HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
s have been awarded to over 900 individuals, of whom at least 20% were
Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
. * * * * * * * * The number of Jews receiving Nobel prizes has been the subject of some attention.* * *
"Jews rank high among winners of Nobel, but why not Israelis"
''
J. The Jewish News of Northern California ''J. The Jewish News of Northern California'', formerly known as ''Jweekly'', is a weekly print newspaper in Northern California, with its online edition updated daily. It is owned and operated by San Francisco Jewish Community Publications In ...
'', October 25, 2002. "There are three central theories given for Jewish academic achievement, according to Shulamit Volkov, professor of history at Tel Aviv University and author of "The Magic Circle: Germans, Jews and Anti-Semites." The first theory says that Jews are cleverer than others, a theory dismissed by Volkov and other serious academics. The second theory, proposed first by an American sociologist in 1919, holds that because Jews were on the margins of society they were forced to excel. The third and more common explanation, says Volkov, states that generations of Jewish Orthodox learning later translated brilliantly into secular learning." *
Noah Efron Noah Jonathan Efron (born December 16, 1959) is a professor at Bar-Ilan University, where he was founding chair of the interdisciplinary program on Science, Technology, and Society. He has served as the President of the Israeli Society for Histo ...

"The Real Reason Why Jews Win So Many Nobel Prizes"
''
Haaretz ''Haaretz'' ( , originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , ) is an Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel, and is now published in both Hebrew and English in the Berliner ...
'', October 21, 2013. *Mark Mietkiewicz
"Nobel Prize and the Jews"
''
Canadian Jewish News The Canadian Jewish News is a non-profit, national, English-language digital-first media organization that serves Canada‘s Jewish community. A national edition of the newspaper was published for 60 years in Toronto. A weekly Montreal edition i ...
, December 10, 2018.'' *
Raphael Patai Raphael Patai (Hebrew רפאל פטאי; November 22, 1910 − July 20, 1996), born Ervin György Patai, was a Hungarian-Jewish ethnographer, historian, Orientalist and anthropologist. Family background Patai was born in Budapest, Austria-Hung ...
, ''
The Jewish Mind ''The Jewish Mind'' is a non-fiction cultural psychology book by cultural anthropologist Raphael Patai Raphael Patai (Hebrew רפאל פטאי; November 22, 1910 − July 20, 1996), born Ervin György Patai, was a Hungarian-Jewish ethnographer, ...
'',
Wayne State University Press Wayne State University Press (or WSU Press) is a university press that is part of Wayne State University. It publishes under its own name and also the imprints Imprint or imprinting may refer to: Entertainment * ''Imprint'' (TV series), ...
, 1996, pp. 339-371, 547-548.
Israeli academics Elay Ben-Gal and
Yeshayahu Leibowitz Yeshayahu Leibowitz ( he, ישעיהו ליבוביץ; 29 January 1903 – 18 August 1994) was an Israeli Orthodox Jewish public intellectual and polymath. He was a professor of biochemistry, organic chemistry, and neurophysiology at the Hebrew ...
began an encyclopedia of Jewish Nobel laureates, and have interviewed as many as possible about their life and work. Jews have been recipients of all six awards. The first Jewish recipient,
Adolf von Baeyer Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Adolf von Baeyer (; 31 October 1835 – 20 August 1917) was a German chemist who synthesised indigo and developed a nomenclature for cyclic compounds (that was subsequently extended and adopted as part of the IUPAC org ...
, was awarded the prize in Chemistry in 1905. Jewish laureates
Elie Wiesel Elie Wiesel (, born Eliezer Wiesel ''Eliezer Vizel''; September 30, 1928 – July 2, 2016) was a Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He authored 57 books, written mostly in F ...
and
Imre Kertész Imre Kertész (; 9 November 192931 March 2016) was a Hungarian author and recipient of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Literature, "for writing that upholds the fragile experience of the individual against the barbaric arbitrariness of history". He was ...
survived the
extermination camp Nazi Germany used six extermination camps (german: Vernichtungslager), also called death camps (), or killing centers (), in Central Europe during World War II to systematically murder over 2.7 million peoplemostly Jewsin the Holocaust. The v ...
s during
the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europ ...
,"Winfrey selects Wiesel's 'Night' for book club"
''
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. new ...
'', January 16, 2006.
while
François Englert François, Baron Englert (; born 6 November 1932) is a Belgian theoretical physicist and 2013 Nobel prize laureate. Englert is professor emeritus at the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), where he is a member of the Service de Physique Thé ...
survived by being hidden in orphanages and children's homes. Others, such as Walter Kohn,
Otto Stern :''Otto Stern was also the pen name of German women's rights activist Louise Otto-Peters (1819–1895)''. Otto Stern (; 17 February 1888 – 17 August 1969) was a German-American physicist and Nobel laureate in physics. He was the second most ...
,
Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theor ...
, Hans Krebs and
Martin Karplus Martin Karplus (born March 15, 1930) is an Austrian and American theoretical chemist. He is the Director of the Biophysical Chemistry Laboratory, a joint laboratory between the French National Center for Scientific Research and the University of ...
had to flee
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
to avoid persecution. Still others, including
Rita Levi-Montalcini Rita Levi-Montalcini (, ; 22 April 1909 – 30 December 2012) was an Italian Nobel laureate, honored for her work in neurobiology. She was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly with colleague Stanley Cohen for th ...
,
Herbert Hauptman Herbert Aaron Hauptman (February 14, 1917 – October 23, 2011) was an American mathematician and Nobel laureate. He pioneered and developed a mathematical method that has changed the whole field of chemistry and opened a new era in research in d ...
,
Robert Furchgott Robert Francis Furchgott (June 4, 1916 – May 19, 2009) was a Nobel Prize-winning American biochemist who contributed to the discovery of nitric oxide as a transient cellular signal in mammalian systems. Early life and education Furchgott ...
,
Arthur Kornberg Arthur Kornberg (March 3, 1918 – October 26, 2007) was an American biochemist who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1959 for the discovery of "the mechanisms in the biological synthesis of ribonucleic acid and deoxyribonucleic ac ...
, and
Jerome Karle Jerome Karle (born Jerome Karfunkle; June 18, 1918 – June 6, 2013) was an American physical chemist. Jointly with Herbert A. Hauptman, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1985, for the direct analysis of crystal structures using X-ra ...
experienced significant
antisemitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...
in their careers.
Arthur Ashkin Arthur Ashkin (September 2, 1922 – September 21, 2020) was an American scientist and Nobel laureate who worked at Bell Laboratories and Lucent Technologies. Ashkin has been considered by many as the father of optical tweezers, "LaserFest – t ...
, a 96-year-old American Jew, was, at the time of his award, the oldest person to receive a Nobel Prize.Hilary Brueck
"The world's oldest Nobel Prize winner, a 96-year-old physicist, says his new invention will give everyone in the world clean, cheap energy"
''
Business Insider ''Insider'', previously named ''Business Insider'' (''BI''), is an American financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Insider''s parent company Insider Inc. has been owned by the German publ ...
'', January 26, 2019.


