and atoms](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1933/summary/) 5. ### 1934 No prize was awarded. 6. ### 1935 - James Chadwick [The recoiling atoms that revealed the neutron](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/chadwick-neutron-recoils/) [Nuclei, particles and detectors](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1935/summary/) 7. ### 1936 - Victor F. Hess [Hess found stronger radiation above the clouds](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/astronomy-gravity/hess-balloon-radiation/) [Astronomy, cosmology and gravity](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/astronomy-gravity/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1936/summary/) - Carl D. Anderson [The lead plate that revealed a positron](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/particle-evidence/anderson-positron-lead-plate/) [Nuclei, particles and detectors](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1936/summary/) 8. ### 1937 - Clinton Davisson · George Paget Thomson [Electron diffraction: two experiments, one wavelength test](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/electron-evidence/electron-diffraction-crystal-records/) [Light, waves and imaging](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1937/summary/) 9. ### 1938 - Enrico Fermi [Why slowing neutrons made some reactions stronger](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/fermi-slow-neutron-activation/) [Nuclei, particles and detectors](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1938/summary/) 10. ### 1939 - Ernest Lawrence [How a cyclotron gives the same ion another push](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/cyclotron-resonant-acceleration/) [Nuclei, particles and detectors](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1939/summary/) ## 1940s 1. ### 1940 No prize was awarded. 2. ### 1941 No prize was awarded. 3. ### 1942 No prize was awarded. 4. ### 1943 - Otto Stern [What two silver traces revealed about atoms](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/stern-gerlach-silver-beam-spin/) Also read: [Measuring the proton’s magnetism with a hydrogen beam](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/stern-proton-moment-molecular-hydrogen/) [Quantum physics and atoms](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1943/summary/) 5. ### 1944 - Isidor Isaac Rabi [How to tell when a nucleus is in resonance](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/magnetic-resonance-beams-absorption-induction/) [Quantum physics and atoms](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1944/summary/) 6. ### 1945 - Wolfgang Pauli [Pauli: count the states before filling the shells](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/pauli-spectra-exclusion-principle/) [Quantum physics and atoms](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1945/summary/) 7. ### 1946 - Percy W. Bridgman [Bridgman opened the way into matter under pressure](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/thermal-complexity/bridgman-high-pressure/) [Heat, chance and collective behaviour](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/thermal-complexity/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1946/summary/) 8. ### 1947 - Edward V. Appleton [Wireless and the ionosphere: reception was only the beginning](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/wireless-signals-and-ionosphere/) [Light, waves and imaging](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1947/summary/) 9. ### 1948 - Patrick M.S. Blackett [Blackett and Occhialini let a particle take its own photograph](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/particle-evidence/blackett-counter-controlled-cloud-chamber/) [Nuclei, particles and detectors](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1948/summary/) 10. ### 1949 - Hideki Yukawa [Why Yukawa expected a particle between the electron and proton](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/particle-evidence/yukawa-meson-range/) [Nuclei, particles and detectors](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1949/summary/) ## 1950s 1. ### 1950 - Cecil Powell [The pion leaves a second track in photographic emulsion](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/particle-evidence/powell-pion-emulsion/) [Nuclei, particles and detectors](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1950/summary/) 2. ### 1951 - John Cockcroft · Ernest T.S. Walton [Splitting lithium with a laboratory proton beam](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/cockcroft-walton-lithium/) [Nuclei, particles and detectors](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1951/summary/) 3. ### 1952 - Felix Bloch · E. M. Purcell [How to tell when a nucleus is in resonance](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/magnetic-resonance-beams-absorption-induction/) [Quantum physics and atoms](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1952/summary/) 4. ### 1953 - Frits Zernike [Zernike: a reference wave makes transparent structure visible](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/zernike-phase-reference/) [Light, waves and imaging](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1953/summary/) 5. ### 1954 - Max Born [Born: how a scattering direction became a probability](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/born-scattering-probability/) [Quantum physics and atoms](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1954/summary/) - Walther Bothe [Bothe and Geiger ask whether two signals belong together](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/particle-evidence/bothe-coincidence-method/) [Nuclei, particles and detectors](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1954/summary/) 6. ### 1955 - Willis E. Lamb [How missing