The Nobel Prize for Physics (1901-1996)
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updated 9-OCT-1996 by PEG

updated 12-OCT-1994 by SIC

original by Scott I. Chase

The Nobel Prize for Physics (1901-1996)

The following is a complete listing of Nobel Prize awards, from the first award in 1901. Prizes were not awarded in every year. The date in brackets is the approximate date of the work. The description following the names is an abbreviation of the official citation.

1901 [1895] Wilhelm Konrad Roentgen X-rays 1902 [1896] Hendrik Antoon Lorentz Magnetism in radiation phenomena Pieter Zeeman 1903 [1896] Antoine Henri Bequerel Spontaneous radioactivity [1898] Pierre Curie Marie Sklodowska-Curie 1904 [1894] Lord Rayleigh Density of gases and (a.k.a. John William Strutt) discovery of argon 1905 [1899] Pilipp Eduard Anton von Lenard Cathode rays 1906 [1897] Joseph John Thomson Conduction of electricity by gases 1907 Albert Abraham Michelson Precision meteorological investigations 1908 Gabriel Lippman Reproducing colors photographically based on the phenomenon of interference 1909 [1901] Guglielmo Marconi Wireless telegraphy Carl Ferdinand Braun 1910 [1873] Johannes Diderik van der Waals Equation of state of fluids 1911 [1896] Wilhelm Wien Laws of radiation of heat 1912 [1909] Nils Gustaf Dalen Automatic gas flow regulators 1913 [1911] Heike Kamerlingh Onnes Matter at low temperature 1914 [1912] Max von Laue Crystal diffraction of X-rays 1915 [1913] William Henry Bragg X-ray analysis of crystal structure William Lawrence Bragg 1916 no award 1917 [1911] Charles Glover Barkla Characteristic X-ray spectra of elements 1918 [1900] Max Planck Energy quanta 1919 [1913] Johannes Stark Splitting of spectral lines in E fields 1920 Charles-Edouard Guillaume Anomalies in nickel steel alloys 1921 [1905] Albert Einstein Photoelectric Effect 1922 [1913] Niels Bohr Structure of atoms 1923 [1909] Robert Andrew Millikan Elementary charge of electricity 1924 Karl Manne Georg Siegbahn X-ray spectroscopy 1925 [1914] James Franck Impact of an electron upon an atom Gustav Hertz 1926 Jean Baptiste Perrin Sedimentation equilibrium 1927 [1924] Arthur Holly Compton Compton effect [1912] Charles Thomson Rees Wilson Invention of the Cloud chamber 1928 [1903] Owen Willans Richardson Thermionic phenomena, Richardson's Law 1929 [1923] Prince Louis-Victor de Broglie Wave nature of electrons 1930 [1928] Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman Scattering of light, Raman effect 1931 no award 1932 [1925] Werner Heisenberg Quantum Mechanics 1933 [1926] Erwin Schrodinger Atomic theory [1928] Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac 1934 no award 1935 [1932] James Chadwick The neutron 1936 [1911] Victor Franz Hess Cosmic rays [1932] Carl D. Anderson The positron 1937 [1925] Clinton Joseph Davisson Crystal diffraction of electrons George Paget Thomson 1938 [1935] Enrico Fermi New radioactive elements 1939 [1929] Ernest Orlando Lawrence Invention of the Cyclotron 1940 no award 1941 no award 1942 no award 1943 [1933] Otto Stern Proton magnetic moment 1944 [1935] Isador Isaac Rabi Magnetic resonance in atomic nuclei 1945 [1924] Wolfgang Pauli The Exclusion principle 1946 [1925] Percy Williams Bridgman Production of extremely high pressures 1947 [1924] Sir Edward Victor Appleton Physics of the upper atmosphere 1948 [1932] Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett Cosmic ray showers in cloud chambers 1949 [1935] Hideki Yukawa Prediction of Mesons 1950 [1947] Cecil Frank Powell Photographic emulsion for meson studies 1951 [1932] Sir John Douglas Cockroft Artificial acceleration of atomic Ernest Thomas Sinton Walton particles and transmutation of nuclei 1952 [1946] Felix Bloch Nuclear magnetic precision methods Edward Mills Purcell 1953 [1935] Frits Zernike Phase-contrast microscope 1954 [1926] Max Born Fundamental research in QM [1925] Walther Bothe Coincidence counters 1955 [1947] Willis Eugene Lamb Hydrogen fine structure [1947] Polykarp