Chemistry


Physiology or Medicine


Physics


Literature


Economics


Peace


Forced to decline prize

Boris Pasternak Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (; rus, Бори́с Леони́дович Пастерна́к, p=bɐˈrʲis lʲɪɐˈnʲidəvʲɪtɕ pəstɛrˈnak; 30 May 1960) was a Russian poet, novelist, composer and literary translator. Composed in 1917, Pa ...
, a Russian Jew, who was awarded the 1958 prize for literature, initially accepted the award, but—after intense pressure from Soviet authorities—subsequently declined it.Mark Franchetti
"How the CIA won Zhivago a Nobel"
''
The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...
''. January 14, 2007.
(Via )


Jewish laureates per country

Below is a chart of all Jewish Nobel laureates per country (updated to 2022 laureates). Some laureates are counted more than once if have multiple citizenship.


Nobel Laureates Boulevard

The Israeli city of
Rishon LeZion Rishon LeZion ( he, רִאשׁוֹן לְצִיּוֹן , ''lit.'' First to Zion, Arabic: راشون لتسيون) is a city in Israel, located along the central Israeli coastal plain south of Tel Aviv. It is part of the Gush Dan metropolitan ...
has an avenue dedicated to honoring all Jewish Nobel laureates. The street, called ''Tayelet Hatanei Pras Nobel'' (Nobel Laureates Boulevard/Promenade), has a monument with attached plaque for each Nobel laureate. The scientific adviser of the project was Prof.
Israel Hanukoglu Israel Hanukoglu ( tr, İsrael Hanukoğlu) is a Turkish-born Israeli scientist. He is a full professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Ariel University and former science and technology adviser to the prime minister of Israel (1996–19 ...
."Nobel Prize Laureates Boulevard"
, ''Structures'', Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute, Spring 2011, p. 4. "Dr. Hauptman interestingly is one of 160 Jewish Nobel Laureates... In honor of this distinction, there is a boulevard dedicated to Jewish Nobel Prize Laureates in a town called Kiryat Hatanei Pras Nobel (Nobel Prize Laureates' Town) outside of Tel Aviv, Israel. On this boulevard, a monument and plaque have been dedicated in Dr. Hauptman's honor."


