Nobel The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (Kungl. Vetenskapsakademien) is responsible for deciding about the anual award of the Nobel price. The first Nobel prize in physics was awarded to Wilhelm Röntgen in 1901.

Physics 1975

The prize was awarded jointly to:

BOHR, AAGE, Denmark, Niels Bohr Institute, Copenhagen, * 1922;

MOTTELSON, BEN, Denmark, Nordita, Copenhagen, * 1926 (in Chicago, U.S.A.); and

RAINWATER, JAMES, U.S.A., Columbia University, New York, NY, * 1917, + 1986:

"for the discovery of the connection between collective motion and particle motion in atomic nuclei and the development of the theory of the structure of the atomic nucleus based on this connection".


Physics 1976

The prize was divided equally between:

RICHTER, BURTON, U.S.A., Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Stanford, CA, * 1931;

TING, SAMUEL C. C., U.S.A., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA, (European Center for Nuclear Research, Geneva, Switzerland), * 1936:

"for their pioneering work in the discovery of a heavy elementary particle of a new kind".


Physics 1977

The prize was divided equally between:

ANDERSON, PHILIP W., U.S.A., Bell Laboratories,Murray Hill, NJ, * 1923;

MOTT, Sir NEVILL F., Great Britain, Cambridge University, Cambridge, * 1905, + 1996; and

VAN VLECK, JOHN H., U.S.A., Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, * 1899, + 1980:

"for their fundamental theoretical investigations of the electronic structure of magnetic and disordered systems".


Physics 1978

The prize was divided, one half being awarded to:

KAPITSA, PYOTR LEONIDOVICH, USSR, Academy of Sciences, Moscow, * 1894, + 1984:

"for his basic inventions and discoveries in the area of low-temperature physics";

and the other half divided equally between:

PENZIAS, ARNO A., U.S.A., Bell Laboratories, Holmdel, NJ, * 1933 (in Munich, Germany); and

WILSON, ROBERT W., U.S.A., Bell Laboratories, Holmdel, NJ, * 1936:

"for their discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation".


Physics 1979

The prize was divided equally between:

GLASHOW, SHELDON L., U.S.A., Lyman Laboratory, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, * 1932;

SALAM, ABDUS, Pakistan, International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, and Imperial College of Science and Technology, London, Great Britain, * 1926; and

WEINBERG, STEVEN, U.S.A., Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, * 1933:

"for their contributions to the theory of the unified weak and electromagnetic interaction between elementary particles, including inter alia the prediction of the weak neutral current".


Physics 1980

The prize was divided equally between:

CRONIN, JAMES, W., U.S.A., University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, * 1931; and

FITCH, VAL, L., U.S.A., Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, * 1923:

"for the discovery of violations of fundamental symmetry principles in the decay of neutral K-mesons".


Physics 1981

The prize was awarded by one half jointly to:

BLOEMBERGEN, NICOLAAS, U.S.A., Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, * 1920 (in the Netherlands); and

SCHAWLOW, ARTHUR L., U.S.A., Stanford University, Stanford, CA, * 1921:

"for their contribution to the development of laser spectroscopy";

and the other half to:

SIEGBAHN, KAI M., Sweden, Uppsala University, Uppsala, * 1918:

"for his contribution to the development of high-resolution electron spectroscopy".


Physics 1982

WILSON, KENNETH G. , U.S.A., Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, * 1936:

"for his theory for critical phenomena in connection with phase transitions". (biography)


Physics 1983

The prize was awarded by one half to:

CHANDRASEKHAR, SUBRAMANYAN, U.S.A., University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, * 1910 (in Lahore, India), + 1995:

"for his theoretical studies of the physical processes of importance to the structure and evolution of the stars".

and by the other half to:

FOWLER, WILLIAM A., U.S.A., California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, * 1911, U 1995:

"for his theoretical and experimental studies of the nuclear reactions of importance in the formation of the chemical elements in the universe".


