Nobel Prize in Physics is given by the Royal Swedish Academy of Scientists. The Nobel Prize is given to those who have made outstanding contributions to humankind in the field of physics. Physics is one of the six categories in which the Nobel Prize is awarded annually. Previously, when there were five categories according to Alfred Nobel’s will 1895, physics was one of them too. It is being awarded since 1901 and the first Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Wilhelm Rontgen, a German Physicist for his discovery of X-rays.
| Year | Laureates | Achievement |
| 1901 | Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen | For discovery of X-Rays |
| 1902 | Hendrik Antoon Lorentz | For investigation of the influence of magnetism on radiation |
| Pieter Zeeman | For investigation of the influence of magnetism on radiation | |
| 1903 | Henri Becquerel | For discovery of spontaneous radioactivity |
| Marie Curie | For investigations of radiation phenomena discovered by Becquerel | |
| Pierre Curie | For investigations of radiation phenomena discovered by Becquerel | |
| 1904 | Lord Rayleigh | For discovery of argon |
| 1905 | Philipp Lenard | For research on cathode rays |
| 1906 | Sir J.J. Thomson | For researches into electrical conductivity of gases |
| 1907 | A.A. Michelson | For spectroscopic and metrological investigations |
| 1908 | Gabriel Lippmann | For photographic reproduction of colours |
| 1909 | Ferdinand Braun | For development of wireless telegraphy |
| Guglielmo Marconi | For development of wireless telegraphy | |
| 1910 | Johannes Diederik van der Waals | For research concerning the equation of state of gases and liquids |
| 1911 | Wilhelm Wien | For discoveries regarding laws governing heat radiation |
| 1912 | Nils Dalén | For invention of automatic regulators for lighting coastal beacons and light buoys |
| 1913 | Heike Kamerlingh Onnes | For investigation into the properties of matter at low temperatures; production of liquid helium |
| 1914 | Max von Laue | For discovery of diffraction of X-rays by crystals |
| 1915 | Sir Lawrence Bragg | For analysis of crystal structure by means of X-rays |
| Sir William Bragg | For analysis of crystal structure by means of X-rays | |
| 1917 | Charles Glover Barkla | For discovery of characteristic X-radiation of elements |
| 1918 | Max Planck | For discovery of the elemental quanta |
| 1919 | Johannes Stark | For discovery of the Doppler effect in positive ion rays and division of spectral lines in an electric field |
| 1920 | Charles Édouard Guillaume | For discovery of anomalies in alloys |
| 1921 | Albert Einstein | For work in theoretical physics |
| 1922 | Niels Bohr | For investigation of atomic structure and radiation |
| 1923 | Robert Andrews Millikan | For work on elementary electric charge and the photoelectric effect |
| 1924 | Karl Manne Georg Siegbahn | For work in X-ray spectroscopy |
| 1925 | James Franck | For discovery of the laws governing the impact of an electron upon an atom |
| Gustav Hertz | For discovery of the laws governing the impact of an electron upon an atom | |
| 1926 | Jean Perrin | For work on the discontinuous structure of matter |
| 1927 | Arthur Holly Compton | For discovery of wavelength change in diffused X-rays |
| C.T.R. Wilson | For method of making visible the paths of electrically charged particles | |
| 1928 | Sir Owen Willans Richardson | For work on electron emission by hot metals |
| 1929 | Louis de Broglie | For discovery of the wave nature of electrons |
| 1930 | Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman | For work on light diffusion; discovery of the Raman effect |
| 1932 | Werner Heisenberg | For creation of quantum mechanics |
| 1933 | P.A.M. Dirac | For introduction of wave equations in quantum mechanics |
| Erwin Schrödinger | For introduction of wave equations in quantum mechanics | |
| 1935 | Sir James Chadwick | For discovery of the neutron |
| 1936 | Carl David Anderson | For discovery of the positron |
| Victor Francis Hess | For discovery of cosmic radiation | |
| 1937 | Clinton Joseph Davisson | For experimental demonstration of the interference phenomenon in crystals irradiated by electrons |
