The Nobel Prize 2025 in Physiology or Medicine, science’s most coveted honour, will be announced today. The award recognizes researchers whose work has revolutionized our knowledge about the human body, and improved medicine. Ever since the prize was instituted in 1901, it has been honoring breakthroughs. This ranges from the discovery of insulin to the development of mRNA vaccines.
This award recognises those accomplishments which have made a lasting contribution to medicine and/or biology. It aims to shed light on research work that enhances health care and stimulates additional scientific investigation.
Let us look at the full list of all the past winners of Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
– 2024: Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for discovery of microRNA and its role in controlling genes.
– 2023: Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman for COVID-19 vaccines through mRNA research.
– 2022: Svante Pääbo for the genomes of extinct humans, revealing insights into human evolution.
– 2021: David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian for discovery of how humans sense temperature and touch.
– 2020: Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton, and Charles M. Rice for discovery of the Hepatitis C virus.
– 2019: William Kaelin Jr, Peter Ratcliffe, Gregg Semenza for explaining how cells sense and adapt to oxygen.
– 2018: James Allison, Tasuku Honjo for developing immune-based cancer therapies.
– 2017: Jeffrey Hall, Michael Rosbash, Michael Young for discovering how the circadian rhythm is controlled.
– 2016: Yoshinori Ohsumi for revealing the process of autophagy, how cells recycle themselves.
– 2015: William Campbell, Satoshi Ōmura, Tu Youyou for discovering therapies for parasitic infections and malaria.
– 2014: John O’Keefe, May-Britt Moser, Edvard Moser for finding the brain’s positioning system.
– 2013: James Rothman, Randy Schekman, Thomas Südhof for explaining cellular transport systems.
– 2012: John Gurdon, Shinya Yamanaka for discovering that mature cells can be reprogrammed into pluripotent stem cells.
– 2011: Bruce Beutler, Jules Hoffmann, Ralph Steinman for discoveries in innate and adaptive immunity.
– 2010: Robert Edwards for developed in vitro fertilization.
– 2009: Elizabeth Blackburn, Carol Greider, Jack Szostak for discovering how chromosomes are protected by telomeres.
– 2008: Harald zur Hausen for linking human papilloma virus to cervical cancer; Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, Luc Montagnier for discovered HIV.
– 2007: Mario Capecchi, Martin Evans, Oliver Smithies for pioneering gene modification in mice.
– 2006: Andrew Fire, Craig Mello for discovering RNA interference.
– 2005: Barry Marshall, Robin Warren for discovering Helicobacter pylori, the cause of ulcers.
– 2004: Richard Axel, Linda Buck for mapping the olfactory system.
– 2003: Paul Lauterbur, Peter Mansfield for developing MRI technology.
– 2002: Sydney Brenner, H. Robert Horvitz, John Sulston for discoveries in genetic regulation of organ development.
– 2001: Leland Hartwell, Tim Hunt, Paul Nurse for discovery of key regulators of the cell cycle.
– 2000: Arvid Carlsson, Paul Greengard, Eric Kandel for research in signal transmission in the nervous system.
– 1999: Günter Blobel for discovering protein targeting signals.
– 1998: Robert Furchgott, Louis Ignarro, Ferid Murad for studies in nitric oxide in the cardiovascular system.
– 1997: Stanley Prusiner for discovering prions.
– 1996: Peter Doherty, Rolf Zinkernagel for studies in immune defense.
– 1995: Edward Lewis, Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, Eric Wieschaus for genetic control of early development.
– 1994: Alfred Gilman, Martin Rodbell for discovering G-proteins in cell signaling.
– 1993: Richard Roberts, Phillip Sharp for discovering split genes.
– 1992: Edmond Fischer, Edwin Krebs for reversible protein phosphorylation.
– 1991: Erwin Neher, Bert Sakmann for function of single ion channels.
– 1990: Joseph Murray, E. Donnall Thomas for organ and cell transplantation.
– 1989: J. Michael Bishop, Harold Varmus for cellular origin of retroviral oncogenes.
– 1988: James Black, Gertrude Elion, George Hitchings for new drug therapies.
– 1987: Susumu Tonegawa for antibody diversity.
– 1986: Stanley Cohen, Rita Levi-Montalcini for growth factors.
– 1985: Michael Brown, Joseph Goldstein for cholesterol regulation.
– 1984: Niels Jerne, Georges Köhler, César Milstein for immune system and monoclonal antibodies.
– 1983: Barbara McClintock for mobile genetic elements.
– 1982: Sune Bergström, Bengt Samuelsson, John Vane for prostaglandins.
– 1981: Roger Sperry for brain hemisphere specialization; David Hubel, Torsten Wiesel for visual system processing.
– 1980: Baruj Benacerraf, Jean Dausset, George Snell for genetic structures in immune response.
– 1979: Allan Cormack, Godfrey Hounsfield for development of CT scans.
– 1978: Werner Arber, Daniel Nathans, Hamilton Smith for restriction enzymes.
– 1977: Roger Guillemin, Andrew Schally for peptide hormones; Rosalyn Yalow for radioimmunoassay.
– 1976: Baruch Blumberg, D. Carleton Gajdusek for infectious disease mechanisms.
– 1975: David Baltimore, Renato Dulbecco, Howard Temin for tumor viruses and genetics.
– 1974: Albert Claude, Christian de Duve, George Palade for cell structure and function.
– 1973: Karl von Frisch, Konrad Lorenz, Nikolaas Tinbergen for behavior research.