Physics 1984

The prize was awarded jointly to:

RUBBIA, CARLO, Italy, CERN, Geneva, Switzerland, * 1934; and

VAN DER MEER, SIMON, the Netherlands, CERN, Geneva, Switzerland, * 1925:

"for their decisive contributions to the large project, which led to the discovery of the field particles W and Z, communicators of weak interaction".


Physics 1985

VON KLITZING, KLAUS, Federal Republic of Germany, Max-Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Stuttgart, * 1943:

"for the discovery of the quantized Hall effect".


Physics 1986

The prize was awarded by one half to:

RUSKA, ERNST, Federal Republic of Germany, Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Berlin, * 1906, + 1988:

"for his fundamental work in electron optics, and for the design of the first electron microscope".

and the other half jointly to:

BINNIG, GERD, Federal Republic of Germany, IBM Zürich Research Laboratory, Rüschlikon, Switzerland, * 1947; and

ROHRER, HEINRICH, Switzerland, IBM Zürich Research Laboratory, Rüschlikon, Switzerland, * 1933:

"for their design of the scanning tunneling microscope".


Physics 1987

The prize was awarded jointly to:

BEDNORZ, J. GEORG, Federal Republic of Germany, IBM Research Laboratory, Rüschlikon, Switzerland, * 1950; and

MÜLLER, K. ALEXANDER, Switzerland, IBM Research Laboratory, Rüschlikon, Switzerland, * 1927:

"for their important breakthrough in the discovery of superconductivity in ceramic materials".


Physics 1988

The prize was awarded jointly to:

LEDERMAN, LEON M., U.S.A., Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, IL, * 1922;

SCHWARTZ, MELVIN, U.S.A., Digital Pathways, Inc., Mountain View, CA, * 1932; and

STEINBERGER, JACK, U.S.A., CERN, Geneva, Switzerland, * 1921 (in Bad Kissingen, FRG):

"for the neutrino beam method and the demonstration of the doublet structure of the leptons through the discovery of the muon neutrino".


Physics 1989

The prize was awarded by one half to:

RAMSEY, NORMAN, F., U.S.A., Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, * 1915:

"for the invention of the separated oscillatory fields method and its use in the hydrogen maser and other atomic clocks".

and the other half jointly to:

DEHMELT, HANS, G., U.S.A., University of Washington, Seattle, WA, * 1922 (in Görlitz, Germany); and

PAUL, WOLFGANG, Federal Republic of Germany, University of Bonn, Bonn, * 1913, U 1993:

"for the development of the ion trap technique".


Physics 1990

The prize was awarded jointly to:

FRIEDMAN, JEROME I., U.S.A., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, * 1930;

KENDALL, HENRY W., U.S.A., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, * 1926; and

TAYLOR, RICHARD E., Canada, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, U.S.A., * 1929:

"for their pioneering investigations concerning deep inelastic scattering of electrons on protons and bound neutrons, which have been of essential importance for the development of the quark model in particle physics".


Physics 1991

de GENNES, PIERRE-GILLES, France, Collège de France, Paris, * 1932:

"for discovering that methods developed for studying order phenomena in simple systems can be generalized to more complex forms of matter, in particular to liquid crystals and polymers".


Physics 1992

CHARPAK, GEORGES, France, École Supérieure de Physique et Chimie, Paris and CERN, Geneva, Switzerland, * 1924 (in Poland):

"for his invention and development of particle detectors, in particular the multiwire proportional chamber".


Physics 1993

The prize was awarded jointly to:

HULSE, RUSSELL A., U.S.A., Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, * 1950, and

TAYLOR Jr., JOSEPH, H., U.S.A., Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, * 1941:

"for the discovery of a new type of pulsar, a discovery that has opened up new possibilities for the study of gravitation".


Physics 1994

The prize was awarded

"for pioneering contributions to the development of neutron scattering techniques for studies of condensed matter"

by one half to:

BROCKHOUSE, BERTRAM N., Canada, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, * 1918:

"for the development of neutron spectroscopy"

and by the other half to:

SHULL, CLIFFORD G., U.S.A., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, * 1915:

"for the development of the neutron diffraction technique".