| Sir George Paget Thomson | For experimental demonstration of the interference phenomenon in crystals irradiated by electrons | |
| 1938 | Enrico Fermi | For disclosure of artificial radioactive elements produced by neutron irradiation |
| 1939 | Ernest Orlando Lawrence | For invention of the cyclotron |
| 1943 | Otto Stern | For discovery of the magnetic moment of the proton |
| 1944 | Isidor Isaac Rabi | For resonance method for registration of various properties of atomic nuclei |
| 1945 | Wolfgang Pauli | For discovery of the exclusion principle of electrons |
| 1946 | Percy Williams Bridgman | For discoveries in the domain of high-pressure physics |
| 1947 | Sir Edward Victor Appleton | For discovery of the Appleton layer in the upper atmosphere |
| 1948 | Patrick M.S. Blackett | For discoveries in the domain of nuclear physics and cosmic radiation |
| 1949 | Yukawa Hideki | For prediction of the existence of mesons |
| 1950 | Cecil Frank Powell | For photographic method of studying nuclear processes; discoveries concerning mesons |
| 1951 | Sir John Douglas Cockcroft | For work on transmutation of atomic nuclei by accelerated particles |
| Ernest Thomas Sinton Walton | For work on transmutation of atomic nuclei by accelerated particles | |
| 1952 | Felix Bloch | For discovery of nuclear magnetic resonance in solids |
| E.M. Purcell | For discovery of nuclear magnetic resonance in solids | |
| 1953 | Frits Zernike | For method of phase-contrast microscopy |
| 1954 | Max Born | For statistical studies of atomic wave functions |
| Walther Bothe | For invention of the coincidence method | |
| 1955 | Polykarp Kusch | For measurement of the magnetic moment of the electron |
| Willis Eugene Lamb, Jr. | For discoveries in the hydrogen spectrum | |
| 1956 | John Bardeen | For investigations on semiconductors and invention of the transistor |
| Walter H. Brattain | For investigations on semiconductors and invention of the transistor | |
| William B. Shockley | For investigations on semiconductors and invention of the transistor | |
| 1957 | Tsung-Dao Lee | For discovery of violations of the principle of parity |
| Chen Ning Yang | For discovery of violations of the principle of parity | |
| 1958 | Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov | For discovery and interpretation of the Cherenkov effect |
| Ilya Mikhaylovich Frank | For discovery and interpretation of the Cherenkov effect | |
| Igor Yevgenyevich Tamm | For discovery and interpretation of the Cherenkov effect | |
| 1959 | Owen Chamberlain | For confirmation of the existence of the antiproton |
| Emilio Segrè | For confirmation of the existence of the antiproton | |
| 1960 | Donald A. Glaser | For development of the bubble chamber |
| 1961 | Robert Hofstadter | For determination of the shape and size of atomic nucleons |
| Rudolf Ludwig Mössbauer | For discovery of the Mössbauer effect | |
| 1962 | Lev Davidovich Landau | For contributions to the understanding of condensed states of matter |
| 1963 | J. Hans D. Jensen | For development of the shell model theory of the structure of atomic nuclei |
| Maria Goeppert Mayer | For development of the shell model theory of the structure of atomic nuclei | |
| Eugene Paul Wigner | For principles governing interaction of protons and neutrons in the nucleus | |
| 1964 | Nikolay Gennadiyevich Basov | For work in quantum electronics leading to construction of instruments based on maser-laser principles |
| Aleksandr Mikhaylovich Prokhorov | For work in quantum electronics leading to construction of instruments based on maser-laser principles | |
| Charles Hard Townes | For work in quantum electronics leading to construction of instruments based on maser-laser principles | |
| 1965 | Richard P. Feynman | For basic principles of quantum electrodynamics |
| Julian Seymour Schwinger | For basic principles of quantum electrodynamics | |
| Tomonaga Shin’ichiro | For basic principles of quantum electrodynamics | |
| 1966 | Alfred Kastler | For discovery of optical methods for studying Hertzian resonances in atoms |
| 1967 | Hans Albrecht Bethe | For discoveries concerning the energy production of stars |
| 1968 | Luis W. Alvarez | For work with elementary particles, discovery of resonance states |
