Nobel Prize

Full list of Cambridge’s Nobel Laureates

Our list includes:

• alumni
• academics who carried out research at the University in postdoctoral or faculty positions
• official appointments, such as visiting fellowships and lectureships

We have not included informal positions, non-academic positions and honorary positions. We have omitted several Laureates where there is insufficient information available to confirm their connection with the University.

2024

Sir Demis Hassabis (Queens' College, 1994, and honorary fellow) and Dr John Jumper (St Edmund's College, 2011)

Awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing an AI model to solve a 50-year-old problem: predicting the complex structures of proteins. With their AI model, AlphaFold2, they were able to predict the structure of virtually all the 200 million proteins that reseachers have identified.

Geoffrey Hinton (King's College, 1967) and John Hopfield (Guggenheim Fellow, 1968-1969)

Jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks. Geoffrey Hinton used a network invented by John Hopfield (Princeton University) as the foundation for a new network: the Boltzmann machine.

2020

Professor Sir Roger Penrose (St John's College, 1952, and honorary fellow)

Awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity.

2019

Professor Didier Queloz (Trinity College), Jacksonian Professor of Natural Philosophy, Cavendish Laboratory

Awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics with Michel Mayor from the University of Geneva for the first discovery of an exoplanet orbiting a solar-type star (the other half of this prize was awarded to James Peebles, Princeton University, for his work on the evolution of the Universe).

Sir Peter Ratcliffe (Gonville & Caius, 1972)

Jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability.

2018

Sir Gregory Winter (Trinity College alumnus and Master), MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology

Awarded Nobel Prize in Chemistry with George P Smith from the University of Missouri, USA, for the phage display of peptides and antibodies (the other half of this prize was awarded to Frances H Arnold, California Institute of Technology, USA, for the directed evolution of enzymes).

William Nordhaus (Senior Visitor, 1970-1971)

Awarded one half of the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel for integrating climate change into long-run macroeconomic analysis. The other half of the Prize was awarded to Paul Romer for integrating technological innovations into long-run macroeconomic analysis.

2017

Richard Henderson (Corpus Christi College and Darwin College) and Joachim Frank, former Cavendish senior research associate

Awarded Nobel Prize in Chemistry, with Jacques Dubochet from the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, for developing cryo-electron microscopy for the high-resolution structure determination of biomolecules in solution

2016

Oliver Hart (King's College 1966)​

Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel for his contributions to contract theory

David Thouless (Trinity Hall 1952), Duncan Haldane (Christ’s College 1970) and Michael Kosterlitz (Gonville and Caius College 1962)

Nobel Prize in Physics for theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter

2015

Angus Deaton (Fitzwilliam College)​​

Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel for his analysis of consumption, poverty, and welfare

William Campbell (visiting researcher in the laboratory of Lord Soulsby, Baron of Swaffham Prior)

Awarded one half jointly of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Satoshi Ōmura for their discoveries concerning a novel therapy against infections caused by roundworm parasites. The other half of the Prize was awarded to Tu Youyou for her discoveries concerning a novel therapy against Malaria.

2013

Michael Levitt (Gonville and Caius College and Peterhouse)

​Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the development of multiscale models for complex chemical systems

2012

John Gurdon (Churchill and Magdalene Colleges), Emeritus Professor in Cell Biology

Nobel Prize in Medicine for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent

2010

Robert G Edwards (Churchill College), Emeritus Professor of Human Reproduction

Nobel Prize in Medicine for the development of in vitro fertilization

Peter Diamond (Churchill College)

Nobel Prize in Economics for analysis of markets with search frictions

Mario Vargas Llosa (Former Simón Bolívar Professor, 1977-1978)

Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for his cartography of structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual's resistance, revolt, and defeat.

2009

Venki Ramakrishnan (Trinity College)

Nobel Prize in Chemistry for studies of the structure and function of the ribosome

Elizabeth H Blackburn (Darwin College 1971)

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase

2008

Roger Y Tsien (Churchill and Gonville and Caius Colleges)

Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein GFP

2007

Martin Evans (Christ's College)

Nobel Prize in Medicine for discoveries of principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem cells

Eric Maskin (Jesus College)

Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for having laid the foundations of mechanism design theory

2005

Richard R Schrock

Nobel Prize in Chemistry, for the development of the metathesis method in organic synthesis

2002

Sydney Brenner (King's College)

Nobel Prize in Medicine for discoveries concerning genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death

John Sulston (Pembroke College)

Nobel Prize in Medicine for discoveries concerning genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death

2001

Tim Hunt (Clare College)

Nobel Prize in Medicine for discoveries of key regulators of the cell cycle

Joseph Stiglitz (Gonville and Caius College)

Nobel Prize in Economics for analyses of markets with asymmetric information

2000

Paul Greengard

Nobel Prize in Medicine for discoveries concerning signal transduction in the nervous system

Alan McDiarmid (Sidney Sussex College)

Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery and development of conductive polymers

Kim Dae-jung (Visiting and Honorary Fellow of Clare College)

Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work for democracy and human rights in South Korea and in East Asia in general, and for peace and reconciliation with North Korea in particular.

