Year

Laureate

Country

Jacobus
1901

Henricus van

Netherlands

't Hoff

1902

1903

1904

Hermann Emil
Fischer

Svante August
Arrhenius

Sweden

"[for] his electrolytic theory of dissociation"[10]

United

Ramsay

Kingdom

Wilhelm Adolf
von Baeyer

dynamics and osmotic pressure in solutions"[8]

"[for] his work on sugar and purine syntheses"[9]

Sir William

Friedrich

"[for his] discovery of the laws of chemical

Germany

Johann
1905

Rationale

"[for his] discovery of the inert gaseous

elements in air, and his determination of their
place in the periodic system"[11]

"[for] the advancement of organic chemistry

Germany

and the chemical industry, through his work

onorganic dyes and hydroaromatic
compounds"[12]

Year

Laureate

Country

Rationale

"[for his] investigation and isolation of the

1906

Henri Moissan

France

element fluorine, and for [the] electric

furnace called after him"[13]

1907

Eduard
Buchner

Germany

United
1908

Ernest

Kingdom

Rutherford

New
Zealand

"for his biochemical researches and his

discovery of cell-free fermentation"[14]

"for his investigations into the disintegration of

the elements, and the chemistry of radioactive
substances"[15]

"[for] his work on catalysis and for his

1909

Wilhelm
Ostwald

Germany

investigations into the fundamental principles

governing chemical equilibria and rates of
reaction"[16]

"[for] his services to organic chemistry and the

1910

Otto Wallach

Germany

chemical industry by his pioneer work in the

field of alicyclic compounds"[17]

Year

Laureate

Maria
1911

SkodowskaCurie

Victor
Grignard

Country

Rationale

"[for] the discovery of the

Poland/Fran

elements radium and polonium, by the

ce

isolation of radium and the study of the nature

and compounds of this remarkable element"[18]

France

"for the discovery of the [...] Grignard

reagent"[19]

1912

"for his method of hydrogenating organic

Paul Sabatier

France

compounds in the presence of finely

disintegrated metals"[19]

"[for] his work on the linkage of atoms in

1913

Alfred Werner

Switzerland

molecules [...] especially in inorganic

chemistry"[20]

Theodore
1914

William
Richards

United
States

"[for] his accurate determinations of the atomic

weight of a large number of chemical
elements"[21]

Year

Laureate

Country

Richard
1915

Martin

Germany

Willsttter

Rationale

"for his researches on plant pigments,

especially chlorophyll"[22]

1916
Not awarded
1917

1918

Fritz Haber

Germany

1919

"for the synthesis of ammonia from its

elements"[23]

Not awarded

Walther
1920

Hermann

Germany

"[for] his work in thermochemistry"[24]

Nernst

"for his contributions to our knowledge of the

1921

Frederick

United

chemistry of radioactive substances, and his

Soddy

Kingdom

investigations into the origin and nature

of isotopes"[25]

Year

Laureate

Country

Rationale

"for his discovery, by means of his mass

1922

Francis

United

spectrograph, of isotopes, in a large number of

William Aston

Kingdom

non-radioactive elements, and for his

enunciation of the whole-number rule"[26]

1923

Fritz Pregl

1924

1925

1926

1927

"for his invention of the method of micro-

Austria

analysis of organic substances"[27]

Not awarded

Richard Adolf

Germany /

Zsigmondy

Hungary

The (Theodor)
Svedberg

Heinrich Otto
Wieland

Sweden

Germany

"for his demonstration of the heterogeneous

nature of colloid solutions and for the methods
he used"[28]

"for his work on disperse systems"[29]

"for his investigations of the constitution of

the bile acids and related substances"[30]

Year

Laureate

Country

Adolf Otto
1928

Reinhold

"[for] his research into the constitution of

Germany

Windaus

Arthur Harden

Rationale

the sterols and their connection with

the vitamins"[31]

United
Kingdom
"for their investigations on the fermentation of

1929

sugar and fermentative enzymes"[32]

Hans Karl
August Simon
von Euler-

Sweden

Chelpin

"for his researches into the constitution

1930

Hans Fischer

Germany

of haemin and chlorophyll and especially for

his synthesis of haemin"[33]

1931

Carl Bosch

Germany

"[for] their contributions to the invention and

development of chemical high pressure
methods"[34]

Year

Laureate

Friedrich
Bergius

1932

Country

Germany

Irving

United

"for his discoveries and investigations in

Langmuir

States

surface chemistry"[35]

1933

1934

Rationale

Not awarded

Harold

United

Clayton Urey

States

Frdric Joliot

France

"for his discovery of heavy hydrogen"[36]

"[for] their synthesis of new radioactive

1935

elements"[37]
Irne JoliotCurie

France

Year

Laureate

Country

Petrus (Peter)
1936

Josephus
Wilhelmus

"[for his work on] molecular structure through

Netherlands

Debye

Walter
Norman
Haworth

Rationale

his investigations on dipole moments and

thediffraction of X-rays and electrons in
gases"[38]

United

"for his investigations on carbohydrates

Kingdom

and vitamin C"[39]

1937

Paul Karrer

Switzerland

1938

Richard Kuhn

Germany

1939

Adolf Friedrich Germany

Johann
Butenandt

"for his investigations

on carotenoids, flavins and vitamins A and B2"

"for his work on carotenoids and vitamins"[40]

"for his work on sex hormones"[41]

Year

Laureate

Leopold
Ruzicka

Country

Switzerland

Rationale

"for his work on polymethylenes and

higher terpenes"[41]

1940

1941

Not awarded

1942

1943

1944

1945

George de
Hevesy

Otto Hahn

Artturi Ilmari
Virtanen

"for his work on the use of isotopes

Germany

as tracers in the study of chemical

processes"[42]