| 1969 | Murray Gell-Mann | For classification of elementary particles and their interactions |
| 1970 | Hannes Alfvén | For work in magnetohydrodynamics and in antiferromagnetism and ferrimagnetism |
| Louis-Eugène-Félix Néel | For work in magnetohydrodynamics and in antiferromagnetism and ferrimagnetism | |
| 1971 | Dennis Gabor | For invention of holography |
| 1972 | John Bardeen | For development of the theory of superconductivity |
| Leon N. Cooper | ||
| John Robert Schrieffer | ||
| 1973 | Leo Esaki | For tunneling in semiconductors and superconductors |
| Ivar Giaever | ||
| Brian D. Josephson | ||
| 1974 | Antony Hewish | For work in radio astronomy |
| Sir Martin Ryle | ||
| 1975 | Aage N. Bohr | For work on the atomic nucleus that paved the way for nuclear fusion |
| Ben R. Mottelson | ||
| James Rainwater | ||
| 1976 | Burton Richter | For discovery of a new class of elementary particles (psi, or J) |
| Samuel C.C. Ting | ||
| 1977 | Philip W. Anderson | For contributions to understanding the behaviour of electrons in magnetic, noncrystalline solids |
| Sir Nevill F. Mott | ||
| John H. Van Vleck | ||
| 1978 | Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa | For invention and application of a helium liquefier |
| Arno Penzias | For discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation, providing support for the big-bang theory | |
| Robert Woodrow Wilson | ||
| 1979 | Sheldon Lee Glashow | For unification of electromagnetism and the weak interactions of subatomic particles |
| Abdus Salam | ||
| Steven Weinberg | ||
| 1980 | James Watson Cronin | For demonstration of simultaneous violation of both charge-conjugation and parity-inversion symmetries |
| Val Logsdon Fitch | ||
| 1981 | Nicolaas Bloembergen | For applications of lasers in spectroscopy |
| Arthur Leonard Schawlow | ||
| Kai Manne Börje Siegbahn | For electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis | |
| 1982 | Kenneth Geddes Wilson | For analysis of continuous phase transitions |
| 1983 | Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar | For contributions to understanding the evolution and devolution of stars |
| William A. Fowler
| ||
| 1984 | Simon van der Meer | For discovery of subatomic particles W and Z, which supports the electroweak theory |
| Carlo Rubbia | ||
| 1985 | Klaus von Klitzing | For discovery of the quantized Hall effect, permitting exact measurements of electrical resistance |
| 1986 | Gerd Binnig | For development of electron microscopes |
| Heinrich Rohrer | ||
| Ernst Ruska | ||
| 1987 | J. Georg Bednorz | For discovery of new superconducting materials |
| Karl Alex Müller | ||
| 1988 | Leon Max Lederman | For research in subatomic particles |
| Melvin Schwartz | ||
| Jack Steinberger | ||
| 1989 | Hans Georg Dehmelt | For development of methods to isolate atoms and subatomic particles for study |
| Wolfgang Paul | ||
| Norman Foster Ramsey | For development of the atomic clock | |
| 1990 | Jerome Isaac Friedman | For discovery of quarks |
| Henry Way Kendall | ||
| Richard E. Taylor | ||
| 1991 | Pierre-Gilles de Gennes | For discovery of general rules for behavior of molecules |
| 1992 | Georges Charpak | For invention of a detector that traces subatomic particles |
| 1993 | Russell Alan Hulse | For identifying binary pulsars |
| Joseph H. Taylor, Jr. | ||
| 1994 | Bertram N. Brockhouse | For development of neutron-scattering techniques |
| Clifford G. Shull | ||
| 1995 | Martin Lewis Perl | For discovery of the tau subatomic particle |
| Frederick Reines | For discovery of the neutrino | |
| 1996 | David M. Lee | For discovery of superfluidity in the isotope helium-3 |
| Douglas D. Osheroff | ||
| Robert C. Richardson | ||
| 1997 | Steven Chu | For process of trapping atoms with laser cooling |
| Claude Cohen-Tannoudji | ||
| William D. Phillips | ||
| 1998 | Robert B. Laughlin | For discovery of the fractional quantum Hall effect |
| Horst L. Störmer | ||
| Daniel C. Tsui | ||
| 1999 | Gerardus ‘t Hooft | For study of the quantum structure of electroweak interactions |
| Martinus J.G. Veltman | ||
| 2000 | Zhores I. Alferov | For development of fast semiconductors for use in microelectronics |
| Jack S. Kilby | ||
| Herbert Kroemer | ||