hydrogen atoms revealed the Lamb shift](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/lamb-shift-microwave-evidence/) [Quantum physics and atoms](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1955/summary/) - Polykarp Kusch [How Kusch and Foley found the electron’s extra magnetism](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/kusch-foley-electron-magnetic-moment/) [Quantum physics and atoms](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1955/summary/) 7. ### 1956 - William B. Shockley · John Bardeen · Walter H. Brattain [How the first transistor amplified a weak signal](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/transistor-point-contact/) [Materials, devices and quantum fluids](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1956/summary/) 8. ### 1957 - Chen Ning Yang · Tsung-Dao Lee [Wu’s cobalt experiment showed a preference for one direction](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/particle-evidence/wu-parity-experiment/) [Nuclei, particles and detectors](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1957/summary/) 9. ### 1958 - Pavel A. Cherenkov · Igor Y. Tamm · Il´ja M. Frank [Cherenkov follows the blue light to a moving charge](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/particle-evidence/cherenkov-light-cone/) [Nuclei, particles and detectors](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1958/summary/) 10. ### 1959 - Emilio Segrè · Owen Chamberlain [Finding the antiproton among thousands of pions](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/particle-evidence/chamberlain-antiproton/) [Nuclei, particles and detectors](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1959/summary/) ## 1960s 1. ### 1960 - Donald A. Glaser [Glaser makes a particle trail start the boiling](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/particle-evidence/glaser-bubble-chamber/) [Nuclei, particles and detectors](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1960/summary/) 2. ### 1961 - Robert Hofstadter [Measuring the proton with scattered electrons](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/hofstadter-nucleon-form-factors/) [Nuclei, particles and detectors](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1961/summary/) - Rudolf Mössbauer [How a crystal takes the recoil of an emitting nucleus](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/mossbauer-recoil-free-resonance/) [Quantum physics and atoms](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1961/summary/) 3. ### 1962 - Lev Landau [How Landau explained superfluid helium through its excitations](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/landau-superfluid-helium/) [Materials, devices and quantum fluids](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1962/summary/) 4. ### 1963 - Eugene Wigner [What symmetry tells us about a particle](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/particle-evidence/wigner-symmetry-principles/) [Nuclei, particles and detectors](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1963/summary/) - Maria Goeppert Mayer · J. Hans D. Jensen [Why some nuclei close a shell](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/nuclear-shells-spin-orbit/) [Nuclei, particles and detectors](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1963/summary/) 5. ### 1964 - Charles H. Townes · Nicolay G. Basov · Aleksandr M. Prokhorov [How an ammonia beam became a microwave oscillator](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/maser-inversion-and-feedback/) [Light, waves and imaging](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1964/summary/) 6. ### 1965 - Sin-Itiro Tomonaga · Julian Schwinger · Richard P. Feynman [QED turned small atomic discrepancies into precision predictions](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/qed-renormalization/) [Nuclei, particles and detectors](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1965/summary/) 7. ### 1966 - Alfred Kastler [How light moves atoms into states that stop absorbing](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/optical-pumping-populations-double-resonance/) [Quantum physics and atoms](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1966/summary/) 8. ### 1967 - Hans Bethe [What makes a star a steady nuclear engine](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/bethe-stellar-nuclear-power/) [Nuclei, particles and detectors](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1967/summary/) 9. ### 1968 - Luis Alvarez [Alvarez’s group finds short-lived particles in combinations of tracks](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/particle-evidence/alvarez-resonance-events/) [Nuclei, particles and detectors](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1968/summary/) 10. ### 1969 - Murray Gell-Mann [How quarks brought order to the particle families](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/particle-evidence/gell-mann-quark-classification/) [Nuclei, particles and detectors](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1969/summary/) ## 1970s 1. ### 1970 - Hannes Alfvén [A bent magnetic field can carry a wave](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/thermal-complexity/alfven-magnetic-tension/) [Heat, chance and collective behaviour](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/thermal-complexity/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1970/summary/) - Louis Néel [How atomic magnets can order and still cancel](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/neel-magnetic-order/) [Materials, devices and quantum fluids](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1970/summary/) 2. ### 1971 - Dennis Gabor [Gabor: recording a wave together with its reference](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/gabor-recording-and-reconstruction/) [Light, waves