Nobel Prize Events

1901 Frédéric Passy and Jean Henry Dunant Win the Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize (Norwegian and Swedish: Nobels fredspris) is awarded annually by the Norwegian Nobel Committee "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for frate...
1901 René François Armand Prudhomme is Awarded the First Nobel Prize for Literature
The Nobel Prize in Literature 1901 was awarded to Sully Prudhomme "in special recognition of his poetic composition, which gives evidence of lofty idealism, artistic perfection and a rare...
1902 Élie Ducommun and Charles Albert Gobat Win the Nobel Peace Prize
Élie Ducommun (February 19, 1833 – December 7, 1906) was a Swiss journalist and peace activist. He was a winner of the 1902 Nobel Peace Prize, which he shared with Charles Albert Gobat. ...
1903 William Randal Cremer Wins Nobel Peace Prize
Sir William Randal Cremer (18 March 1828 – 22 July 1908) usually known by his middle name "Randal", was an English Liberal Member of Parliament and pacifist. Cremer was elected as the ...
1904 Institut de Droit International Wins the Nobel Peace Prize
The Institut de droit international ("Institute of International Law") is an organization devoted to the study and development of international law, receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 190...
1905 Bertha von Suttner Wins the Nobel Peace Prize
Bertha Felicitas Sophie Freifrau von Suttner (Baroness Bertha von Suttner, Gräfin (Countess) Kinsky von Wchinitz und Tettau; 9 June 1843 - 21 June 1914) was an Austrian novelist, radical ...
1906 Dec 10 Theodore Roosevelt Wins the Nobel Peace Prize
In June, 1905, President Roosevelt offered his good offices as mediator between Russia and Japan, asking the belligerents to nominate plenipotentiaries to negotiate on the conditions of p...
1907 Ernesto Teodoro Moneta and Louis Renault Win Nobel Peace Prize
The range of activities in which Moneta engaged for the propagation of world peace is impressive. In 1890 he began to issue an annual almanac called L'Amico della pace. After his retire...
1907 Rudyard Kipling Becomes the First Englishman to be Awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature
The Nobel Prize in Literature 1907 was awarded to Rudyard Kipling "in consideration of the power of observation, originality of imagination, virility of ideas and remarkable talent for na...
1908 Klas Pontus Arnoldson and Fredrik Bajer Win the Nobel Peace Prize
Klas Pontus Arnoldson (27 October 1844 – 20 February 1916) was a Swedish author, journalist, politician, and committed pacifist who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1908. He was a foundi...
1908 Dec 17 Willard Frank Libby is Born
On December 17, 1908, Willard Frank "Wild Bill" Libby was born on a farm in Grand Valley, Colorado. Libby won the 1960 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his development of the technique known...
1909 Auguste Marie François Beernaert and Paul-Henri-Benjamin d'Estournelles de Constant Win the Nobel Peace Prize
Auguste Marie François Beernaert (July 26, 1829 – October 6, 1912) was the Prime Minister of Belgium from October 1884 to March 1894. Born in Ostend, he was elected to the Chamber of D...
1909 Selma Lagerlöf Becomes the First Woman to be Awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature
The Nobel Prize in Literature 1909 was awarded to Selma Lagerlöf "in appreciation of the lofty idealism, vivid imagination and spiritual perception that characterize her writings".
1910 International Peace Bureau Wins Nobel Peace Prize
The International Peace Bureau (IPB) was founded as a result of the third Universal Peace Congress in Rome, 1891, with Fredrik Bajer one of its principal founders and its first president....
1911 Tobias Michael Carel Asser and Alfred Hermann Fried Win Nobel Peace Prize
Tobias Michael Carel Asser (April 28, 1838, Amsterdam – July 29, 1913, The Hague) was a Dutch jurist, cowinner (with Alfred Fried) of the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1911 for his role in the...
1912 Elihu Root Wins Nobel Peace Prize
Elihu Root (February 15, 1845 – February 7, 1937) was an American lawyer and statesman and the 1912 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the prototype of the 20th century "wise man"...