– 1972: Gerald Edelman, Rodney Porter for chemical structure of antibodies.
– 1971: Earl Sutherland for hormone action mechanisms.
– 1970: Bernard Katz, Ulf von Euler, Julius Axelrod for neurotransmitters.
– 1969: Max Delbrück, Alfred Hershey, Salvador Luria for viral genetics.
– 1968: Robert Holley, H. Gobind Khorana, Marshall Nirenberg for genetic code in protein synthesis.
– 1967: Ragnar Granit, Keffer Hartline, George Wald for visual processes.
– 1966: Peyton Rous for tumor-inducing viruses; Charles Huggins for hormonal treatment of prostate cancer.
– 1965: François Jacob, André Lwoff, Jacques Monod for genetic control of enzyme synthesis.
– 1964: Konrad Bloch, Feodor Lynen for cholesterol and fatty acid metabolism.
– 1963: John Eccles, Alan Hodgkin, Andrew Huxley for nerve excitation and inhibition.
– 1962: Francis Crick, James Watson, Maurice Wilkins for DNA structure and inheritance.
– 1961: Georg von Békésy for cochlear function.
– 1960: Frank Macfarlane Burnet, Peter Medawar for acquired immunological tolerance.
– 1959: Severo Ochoa, Arthur Kornberg for synthesis of RNA and DNA.
– 1958: George Beadle, Edward Tatum, Joshua Lederberg for genes and bacterial genetics.
– 1957: Daniel Bovet for synthetic compounds for the vascular system and muscles.
– 1956: André Cournand, Werner Forssmann, Dickinson Richards for heart catheterization.
– 1955: Hugo Theorell for oxidation enzymes.
– 1954: John Enders, Thomas Weller, Frederick Robbins for poliovirus growth in tissue culture.
– 1953: Hans Krebs for citric acid cycle; Fritz Lipmann for co-enzyme A.
– 1952: Selman Waksman for streptomycin.
– 1951: Max Theiler for yellow fever research.
– 1950: Edward Kendall, Tadeus Reichstein, Philip Hench for adrenal cortex hormones.
Rabindranath Tagore won the #NobelPrize in Literature on December 10, 1913. He was awarded for his iconic collection of poetry in #Gitanjali, that showcased his literary brilliance. Tagore was the first non-European to receive this honor in Literature.#RabindranathTagore… pic.x.com/aihyIjrR9K
— The Statesman (@TheStatesmanLtd) December 10, 2024
– 1949: Walter Hess for brain coordination; Egas Moniz for leucotomy for psychosis.
– 1948: Paul Müller for DDT as insecticide.
– 1947: Carl Cori, Gerty Cori, Bernardo Houssay for sugar metabolism.
– 1946: Hermann Muller for X-ray induced mutations.
– 1945: Alexander Fleming, Ernst Chain, Howard Florey for penicillin.
– 1944: Joseph Erlanger, Herbert Gasser for nerve fiber function.
– 1943: Henrik Dam for vitamin K; Edward Doisy for chemical nature of vitamin K.
– 1942 to 1940: No awards.
– 1939: Gerhard Domagk for antibacterial effects of prontosil.
– 1938: Corneille Heymans for regulation of respiration.
– 1937: Albert Szent-Györgyi for vitamin C and biological combustion.
– 1936: Henry Dale, Otto Loewi for chemical transmission of nerve impulses.
– 1935: Hans Spemann for embryonic organizer effect.
– 1934: George Whipple, George Minot, William Murphy for liver therapy for anemia.
– 1933: Thomas Morgan for role of chromosomes in heredity.
– 1932: Charles Sherrington, Edgar Adrian for neuron function.
– 1931: Otto Warburg for respiratory enzymes.
– 1930: Karl Landsteiner for human blood groups.
– 1929: Christiaan Eijkman, Frederick Hopkins for vitamins.
– 1928: Charles Nicolle for typhus.
– 1927: Julius Wagner-Jauregg for malaria therapy for dementia.
– 1926: Johannes Fibiger for Spiroptera carcinoma.
– 1925: No award.
– 1924: Willem Einthoven for electrocardiogram.
– 1923: Frederick Banting, John Macleod for insulin.
– 1922: Archibald Hill, Otto Meyerhof for muscle metabolism and heat production.
– 1921: No award.
– 1920: August Krogh for capillary motor regulation.
– 1919: Jules Bordet for immunity.
– 1918 to 1915: No awards.
– 1914: Robert Bárány for vestibular apparatus.
– 1913: Charles Richet for anaphylaxis.
– 1912: Alexis Carrel for vascular sutures and organ transplants.
– 1911: Allvar Gullstrand for optics of the eye.
– 1910: Albrecht Kossel for proteins and nucleic acids.
– 1909: Theodor Kocher for thyroid physiology and surgery.
– 1908: Ilya Mechnikov, Paul Ehrlich for immunity.
– 1907: Alphonse Laveran for protozoa in diseases.
– 1906: Camillo Golgi, Santiago Ramón y Cajal for nervous system structure.
– 1905: Robert Koch for tuberculosis.
– 1904: Ivan Pavlov for digestive physiology.
– 1903: Niels Finsen for light therapy for lupus vulgaris.
– 1902: Ronald Ross for malaria research.
– 1901: Emil von Behring for serum therapy for diphtheria.
With the 2025 Nobel Prize in Medicine being announced today, the story of this award grows even longer.
For over 100 years, the award has celebrated discoveries that changed the way we live. This ranges from fighting deadly diseases to understanding how our bodies truly work.