and imaging](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1971/summary/) 3. ### 1972 - John Bardeen · Leon N. Cooper · Robert Schrieffer [How BCS pairing theory explains the superconducting gap](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/bcs-pairing-evidence/) [Materials, devices and quantum fluids](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1972/summary/) 4. ### 1973 - Leo Esaki · Ivar Giaever [Why a tunnel diode carries less current at a higher voltage](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/esaki-tunnel-diode/) Also read: [How tunneling current revealed the superconducting gap](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/giaever-gap-spectroscopy/) [Materials, devices and quantum fluids](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1973/summary/) - Brian D. Josephson [How phase drives a supercurrent across a thin insulator](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/josephson-phase-current/) [Materials, devices and quantum fluids](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1973/summary/) 5. ### 1974 - Martin Ryle · Antony Hewish [How Ryle built a large radio telescope from smaller ones](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/astronomy-gravity/ryle-aperture-synthesis/) [Astronomy, cosmology and gravity](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/astronomy-gravity/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1974/summary/) 6. ### 1975 - Aage N. Bohr · Ben R. Mottelson · James Rainwater [How a nucleus can turn as a whole](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/deformed-nuclei-collective-motion/) [Nuclei, particles and detectors](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1975/summary/) 7. ### 1976 - Burton Richter · Samuel C.C. Ting [Two experiments met at the same narrow particle peak](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/particle-evidence/november-revolution-jpsi/) [Nuclei, particles and detectors](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1976/summary/) 8. ### 1977 - Philip W. Anderson · Sir Nevill F. Mott · John H. Van Vleck [How disorder can stop a quantum wave from spreading](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/anderson-localization/) Also read: [Why repelling electrons can turn a partly filled band into an insulator](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/mott-metal-insulator/) [Why apparently nonmagnetic states still respond to a field](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/van-vleck-susceptibility/) [Materials, devices and quantum fluids](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1977/summary/) 9. ### 1978 - Pyotr Kapitsa [Why flow and oscillation reveal different responses in superfluid helium](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/kapitsa-helium-flow/) [Materials, devices and quantum fluids](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1978/summary/) - Arno Penzias · Robert Woodrow Wilson [The microwave hiss that remained after the antenna was checked](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/astronomy-gravity/penzias-wilson-microwave-background/) [Astronomy, cosmology and gravity](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/astronomy-gravity/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1978/summary/) 10. ### 1979 - Sheldon Glashow · Abdus Salam · Steven Weinberg [How electromagnetism and weak decay came to share one theory](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/particle-evidence/electroweak-unification/) [Nuclei, particles and detectors](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1979/summary/) ## 1980s 1. ### 1980 - James Cronin · Val Fitch [The rare kaon decay that broke CP symmetry](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/particle-evidence/cronin-fitch-kaon-cp/) [Nuclei, particles and detectors](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1980/summary/) 2. ### 1981 - Nicolaas Bloembergen · Arthur L. Schawlow [Finding sharp atomic lines inside a broad thermal spectrum](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/laser-spectroscopy-doppler-tests/) [Light, waves and imaging](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1981/summary/) - Kai M. Siegbahn [Kai Siegbahn: when electron energies began to reveal chemistry](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/electron-evidence/siegbahn-electron-spectroscopy-chemical-shifts/) [Light, waves and imaging](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1981/summary/) 3. ### 1982 - Kenneth G. Wilson [Why very different materials behave alike near a critical point](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/thermal-complexity/wilson-critical-scales/) [Heat, chance and collective behaviour](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/thermal-complexity/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1982/summary/) 4. ### 1983 - Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar [Why a white dwarf has a maximum mass](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/astronomy-gravity/chandrasekhar-stellar-support/) [Astronomy, cosmology and gravity](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/astronomy-gravity/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1983/summary/) - William A. Fowler [Making the elements one measured reaction at a time](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/fowler-element-making-rates/) [Nuclei, particles and detectors](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1983/summary/) 5. ### 1984 - Carlo Rubbia · Simon van der Meer [W and Z particles emerged from the collider debris](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/particle-evidence/ua1-ua2-w-z/) [Nuclei, particles and detectors](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1984/summary/) 