1913 Henri La Fontaine Wins the Nobel Peace Prize
Henri La Fontaine, (22 April 1854 – 14 May 1943) was a Belgian international lawyer and president of the International Peace Bureau from 1907 to 1943 who received the Nobel Prize for Peac...
1913 Rabindranath Tagore Becomes the First Asian to be Awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature
The Nobel Prize in Literature 1913 was awarded to Rabindranath Tagore "because of his profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse, by which, with consummate skill, he has made his poe...
1917 International Committee of the Red Cross Wins the Nobel Peace Prize
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a private humanitarian institution based in Geneva, Switzerland. States parties (signatories) to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949...
1919 President Woodrow Wilson Wins Nobel Peace Prize
"In accepting the honor of your award I am moved not only by a profound gratitude for the recognition of my [sincere and] earnest efforts in the cause of peace, but also by a very poignant..." —Woodrow Wilson
1920 Léon Bourgeois Wins the Nobel Peace Prize
He was born in Paris, and was trained in law. After holding a subordinate office (1876) in the department of public works, he became successively prefect of the Tarn (1882) and the Haute-...
1921 Albert Einstein awarded Nobel Prize in Physics
In 1922, Einstein was awarded the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics,[97] "for his services to Theoretical Physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect". This...
1921 Hjalmar Branting and Christian Lous Lange Win the Nobel Peace Prize
Christian Lous Lange (17 September 1869 – 11 December 1938) was a Norwegian historian, teacher, and political scientist. He was one of the world's foremost exponents of the theory and pra...
1922 Fridtjof Nansen Wins Nobel Peace Prize
Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen (10 October 1861 – 13 May 1930) was a Norwegian explorer, scientist and diplomat. Nansen was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1922 for his work as a League...
1923 William Butler Yeats is Awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature
The Nobel Prize in Literature 1923 was awarded to William Butler Yeats "for his always inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation".
1923 Oct 4 John James Richard Macleod and Frederick Grant Banting are Awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for the Discovery of Insulin
Determined to investigate this possibility, Banting discussed it with various people, among whom was J.J.R. Macleod, Professor of Physiology at the University of Toronto, and Macleod gave...
1925 Austen Chamberlain and Charles Gates Dawes Win the Nobel Peace Prize
Austen Chamberlain was born in Birmingham, the second child and eldest son of Joseph Chamberlain, then a rising industrialist and political radical, later Lord Mayor of Birmingham and a d...
1926 Aristide Briand and Gustav Stresemann Win the Nobel Peace Prize
He was born in Nantes, Loire-Atlantique of a bourgeois family. He attended the Nantes Lycée, where, in 1877, he developed a close friendship with Jules Verne. He studied law, and soon wen...
1927 Ferdinand Buisson and Ludwig Quidde Win the Nobel Peace Prize
Ludwig Quidde (March 23, 1858 – March 4, 1941) was a German pacifist who is mainly remembered today for his acerbic criticism of German Emperor Wilhelm II. Quidde's long career spanned fo...
1929 Frank B. Kellogg Wins Nobel Peace Prize
Frank Billings Kellogg (December 22, 1856 – December 21, 1937) was an American lawyer, politician and statesman who served in the U.S. Senate and as U.S. Secretary of State. He co-authore...
1930 Nathan Söderblom Wins Nobel Peace Prize
Lars Olof Jonathan Söderblom (15 January 1866 – 12 July 1931) was a Swedish clergyman, Archbishop of Uppsala in the Church of Sweden, and recipient of the 1930 Nobel Peace Prize. He is co...
1930 Sinclair Lewis Becomes the First American to be Awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature
In 1930, Lewis won the Nobel Prize in Literature, the first writer from the United States to receive the award. In the Swedish Academy's presentation speech, special attention was paid to...
1931 Jane Addams and Nicholas Murray Butler Win the Nobel Peace Prize
Born in Cedarville, Illinois, Jane Addams was the youngest of six children born into a prosperous, loving family. Although she was the eighth child, two of her siblings died in infancy, l...