Kusch Electron magnetic moment 1956 [1948] William Shockley Transistors John Bardeen Walter Houser Brattain 1957 [1956] Chen Ning Yang Parity violation Tsung Dao Lee 1958 [1934] Pavel Aleksejevic Cerenkov Interpretation of the Cerenkov effect [1937] Il'ja Mickajlovic Frank Igor' Evgen'evic Tamm 1959 [1955] Emilio Gino Segre The Antiproton Owen Chamberlain 1960 [1952] Donald Arthur Glaser The Bubble Chamber 1961 [1953] Robert Hofstadter Electron scattering on nucleons Rudolf Ludwig Mossbauer Resonant absorption of photons 1962 [1941] Lev Davidovic Landau Theory of liquid helium 1963 [1931] Eugene P. Wigner Fundamental symmetry principles [1949] Maria Goeppert Mayer Nuclear shell structure J. Hans D. Jensen 1964 [1958] Charles H. Townes Maser-Laser principle Nikolai G. Basov Alexander M. Prochorov 1965 [1948] Sin-Itiro Tomonaga Quantum electrodynamics Julian Schwinger Richard P. Feynman 1966 [1950] Alfred Kastler Study of Hertzian resonance in atoms 1967 [1938] Hans Albrecht Bethe Energy production in stars 1968 [1955] Luis W. Alvarez Discovery of many particle resonances 1969 [1964] Murray Gell-Mann Quark model for particle classification 1970 [1942] Hannes Alfven Magneto-hydrodynamics in plasma physics [1932] Louis Neel Antiferromagnetism and ferromagnetism 1971 [1947] Dennis Gabor Principles of holography 1972 [1957] John Bardeen Theory of superconductivity Leon N. Cooper J. Robert Schrieffer 1973 [1960] Leo Esaki Tunneling in superconductors Ivar Giaever [1962] Brian D. Josephson Super-current through tunnel barriers 1974 [1974] Antony Hewish Discovery of pulsars [1958] Sir Martin Ryle Pioneering radioastronomy work 1975 [1950] Aage Bohr Structure of the atomic nucleus Ben Mottelson James Rainwater 1976 [1974] Burton Richter Discovery of the J/Psi particle Samual Chao Chung Ting 1977 [1958] Philip Warren Anderson Electronic structure of magnetic and [1967] Nevill Francis Mott disordered solids John Hasbrouck Van Vleck 1978 [1932] Pyotr Kapitsa Liquefaction of helium [1965] Arno A. Penzias Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation Robert W. Wilson 1979 [1961] Sheldon Glashow Electroweak Theory, especially [1967] Steven Weinberg weak neutral currents [1968] Abdus Salam 1980 [1964] James Cronin Discovery of CP violation in the Val Fitch asymmetric decay of neutral K-mesons 1981 Kai M. Seigbahn High resolution electron spectroscopy [1962] Nicolaas Bloembergen Laser spectroscopy Arthur L. Schawlow 1982 [1972] Kenneth G. Wilson Critical phenomena in phase transitions 1983 [1935] Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar Evolution of stars [1957] William A. Fowler 1984 [1983] Carlo Rubbia Discovery of W,Z [1970] Simon van der Meer Stochastic cooling for colliders 1985 [1977] Klaus von Klitzing Discovery of quantum Hall effect 1986 [1981] Gerd Binnig Scanning Tunneling Microscopy Heinrich Rohrer [1932] Ernst August Friedrich Ruska Electron microscopy 1987 [1986] Georg Bednorz High-temperature superconductivity Alex K. Muller 1988 [1962] Leon Max Lederman Discovery of the muon neutrino leading Melvin Schwartz to classification of particles in Jack Steinberger families 1989 Hans Georg Dehmelt Penning Trap for charged particles Wolfgang Paul Paul Trap for charged particles Norman F. Ramsey Control of atomic transitions by the separated oscillatory fields method 1990 [1972] Jerome Isaac Friedman Deep inelastic scattering experiments Henry Way Kendall leading to the discovery of quarks Richard Edward Taylor 1991 Pierre-Gilles de Gennes Order-disorder transitions in liquid crystals and polymers 1992 Georges Charpak Multiwire Proportional Chamber 1993 [1974] Russell A. Hulse Discovery of the first binary pulsar Joseph H. Taylor and subsequent tests of GR 1994 [1960] Bertram N. Brockhouse Neutron scattering experiments [1946] Clifford G. Shull 1995 [1975] Martin L. Perl Discovery of the tau lepton [1953] Frederick Reines Detection of the neutrino 1996 David M. Lee Superfluidity in Helium-3 Douglas D. Osheroff Robert C. Richardson