6. ### 1985 - Klaus von Klitzing [How a quantum Hall plateau became a resistance standard](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/integer-quantum-hall/) [Materials, devices and quantum fluids](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1985/summary/) 7. ### 1986 - Ernst Ruska [Ruska: making an electron image was only the beginning](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/electron-evidence/ruska-electron-microscope-resolution/) [Light, waves and imaging](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1986/summary/) - Gerd Binnig · Heinrich Rohrer [STM: a current contour is more than a height map](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/stm-current-and-surface-inference/) [Light, waves and imaging](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1986/summary/) 8. ### 1987 - J. Georg Bednorz · K. Alex Müller [How an oxide ceramic opened high-temperature superconductivity](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/cuprate-superconductivity/) [Materials, devices and quantum fluids](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1987/summary/) 9. ### 1988 - Leon M. Lederman · Melvin Schwartz · Jack Steinberger [Why did physicists need a second kind of neutrino?](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/neutrinos/brookhaven-muon-neutrino/) Also read: [Why do neutrinos keep appearing in the Nobel Prize?](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/neutrinos/neutrinos-and-nobel-prizes/) [Neutrinos](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/neutrinos/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1988/summary/) 10. ### 1989 - Norman F. Ramsey [How Ramsey and ion traps gave atoms more time](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/ramsey-ion-traps-measurement/) Also read: [Reading a cavity phase error in an atomic fountain](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/ramsey-cavity-phase-frequency-bias/) [Counting the quantum noise left by a perfect detector](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/quantum-projection-noise-population-counts/) [Following a fountain clock’s extrapolation to zero density](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/fountain-clock-collision-density-extrapolation/) [Quantum physics and atoms](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1989/summary/) - Hans G. Dehmelt · Wolfgang Paul [How a changing electric field holds an ion](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/paul-trap-dynamic-stability-micromotion/) Also read: [How Dehmelt listened to the spin of one electron](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/dehmelt-single-electron-penning-spin-readout/) [Quantum physics and atoms](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1989/summary/) ## 1990s 1. ### 1990 - Jerome I. Friedman · Henry W. Kendall · Richard E. Taylor [Electrons found compact constituents inside the proton](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/particle-evidence/slac-deep-inelastic-scattering/) [Nuclei, particles and detectors](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1990/summary/) 2. ### 1991 - Pierre-Gilles de Gennes [A liquid can flow and still keep a direction](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/thermal-complexity/de-gennes-liquid-crystals/) Also read: [A long molecule behaves like a wandering chain](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/thermal-complexity/polymer-scaling/) [Heat, chance and collective behaviour](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/thermal-complexity/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1991/summary/) 3. ### 1992 - Georges Charpak [Charpak turns a particle’s position into an electrical signal](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/particle-evidence/charpak-multiwire-chamber/) [Nuclei, particles and detectors](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1992/summary/) 4. ### 1993 - Russell A. Hulse · Joseph H. Taylor Jr. [A pulsar clock revealed an orbit losing energy](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/astronomy-gravity/hulse-taylor-orbital-decay/) [Astronomy, cosmology and gravity](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/astronomy-gravity/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1993/summary/) 5. ### 1994 - Bertram N. Brockhouse [Neutron scattering: where atoms sit and how they move](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/neutrons-structure-and-motion/) [Light, waves and imaging](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1994/summary/) - Clifford G. Shull [Neutron scattering: where atoms sit and how they move](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/neutrons-structure-and-motion/) [Light, waves and imaging](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1994/summary/) 6. ### 1995 - Martin L. Perl [The tau appeared through an electron, a muon and missing energy](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/particle-evidence/perl-tau-missing-energy/) [Nuclei, particles and detectors](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1995/summary/) - Frederick Reines [Cowan and Reines: finding the neutrino in two flashes](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/neutrinos/reactor-first-detection/) Also read: [Why do neutrinos keep appearing in the Nobel Prize?](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/neutrinos/neutrinos-and-nobel-prizes/) [Neutrinos](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/neutrinos/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1995/summary/) 7. ### 1996 - David M. Lee · Douglas D. Osheroff · Robert C. Richardson [How a pressure anomaly revealed superfluid helium-three](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/helium-three-superfluid/) [Materials, devices