1933 Norman Angell Wins Nobel Peace Prize
Sir Ralph Norman Angell (26 December 1872 – 7 October 1967) was an English lecturer, journalist, author, and Member of Parliament for the Labour Party. Angell was one of the principal ...
1934 Arthur Henderson Wins Nobel Peace Prize
Arthur Henderson (13 September 1863 – 20 October 1935) was a British union leader, politician, disarmament advocate, and the 1934 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. He served three short terms a...
1935 Carl von Ossietzky Wins Nobel Peace Prize
Carl von Ossietzky (October 3, 1889 – May 4, 1938) was a radical German pacifist and the recipient of the 1935 Nobel Peace Prize. He was convicted of high treason and espionage in 1931 af...
1936 Carlos Saavedra Lamas Wins the Nobel Peace Prize
Carlos Saavedra Lamas (November 1, 1878 – May 5, 1959) was an Argentine academic and politician, and in 1936, the first Latin American Nobel Peace Prize recipient. Saavedra, born in Bu...
1937 Robert Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood Wins the Nobel Peace Prize
Edgar Algernon Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood CH, PC, QC (14 September 1864 – 24 November 1958), known as Lord Robert Cecil from 1868 to 1923, was a lawyer, politic...
1938 Office International Nansen pour les Réfugiés Wins the Nobel Peace Prize
The Office International Nansen pour les Réfugiés was established in 1930 by the League of Nations, shortly after the death of its name patron Fridtjof Nansen in order to continue his suc...
1938 Pearl S. Buck Becomes the First American Woman to be Awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature
The Nobel Prize in Literature 1938 was awarded to Pearl Buck "for her rich and truly epic descriptions of peasant life in China and for her biographical masterpieces".
1944 International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for the Second Time
"Six years have passed since we last awarded the Peace Prize, six years during which war has dominated the world. These war years, in which men have fought for life and freedom on a scale ..." —Gunnar Jahn, Chairman of the Nobel Comm
1945 Dec 10 Cordell Hull is Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
"Cordell Hull has devoted his entire life to the stabilization of international relations. Best known to the public are his untiring efforts in the field of commercial policy, efforts insp..." —Gunnar Jahn, Chairman of the Nobel Committee
1946 Herman Hesse is Awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature
The Nobel Prize in Literature 1946 was awarded to Hermann Hesse "for his inspired writings which, while growing in boldness and penetration, exemplify the classical humanitarian ideals an...
1946 Dec 10 Emily Greene Balch and John Raleigh Mott are Jointly Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
Emily Greene Balch (January 8, 1867 – January 9, 1961) was an American academic, writer, and pacifist who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1946 (the prize that year was shared with John ...
1947 Dec 10 Friends Service Council & American Friends Service Committee Are Jointly Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
Quaker Peace & Social Witness (QPSW), previously known as the Friends Service Council, and then as Quaker Peace and Service, is one of the central committees of Britain Yearly Meeting of ...
1949 William Faulkner is Awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature
"for his powerful and artistically unique contribution to the modern American novel." —Nobel Foundation
1949 Dec 10 John Boyd Orr is Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
John Boyd Orr, 1st Baron Boyd-Orr, CH, DSO, MC, FRS (23 September 1880 – 25 June 1971), also known as Sir John Boyd Orr from 1935 to 1949, was a Scottish teacher, doctor, biologist and p...
1950 Bertrand Russell is Awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature
The Nobel Prize in Literature 1950 was awarded to Bertrand Russell "in recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought".
1950 Dec 10 Ralph Bunche is Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
Ralph Johnson Bunche (August 7, 1903 – December 9, 1971) was an American political scientist and diplomat who received the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize for his late 1940s mediation in Palestine...
1951 Dec 10 Léon Jouhaux is Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
Léon Jouhaux (July 1, 1879–April 28, 1954) was a French trade union leader who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1951. Jouhaux's father worked in a match factory in Aubervilliers. His ...