1998

John Pople (Trinity College)

Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the development of computational methods in quantum chemistry

Amartya Sen (Trinity College)

Nobel Prize in Economics for his contributions to welfare economics

1997

John Walker (Sidney Sussex College)

Nobel Prize in Chemistry for studying how a spinning enzyme creates the molecule that powers cells in muscles

1996

James Mirrlees (Trinity College)

Nobel Prize in Economics for studying behaviour in the absence of complete information

1995

Edward Lewis (Rockefeller Foundation Fellow, 1947-1948)

Awarded jointly the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard and Eric Wieschaus for their discoveries concerning the genetic control of early embryonic development.

1993

Robert Fogel (Pitt Professor of American History and Institutions)

Nobel Prize in Economics for having renewed research in economic history by applying economic theory and quantitative methods in order to explain economic and institutional change

1990

Octavio Paz (Simón Bolívar Professor) (Churchill College)

Nobel Prize in Literature for impassioned writing with wide horizons, characterized by sensuous intelligence and humanistic integrity

1989

Norman Ramsey (Clare College)

Nobel Prize in Physics for developing the separated field method

1987

Jean-Marie Lehn (Alexander Todd Visiting Professor of Chemistry)

Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the development and use of molecules with structure-specific interactions of high selectivity

Joseph Brodsky (Clare Hall)

Nobel Prize in Literature for an all-embracing authorship, imbued with clarity of thought and poetic intensity

1986

Wole Soyinka (Churchill College, Overseas Fellow in 1973)

Nobel Prize in Literature for 'in a wide cultural perspective and with poetic overtones fashion[ing] the drama of existence'

1984

Richard Stone (Gonville and Caius College and Fellow of King's College)

Nobel Prize in Economics for developing a national income accounting system

Georges Kohler and Cesar Milstein (Fellow of Darwin and Fitzwilliam Colleges)

Nobel Prize in Medicine for developing a technique for the production of monoclonal antibodies

1983

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (Trinity College) and William Fowler (Pembroke College)

Nobel Prize in Physics for the evolution and devolution of stars

Gerard Debreu (Churchill College, Overseas Fellow 1972)

Nobel Prize in Economics for reforming the theory of general equilibrium

1982

Aaron Klug (Trinity College)

Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the structure of biologically active substances

1980

Walter Gilbert (Trinity College) and Frederick Sanger (St John's College and fellow of King's College)

Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the theory of nucleotide links in nucleic acids

1979

Abdus Salam (St John's College)

Nobel Prize in Physics for electromagnetic and weak particle interactions

Allan Cormack (St John's College)

Nobel Prize in Medicine for developing CAT scans

1978

Pyotr Kapitsa (Trinity College)

Nobel Prize in Physics for inventing the helium liquefier

Peter Mitchell (Jesus College)

Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the energy transfer processes in biological systems

1977

Philip Anderson (Churchill College) and Nevill Mott (Gonville and Caius and St John's Colleges)

Nobel Prize in Physics, for the behaviour of electrons in magnetic solids

James Meade (Christ's and Trinity Colleges)

Nobel Prize in Economics for contributions to the theory of international trade

1976

Milton Friedman (Gonville and Caius College)

Nobel Prize in Economics for consumption analysis, monetary history and theory and the complexity of stabilization policy.

1974

Antony Hewish (Gonville and Caius and Churchill Colleges)

Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of pulsars

Martin Ryle (Trinity College)

Nobel Prize in Physics for the invention of aperture synthesis

1973

Brian Josephson (Trinity College)

Nobel Prize in Physics for the tunnelling in superconductors and semiconductors​

Ivar Giaever (Clare Hall)

Nobel Prize in Physics for the tunnelling in superconductors and semiconductors​

Patrick White (King's College)

Nobel Prize in Literature for an epic and psychological narrative art

1972

Kenneth J Arrow (Churchill College) and John Hicks (Gonville and Caius College)

Nobel Prize in Economics for the equilibrium theory

Rodney Porter (Pembroke College)

Nobel Prize in Medicine for the chemical structure of antibodies

Stanford Moore

Awarded one half jointly of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with William Stein for their contribution to the understanding of the connection between chemical structure and catalytic activity of the active centre of the ribonuclease molecule. The other half of the Prize was awarded to Christian Anfinsen for his work on ribonuclease, especially concerning the connection between the amino acid sequence and the biologically active conformation.

1970

Luis Leloir (Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Biochemistry, 1936-1937)

Awarded Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discovery of sugar nucleotides and their role in the biosynthesis of carbohydrates.

1969

Murray Gell-Mann (Churchill College)

Nobel Prize in Physics for the classification of elementary particles and their interactions

1968

Lars Onsager (Fulbright Scholar with David Schoenberg at the Mond Laboratory)

Awarded Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of the reciprocal relations bearing his name, which are fundamental for the thermodynamics of irreversible processes.