and quantum fluids](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1996/summary/) 8. ### 1997 - Steven Chu · Claude Cohen-Tannoudji · William D. Phillips [When sodium atoms came out colder than expected](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/laser-cooling-below-doppler-limit/) Also read: [Keeping a slowing atomic beam in tune with one laser](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/zeeman-slowing-neutral-atom-beam/) [How six laser beams slowed Chu’s atoms](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/chu-optical-molasses-diffusion-escape/) [Reading a cold-atom thermometer from the flight of the cloud](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/cold-atom-ballistic-thermometry/) [How an atom loses energy climbing hills made of light](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/sisyphus-cooling-polarization-energy/) [How helium atoms escaped the light and formed two narrow peaks](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/subrecoil-cooling-dark-state-momentum/) [Quantum physics and atoms](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1997/summary/) 9. ### 1998 - Robert B. Laughlin · Horst L. Störmer · Daniel C. Tsui [How a one-third Hall plateau led to fractional charge](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/fractional-quantum-hall/) [Materials, devices and quantum fluids](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1998/summary/) 10. ### 1999 - Gerardus 't Hooft · Martinus J.G. Veltman [How quantum corrections made electroweak theory precise](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/particle-evidence/electroweak-quantum-corrections/) [Nuclei, particles and detectors](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1999/summary/) ## 2000s 1. ### 2000 - Zhores Alferov · Herbert Kroemer [How a semiconductor interface confines charge and light](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/semiconductor-heterostructures/) [Materials, devices and quantum fluids](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2000/summary/) - Jack Kilby [Putting a complete circuit into one semiconductor](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/integrated-circuit/) [Materials, devices and quantum fluids](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2000/summary/) 2. ### 2001 - Eric Cornell · Wolfgang Ketterle · Carl Wieman [How expanding atom clouds revealed Bose–Einstein condensation](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/bec-time-of-flight/) [Materials, devices and quantum fluids](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2001/summary/) 3. ### 2002 - Raymond Davis Jr. · Masatoshi Koshiba [The Sun’s missing neutrinos: a tank, a calculation and a long disagreement](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/neutrinos/homestake-solar-neutrino-problem/) Also read: [SN 1987A: a supernova seen from underground](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/neutrinos/sn1987a-burst/) [Why do neutrinos keep appearing in the Nobel Prize?](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/neutrinos/neutrinos-and-nobel-prizes/) [Neutrinos](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/neutrinos/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2002/summary/) - Riccardo Giacconi [A rocket found an unexpectedly bright X-ray sky](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/astronomy-gravity/giacconi-x-ray-sky/) [Astronomy, cosmology and gravity](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/astronomy-gravity/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2002/summary/) 4. ### 2003 - Alexei Abrikosov · Vitaly L. Ginzburg · Anthony J. Leggett [How superconducting order varies through a material](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/ginzburg-landau-order/) Also read: [How magnetic flux enters a superconductor as a vortex lattice](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/abrikosov-vortex-lattice/) [What nuclear resonance revealed about pairing in helium-three](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/leggett-helium-three/) [Materials, devices and quantum fluids](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2003/summary/) 5. ### 2004 - David J. Gross · H. David Politzer · Frank Wilczek [Why quarks look almost free in a hard collision](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/particle-evidence/qcd-asymptotic-freedom/) [Nuclei, particles and detectors](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2004/summary/) 6. ### 2005 - Roy J. Glauber [Glauber’s coherence theory goes beyond interference fringes](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/glauber-coherence-and-counting/) [Light, waves and imaging](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2005/summary/) - John L. Hall · Theodor W. Hänsch [Frequency combs measure both the spacing and the offset](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/frequency-comb-self-reference/) [Light, waves and imaging](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2005/summary/) 7. ### 2006 - John C. Mather · George F. Smoot [COBE compared the sky with a laboratory blackbody](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/astronomy-gravity/cobe-blackbody-spectrum/) [Astronomy, cosmology and gravity](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/astronomy-gravity/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2006/summary/) 8. ### 2007 - Albert Fert · Peter Grünberg [Why relative magnetization changes a multilayer’s resistance](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/giant-magnetoresistance/) [Materials, devices and quantum fluids](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2007/summary/) 9. ### 2008 - Yoichiro Nambu [A symmetric law can have