See also

*
List of Nobel laureates The Nobel Prizes ( sv, Nobelpriset, no, Nobelprisen) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make out ...
*
List of Muslim Nobel laureates As of 2021, thirteen Nobel Prize laureates have been Muslims, more than half in the 21st century. Seven of the thirteen laureates have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, while three have been for the sciences. The recipient of the 1979 Nobel P ...
*
List of Christian Nobel laureates In an estimate by Baruch Shalev, between 1901 and 2000 about 65.4% of Nobel prize winners were either Christians or had a Christian background.Baruch A. Shalev, ''100 Years of Nobel Prizes'' (2003), Atlantic Publishers & Distributors, p. 57: betwe ...
*
List of black Nobel laureates The Nobel Prize is an annual, international prize first awarded in 1901 for achievements in Nobel Prize in Physics, Physics, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Physiology or Medicine, Nobel Prize in Literatu ...
* List of Israeli Nobel laureates


References


Further reading

* Charpa, Ulrich; Deichmann, Ute. (eds.) (2007)
''Jews and Sciences in German Contexts: Case Studies From the 19th and 20th Centuries''
Mohr Siebeck, pp. 23–25. * Feldman, Burton (2001)
''The Nobel Prize: A History of Genius, Controversy, and Prestige''
Arcade Publishing Arcade Publishing is an independent trade publishing company that started in 1988 in New York, USA. It publishes American and world fiction and nonfiction. The company was started and run by Richard Seaver and his wife Jeannette.Weber, Bruce (J ...
, pp. 407–10. * Julius, Anthony (1995)
''T. S. Eliot, Anti-Semitism, and Literary Form''
Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambridge University Pr ...
, p. 266. * Lazarus, William P.; Sullivan, Mark. (2008)
''Comparative Religion For Dummies''
Wiley Publishing John Wiley & Sons, Inc., commonly known as Wiley (), is an American multinational publishing company founded in 1807 that focuses on academic publishing and instructional materials. The company produces books, journals, and encyclopedias, in ...
, p. 45. * Levitan, Tina (1960)
The Laureates: Jewish Winners of the Nobel prize
Twayne Publishers Gale is a global provider of research and digital learning resources. The company is based in Farmington Hills, Michigan, west of Detroit. It has been a division of Cengage since 2007. The company, formerly known as Gale Research and the Gale Gro ...
(New York), 236 pages. * Patai, Raphael (1996)
''The Jewish Mind''
Wayne State University Press Wayne State University Press (or WSU Press) is a university press that is part of Wayne State University. It publishes under its own name and also the imprints Imprint or imprinting may refer to: Entertainment * ''Imprint'' (TV series), ...
, pp. 339–42. * Rubinstein, W. D. (1982)
''The Left, the Right and the Jews''
Croom Helm Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, and ...
, p. 63. * Scharfstein, Sol (1999)
''Understanding Jewish Holidays and Customs: Historical and Contemporary''
KTAV Publishing House KTAV Publishing House is a publishing house located in Brooklyn, New York. Ktav means "to write" in Hebrew. Founded in 1921, it has been among the most notable publishers of Judaica and Jewish educational texts since the middle of the 20th cent ...
, p. 168. * Weiss, Mosheh (2004)
''A Brief History of the Jewish People''
Rowman & Littlefield Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group is an independent publishing house founded in 1949. Under several imprints, the company offers scholarly books for the academic market, as well as trade books. The company also owns the book distributing comp ...
, pp. 216–17. * Zuckerman, Harriet (1996)
''Scientific Elite: Nobel Laureates in the United States''
Transaction Publishers Transaction Publishers was a New Jersey-based publishing house that specialized in social science books and journals. It was located on the Livingston Campus of Rutgers University. Transaction was sold to Taylor & Francis in 2016 and merged wit ...
, originally publishing in 1977, pp. 71–78.


External links


Nobel Luminaries Project
The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot ANU - Museum of the Jewish People, formerly the Nahum Goldmann Museum of the Jewish Diaspora, is located in Tel Aviv, Israel, at the center of the Tel Aviv University campus in Ramat Aviv. ANU - Museum of the Jewish People is an institution ...

Video by the National Museum of American Jewish History with some Jewish Nobel laureates listed


{{Nobel Prizes
Nobel laureates The Nobel Prizes ( sv, Nobelpriset, no, Nobelprisen) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make ou ...
Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in th ...
Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...