| 2001 | Eric A. Cornell | For achievement of Bose-Einstein condensation in dilute gases of alkali atoms; early fundamental studies of the properties of the condensates |
| Wolfgang Ketterle | ||
| Carl E. Wieman | ||
| 2002 | Raymond Davis, Jr. | For detection of neutrinos |
| Riccardo Giacconi | For seminal discoveries of cosmic sources of X-rays | |
| Koshiba Masatoshi | For detection of neutrinos | |
| 2003 | Alexei A. Abrikosov | For discoveries regarding superconductivity and superfluidity at very low temperatures |
| Vitaly L. Ginzburg | ||
| Anthony J. Leggett | ||
| 2004 | David J. Gross | For discovery of asymptotic freedom in the theory of the strong interaction |
| H. David Politzer | ||
| Frank Wilczek | ||
| 2005 | Roy J. Glauber | For contributions to the field of optics |
| John L. Hall | ||
| Theodor W. Hänsch | ||
| 2006 | John C. Mather | For discovery of the blackbody form and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation |
| George F. Smoot | ||
| 2007 | Albert Fert | For discovery of giant magnetoresistance |
| Peter Grünberg | ||
| 2008 | Kobayashi Makoto | For discovery of the origin of the broken symmetry which predicts the existence of at least three families of quarks in nature |
| Maskawa Toshihide | ||
| Yoichiro Nambu | For discovery of the mechanism of spontaneously broken symmetry in subatomic physics | |
| 2009 | Willard Boyle | For invention of the CCD sensor, an imaging semiconductor circuit |
| Charles Kao | For achievements concerning the transmission of light fibers for optical communication | |
| George E. Smith | For invention of the CCD sensor, an imaging semiconductor circuit | |
| 2010 | Andre Geim | For experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene |
| Konstantin Novoselov | ||
| 2011 | Saul Perlmutter | For discovery of the accelerating expansion of the universe through observations of distant supernovae |
| Brian P. Schmidt | ||
| Adam G. Riess | ||
| 2012 | Serge Haroche | For development of methods that enable measuring and manipulation of individual quantum systems |
| David J. Wineland | ||
| 2013 | François Englert | For theoretical discovery of a mechanism that contributes to the understanding of the origin of mass of subatomic particles |
| Peter Higgs | ||
| 2014 | Akasaki Isamu | For invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes, which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources |
| Amano Hiroshi | ||
| Shuji Nakamura | ||
| 2015 | Kajita Takaaki | For discovery of neutrino oscillations, which show that neutrinos have mass |
| Arthur B. McDonald | ||
| 2016 | David Thouless | For theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter |
| Duncan Haldane | ||
| Michael Kosterlitz | ||
| 2017 | Barry C. Barish | For decisive contributions to the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory detector and the observation of gravitational waves |
| Kip S. Thorne | ||
| Rainer Weiss | For decisive contributions to the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory detector and the observation of gravitational waves | |
| 2018 | Arthur Ashkin | For invention of optical tweezers and their application to biological systems |
| Gérard Mourou | For invention of a method of generating high-intensity ultra-short optical pulses | |
| Donna Strickland | ||
| 2019 | James Peebles | For theoretical discoveries in physical cosmology |
| Michel Mayor | For discovery of an exoplanet orbiting a solar-type star | |
| Didier Queloz | ||
| 2020 | Reinhard Genzel | For discovery of a supermassive compact object at the centre of the Milky Way Galaxy |
| Andrea Ghez | ||
| Roger Penrose | For discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity | |
| 2021 | Klaus Hasselmann | For development of the foundation for human knowledge of the Earth’s climate and how humanity influences it |
| Manabe Syukuro | ||
| Giorgio Parisi | For discovery of the interplay of disorder and fluctuations in physical systems from atomic to planetary scales | |
| 2022 | Alain Aspect | For conducting experiments in quantum mechanics that laid the groundwork for rapidly developing new applications in computing and cryptography. |
| Anton Zeilinger | ||
| John Clauser |
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