an asymmetric ground state](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/particle-evidence/nambu-spontaneous-symmetry/) [Nuclei, particles and detectors](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2008/summary/) - Makoto Kobayashi · Toshihide Maskawa [Why a third quark generation opened a way to CP violation](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/particle-evidence/kobayashi-maskawa-generations/) [Nuclei, particles and detectors](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2008/summary/) 10. ### 2009 - Charles K. Kao [Kao: guiding light was only half the problem](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/kao-loss-and-fibre-communication/) [Light, waves and imaging](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2009/summary/) - Willard S. Boyle · George E. Smith [How a CCD moves an image to its output](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/ccd-charge-transfer/) [Materials, devices and quantum fluids](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2009/summary/) ## 2010s 1. ### 2010 - Andre Geim · Konstantin Novoselov [Turning graphene flakes into controllable electronic systems](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/graphene-field-effect/) [Materials, devices and quantum fluids](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2010/summary/) 2. ### 2011 - Saul Perlmutter · Brian P. Schmidt · Adam G. Riess [Distant supernovae showed that cosmic expansion had accelerated](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/astronomy-gravity/supernova-accelerating-universe/) [Astronomy, cosmology and gravity](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/astronomy-gravity/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2011/summary/) 3. ### 2012 - Serge Haroche · David J. Wineland [How to measure one quantum system and keep it available](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/single-quantum-measurement-backaction/) Also read: [How one trapped ion switches its fluorescence off and on](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/electron-shelving-single-ion-jumps/) [Reading the sidebands in the first ion ground-state cooling experiment](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/sideband-asymmetry-ground-state-cooling/) [Let a second ion read out a narrow transition](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/quantum-logic-spectroscopy-shared-motion/) [A cavity cat loses coherence before it loses its energy](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/cavity-cat-coherence-energy-decay/) [Counting stored photons one atom at a time](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/qnd-photon-counting-atomic-records/) [Keeping a chosen number of photons in a cavity](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/quantum-feedback-photon-number-verification/) [Quantum physics and atoms](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2012/summary/) 4. ### 2013 - François Englert · Peter Higgs [Two mass peaks brought the Higgs field within reach](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/particle-evidence/higgs-discovery-mass/) [Nuclei, particles and detectors](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/nuclear-particle/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2013/summary/) 5. ### 2014 - Isamu Akasaki · Hiroshi Amano · Shuji Nakamura [How efficient blue LEDs turned current into light](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/blue-led/) [Materials, devices and quantum fluids](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2014/summary/) 6. ### 2015 - Takaaki Kajita · Arthur B. McDonald [2015: how did two very different experiments establish flavor change?](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/neutrinos/nobel-2015-two-neutrino-evidence-paths/) Also read: [Why do neutrinos keep appearing in the Nobel Prize?](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/neutrinos/neutrinos-and-nobel-prizes/) [Neutrinos](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/neutrinos/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2015/summary/) 7. ### 2016 - David J. Thouless · F. Duncan M. Haldane · J. Michael Kosterlitz [How vortex pairs unbind and destroy two-dimensional superfluidity](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/kt-vortex-unbinding/) Also read: [Why integer and half-integer spin chains behave differently](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/haldane-integer-spin/) [How wave geometry fixes an integer Hall response](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/thouless-hall-topology/) [Materials, devices and quantum fluids](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2016/summary/) 8. ### 2017 - Rainer Weiss · Barry C. Barish · Kip S. Thorne [The short rising signal that reached both LIGO detectors](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/astronomy-gravity/ligo-gw150914/) [Astronomy, cosmology and gravity](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/astronomy-gravity/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2017/summary/) 9. ### 2018 - Arthur Ashkin [Optical tweezers: from holding a bead to measuring force](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/optical-tweezers-force-calibration/) [Light, waves and imaging](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2018/summary/) - Gérard Mourou · Donna Strickland [Chirped pulse amplification separates energy gain from peak power](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/cpa-stretch-amplify-compress/) [Light, waves and imaging](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2018/summary/) 10. ### 2019 - James Peebles [From an almost smooth sky to a universe full of galaxies](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/astronomy-gravity/peebles-growing-universe/) [Astronomy, cosmology