Physics 1995

The Prize was awarded

"for pioneering experimental contributions to lepton physics",

with one half to:

PERL, MARTIN L. U.S.A., * 1927, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, U.S.A.

"for the discovery of the tau lepton",

and with one half to:

REINES, FREDERICK U.S.A., * 1918, University of California at Irvine, Irvine, CA, U.S.A.:

"for the detection of the neutrino".

Additional background material on their work (based on the press release of the Nobel committee) is available here.


Physics 1996

The Prize was awarded jointly to

LEE, DAVID M. ,U.S.A., Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, * 1931,

OSHEROFF, DOUGLAS D., U.S.A., Stanford University, Stanford, California, * 1945,

RICHARDSON, ROBERT C., U.S.A., Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, * 1937,

"for their discovery of superfluidity in helium-3.".

Additional background material on their work (based on the press release of the Nobel committee) is available here.


Physics 1997

The Prize was awarded jointly to

CHU, STEVEN ,U.S.A., Stanford University, Stanford, California, * 1948,

COHEN-TANNOUDJI, CLAUDE, France, Collège de France and École Normale Supérieure, * 1933,

PHILLIPS, WILLIAM, D. , U.S.A., National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA, * 1948,

"for development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light.".

Additional background material on their work (based on the press release of the Nobel committee) is available here.


Physics 1998

The Prize was awarded jointly to

LAUGHLIN, ROBERT B., U.S.A., Stanford University, California, * 1950,

STÖRMER, HORST L., U.S.A., Columbia University, New York and Bell Labs, New Jersey, * 1949,

TSUI, DANIEL C., U.S.A., Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, * 1939,

"for their discovery of a new form of quantum fluid with fractionally charged excitations."

Additional background material on their work (based on the press release of the Nobel committee) is available here.


Physics 1999

The Prize was awarded jointly to

'T HOOFT, GERARDUS, Netherlands, University of Utrecht, Utrecht, * 1946,

VELTMAN, MARTINUS J.G., Netherlands, University of Michigan, USA, resident in Bilthoven, the Netherlands * 1931,

"for elucidating the quantum structure of electroweak interactions in physics."

Additional background material on their work (based on the press release of the Nobel committee) is available here.


Physics 2000

The prize is being awarded with one half jointly to

ZHORES I. ALFEROV, A.F. Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute, St. Petersburg, Russia, * 1930 in Vitebsk, White Russia,

HERBERT KROEMER, University of California at Santa Barbara, California, USA, * 1928 in Germany,

"for developing semiconductor heterostructures used in high-speed- and opto-electronics".

and one half to

Jack S. Kilby, Texas Instruments, Dallas, Texas, USA, * 1923 at Jefferson City, Missouri, USA,

"for his part in the invention of the integrated circuit".

Additional background material on their work (based on the press release of the Nobel committee) is available here.


Physics 2001

The prize is being awarded jointly to

ERIC A. CORNELL, JILA and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Boulder, Colorado, USA, *1961, USA.

WOLFGANG KETTERLE, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, *1957, Germany.

CARL E. WIEMAN, JILA and University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA, *1951, USA.

"for the achievement of Bose-Einstein condensation in dilute gases of alkali atoms, and for early fundamental studies of the properties of the condensates".

Additional background material on their work (based on the press release of the Nobel committee) is available here.


Physics 2002

The Prize was awarded with one half to:

RICCARDO GIACCONI, Associated Universities Inc. Washington, DC, USA *1931, Genoa, Italy.

"for pioneering contributions to astrophysics, which have led to the discovery of cosmic X-ray sources",


and with the other half jointly to:

RAYMOND DAVIS Jr., University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA, USA, *1914.

MASATOSHI KOSHIBA, University of Tokyo Tokyo, Japan *1926.

"for pioneering contributions to astrophysics, in particular for the detection of cosmic neutrinos",


Additional background material on their work (based on the press release of the Nobel committee) is available here.


Matpack Library, © B.M.Gammel, last change 28 Mar 2003