Har Gobind Khorana

Awarded jointly the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Robert Holley and Marshall Nirenberg for their interpretation of the genetic code and its function in protein synthesis.

1967

Ronald Norrish (Emmanuel College) and George Porter (Emmanuel College)

Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the study of fast Chemical reactions

George Wald (Guggenheim Fellow, 1963-1964)

Awarded jointly the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Ragnar Granit and Haldan Keffer Hartline for their discoveries concerning the primary physiological and chemical visual processes in the eye.

1965

André Lwoff

Awarded jointly the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with François Jacob and Jacques Monod for their discoveries concerning genetic control of enzyme and virus synthesis.

1964

Dorothy Hodgkin (Newnham and Girton Colleges)

Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the structure of compounds used to fight anaemia

1963

Alan Hodgkin (Trinity College) and Andrew Huxley (Trinity College)

Nobel Prize in Medicine for the transmission of impulses along a nerve fibre

1962

John Kendrew (Trinity College) and Max Perutz (Peterhouse)

Nobel Prize in Chemistry for determining the structure of haemoproteins

Maurice Wilkins (St John's College)

Nobel Prize in Medicine for determining the structure of DNA

Francis Crick (Gonville and Caius and Churchill Colleges) and James Watson (Clare College)

Nobel Prize in Medicine for determining the structure of DNA

1959

Philip Noel-Baker (King's College)

Nobel Prize in Peace for work towards global disarmament

1958

Frederick Sanger (St John's College and fellow of King's College)

Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the structure of the insulin molecule

1957

Alexander Todd (Christ's College)

Nobel Prize in Chemistry for work on nucleotides

1954

Max Born (Gonville and Caius College)

Nobel Prize in Physics for fundamental research into quantum mechanics

1953

Hans Krebs

Nobel Prize in Medicine for discovering the citric acid cycle

1952

Richard Synge (Trinity College)

Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing partition chromatography

1952

Archer Martin (Peterhouse)

Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing partition chromatography

1951

John Cockcroft (St John's and Churchill Colleges) and Ernest Walton (Trinity College)

Nobel Prize in Physics for using accelerated particles to study atomic nuclei

1950

Cecil Powell (Sidney Sussex College)

Nobel Prize in Physics for photography of nuclear processes

Bertrand Russell (Trinity College)

Nobel Prize in Literature for A History of Western Philosophy (1946)

1948

Patrick Blackett (Magdalene and King's Colleges)

Nobel Prize in Physics for nuclear physics and cosmic radiation

1947

Edward Appleton (St John's College)

Nobel Prize in Physics for discovering the Appleton Layer

1945

Ernst Chain (Fitzwilliam College) and Howard Florey (Gonville and Caius College)

Nobel Prize in Medicine (with Alexander Fleming) for the discovery of penicillin and its curative effect in various infectious diseases

1937

George Thomson (Trinity College)

Nobel Prize in Physics for interference in crystals irradiated by electrons

Albert Szent-Gyorgyi (Fitzwilliam College)

Nobel Prize in Medicine for combustion in biology

1936

Henry Dale (Trinity College)

Nobel Prize in Medicine for the chemical transmission of nerve impulses

1935

James Chadwick (Gonville and Caius College)

Nobel Prize in Physics for discovering the neutron

1933

Paul Dirac (St John's College)

Nobel Prize in Physics for quantum mechanics

1932

Lord Edgar Adrian (Trinity College) and Charles Sherrington (Gonville and Caius College)

Nobel Prize in Medicine for work on the function of neurons

1929

Frederick Hopkins (Trinity and Emmanuel Colleges)

Nobel Prize in Medicine for discovering growth stimulating vitamins

1928

Owen Richardson (Trinity College)

Nobel Prize in Physics for creating Richardson's Law

1927

Charles Wilson (Sidney Sussex College)

Nobel Prize in Physics for inventing the cloud chamber

Arthur Holly Compton

Nobel Prize in Physics for discovering wavelength change in diffused X-rays

1925

Austen Chamberlain (Trinity College)

Nobel Prize in Peace for work on the Locarno Pact (1925)

1922

Niels Bohr (Trinity College)

Nobel Prize in Physics for investigating atomic structure and radiation

Francis Aston (Trinity College)

Nobel Prize in Chemistry for work on mass spectroscopy

Archibald Hill (Trinity College)

Nobel Prize in Medicine for work on heat production in the muscles

1918

Fritz Haber

Awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the synthesis of ammonia from its elements.

1917

Charles Barkla (Trinity College)

Nobel Prize in Physics, for discovering the characteristics of X-radiation

1915

Lawrence Bragg (Trinity College) and William Bragg (Trinity College)

Nobel Prize in Physics for analysing crystal structure using X-rays

1908

Ernest Rutherford (Trinity College)

Nobel Prize in Chemistry for atomic structure and radioactivity

1906

JJ Thomson (Trinity College)

Nobel Prize in Physics for investigating the electrical conductivity of gases

1904

Lord Rayleigh – John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh (Trinity College)

Nobel Prize in Physics for discovering Argon

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