and gravity](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/astronomy-gravity/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2019/summary/) - Michel Mayor · Didier Queloz [The four-day year of 51 Pegasi b](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/astronomy-gravity/mayor-queloz-51-pegasi/) [Astronomy, cosmology and gravity](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/astronomy-gravity/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2019/summary/) ## 2020s 1. ### 2020 - Roger Penrose [Why collapse does not need a perfectly spherical star](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/astronomy-gravity/penrose-trapped-surfaces/) [Astronomy, cosmology and gravity](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/astronomy-gravity/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2020/summary/) - Reinhard Genzel · Andrea Ghez [The stars that weighed the Milky Way’s dark centre](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/astronomy-gravity/galactic-centre-stellar-orbits/) [Astronomy, cosmology and gravity](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/astronomy-gravity/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2020/summary/) 2. ### 2021 - Syukuro Manabe · Klaus Hasselmann [Manabe and Wetherald followed heat through the atmosphere](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/thermal-complexity/manabe-radiative-convective/) Also read: [How the ocean remembers changing weather](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/thermal-complexity/hasselmann-weather-climate/) [Heat, chance and collective behaviour](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/thermal-complexity/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2021/summary/) - Giorgio Parisi [The magnets that cannot satisfy all their neighbours](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/thermal-complexity/parisi-spin-glass/) [Heat, chance and collective behaviour](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/thermal-complexity/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2021/summary/) 3. ### 2022 - Alain Aspect · John Clauser · Anton Zeilinger [How Bell tests distinguish quantum correlations](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/bell-tests-correlations-loopholes/) Also read: [Freedman and Clauser test Bell’s inequality with calcium light](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/freedman-clauser-coincidence-normalization/) [Aspect changes the analyzers while photons are in flight](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/aspect-switching-spacetime-records/) [Photon Bell tests keep the trials where detectors stay silent](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/photon-bell-losses-optical-trials/) [Three-photon GHZ correlations defeat a shared answer sheet](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/ghz-parity-three-photon-records/) [How the 1997 photon experiment transferred a quantum state](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/quantum-teleportation-conditional-records/) [A joint measurement entangles two photons that never met](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/entanglement-swapping-fourfold-records/) [Dense coding sends three distinguishable messages with one photon](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/dense-coding-three-messages-resources/) [Reconstructing a photon state from calibrated counts](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/photon-tomography-counts-physical-states/) [Quantum physics and atoms](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/quantum-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2022/summary/) 4. ### 2023 - Pierre Agostini · Ferenc Krausz · Anne L’Huillier [Attosecond pulses: how electrons timed the shortest flashes of light](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/attosecond-pulses-and-metrology/) [Light, waves and imaging](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/probe-evidence/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2023/summary/) 5. ### 2024 - John Hopfield · Geoffrey Hinton [How a Hopfield network finds a damaged memory](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/thermal-complexity/hopfield-energy-memory/) Also read: [How a Boltzmann machine learns which patterns belong together](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/thermal-complexity/hinton-boltzmann-learning/) [Heat, chance and collective behaviour](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/thermal-complexity/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2024/summary/) 6. ### 2025 - John Clarke · Michel H. Devoret · John M. Martinis [How a circuit’s collective phase revealed tunneling and discrete levels](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/macroscopic-quantum-circuit/) [Materials, devices and quantum fluids](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2025/summary/) 7. ### 2026 - Francis Halzen [2026 Nobel Prize in Physics: why look for neutrinos in Antarctic ice?](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/neutrinos/nobel-physics-2026/) Also read: [Francis Halzen and the team that turned Antarctic ice into a telescope](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/neutrinos/halzen-and-collaboration/) [Why do neutrinos keep appearing in the Nobel Prize?](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/neutrinos/neutrinos-and-nobel-prizes/) [Neutrinos](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/neutrinos/) [Official citation](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2026/summary/) ## 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](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/lists/all-nobel-prizes-in-physics/)