The Nobel Prizes
The Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel (1833-1896) invented dynamite in 1866. Nobel bequeathed his estate to establish an award for achievements in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and peace.
The Nobel Prizes are awarded annually at a ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden, on December 10th, the anniversary of Nobel's death. Each prizewinner receives a gold medal, a diploma stating what they have done to win the prize, and a sum of money; prizes in the same subject may be divided between two or three people.
The Archives Hub includes descriptions for the papers of many Nobel laureates. We have also listed some links to related websites.
Above: Detail of Sofia Gisberg's Nobel Diploma for Charles G Barkla. Photograph copyright © 2004 Edinburgh University Library.
The collections
Physics
- Charles Glover Barkla (1877-1944)
- Max Born (1882-1970): joint winner
- William Bragg (1890-1971): joint winner
- Dennis Gabor (1900-1979)
- Cecil Frank Powell (1903-1969)
- Sir John 'JJ' Thomson (1856-1940)
- CTR Wilson (1869-1959): joint winner
Chemistry
- Francis W Aston (1877-1945)
- Sir Cyril Hinshelwood (1897-1967): joint winner
- Dorothy Hodgkin (1910-1994)
- John C Kendrew (1917-1997): joint winner
- Peter Mitchell (1920-1992)
- Sir Robert Robinson (1886-1975)
- Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937)
- Frederick Soddy (1877-1956)
- Richard LM Synge (1914-1994): joint winner
- Geoffrey Wilkinson (1921-1996): joint winner
Medicine
- Sir Frederick Hopkins (1861-1947): joint winner
- Hans Krebs (1899-1986): joint winner
- Rodney R Porter (1917-1985): joint winner
- Nikolaas Tinbergen (1907-1988): joint winner
Literature
- Samuel Beckett (1906-1989)
- Ivan Bunin (1870-1953)
- Seamus Heaney (born 1939)
- TS Eliot (1888-1965)
- John Galsworthy (1867-1933)
- Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)
- Romain Rolland (1866-1944)
- Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)
- George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
- Wole Soyinka (born 1934)
Peace
- Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965)
- Sir Austen Chamberlain (1863-1937)
- Nelson Mandela (born 1918)
- Desmond Tutu (born 1931)
Related links
- Nobelprize.org: the official list of Nobel laureates past and present, with biographical details
- Reith Lectures 2004: Wole Soyinka [BBC website]
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