Germany

"for his discovery of the fission of heavy

nuclei"[43]

"for his research and inventions in agricultural

Finland

and nutrition chemistry, especially for

his fodder preservation method"[44]

Year

Laureate

James
Batcheller
Sumner

1946

Country

Rationale

United

"for his discovery that enzymes can be

States

crystallized"[45]

John Howard

United

Northrop

States

"for their preparation of enzymes and virus

proteins in a pure form"[45]
Wendell
Meredith
Stanley

1947

United
States

Sir Robert

United

Robinson

Kingdom

Kaurin
Tiselius

biological importance, especially the

alkaloids"[46]

"for his research on electrophoresis and

Arne Wilhelm
1948

"for his investigations on plant products of

Sweden

adsorption analysis, especially for his

discoveries concerning the complex nature of
the serum proteins"[47]

Year

Laureate

William
1949

Francis
Giauque

Country

Rationale

"for his contributions in the field of chemical

United

thermodynamics, particularly concerning the

States

behaviour of substances at extremely low

temperatures"[48]

Otto Paul

Federal

Hermann

Republic of

Diels

Germany
"for their discovery and development of

1950

the diene synthesis"[49]

Federal
Kurt Alder

Republic of
Germany

Edwin
Mattison
McMillan

United
States
"for their discoveries in the chemistry

1951

of transuranium elements"[50]
Glenn
Theodore
Seaborg

United
States

Year

Laureate

Country

Archer John

United

Porter Martin

Kingdom

Rationale

"for their invention of partition

1952

chromatography"[51]
Richard
Laurence

United

Millington

Kingdom

Synge

1953

Hermann
Staudinger

Federal
Republic of
Germany

"for his discoveries in the field

of macromolecular chemistry"[52]

"for his research into the nature of the

1954

Linus Carl

United

chemical bond and its application to the

Pauling

States

elucidation of the structure of complex

substances"[53]

1955

Vincent du

United

Vigneaud

States

"for his work on biochemically important

sulphur compounds, especially for the first
synthesis of a polypeptide hormone"[54]

Year

Laureate

Sir Cyril
Norman
Hinshelwood

Country

Rationale

United
Kingdom
"for their researches into the mechanism of

1956

chemical reactions"[55]
Nikolay
Nikolaevich

Soviet Union

Semenov

Lord
1957

United

"for his work on nucleotides and nucleotide co-

Kingdom

enzymes"[56]

Frederick

United

"for his work on the structure of proteins,

Sanger

Kingdom

especially that of insulin"[57]

Jaroslav

Czechoslova

"for his discovery and development of

Heyrovsk

kia

the polarographic methods of analysis"[58]

(Alexander R.)
Todd

1958

1959

Year

1960

1961

Laureate

Country

Willard Frank

United

Libby

States

Melvin Calvin

Max
Ferdinand
Perutz

"for his method to use carbon-14 for age

determination in archaeology, geology,
geophysics, and other branches of science"[59]

United

"for his research on the carbon dioxide

States

assimilation in plants"[60]

United
Kingdom
"for their studies of the structures of globular

1962

1963

Rationale

proteins"[61]
John Cowdery

United

Kendrew

Kingdom

Karl Ziegler

Federal

"for their discoveries in the field of the

Republic of

chemistry and technology of high polymers"[62]

Germany

Year

Laureate

Giulio Natta

Dorothy
1964

Crowfoot
Hodgkin

1965

1966

1967

Country

Rationale

Italy

United
Kingdom

"for her determinations by X-ray techniques of

the structures of important biochemical
substances"[63]

Robert Burns

United

"for his outstanding achievements in the art of

Woodward

States

organic synthesis"[64]

Robert S.

United

Mulliken

States

Manfred

Federal

"for their studies of extremely fast chemical

Eigen

Republic of

reactions, effected by disturbing the

Germany

equilibrium by means of very short pulses of

"for his fundamental work concerning chemical

bonds and the electronic structure of
molecules by the molecular orbital method"[65]

energy"[66]

Year

Laureate

Country

Rationale

Ronald
George

United

Wreyford

Kingdom

Norrish

George Porter

United
Kingdom

"for the discovery of the reciprocal

1968

Lars Onsager

United

relations bearing his name, which are

States

fundamental for the thermodynamics of

irreversible processes"[67]

Derek H. R.

United

Barton

Kingdom
"for their contributions to the development of

1969

the concept of conformation and its application

in chemistry"[68]
Odd Hassel

Norway

"for his discovery of sugar nucleotides and

1970

Luis F. Leloir

Argentina

their role in the biosynthesis of

carbohydrates"[69]

Year

1971

Laureate

Country

Gerhard

Canada/Ger

Herzberg

many

Rationale

"for his contributions to the knowledge of

electronic structure and geometry of
molecules, particularly free radicals"[70]

"for his work on ribonuclease, especially

Christian B.

United

concerning the connection between the amino

Anfinsen

States

acid sequence and the biologically active

conformation"[71]

1972

Stanford

United

Moore

States
"for their contribution to the understanding of
the connection between chemical structure
and catalytic activity of the active centre of
the ribonuclease molecule"[71]

William H.

United

Stein

States

Ernst Otto
Fischer

Federal
Republic of
Germany

"for their pioneering work, performed

independently, on the chemistry of

1973

the organometallic, so called sandwich

Geoffrey

United

Wilkinson

Kingdom

compounds"[72]

Year

1974

Laureate

Paul J. Flory

John Warcup
Cornforth

Country

United
States

Australia
United
Kingdom

Rationale

"for his fundamental work, both theoretical and

experimental, in the physical chemistry
ofmacromolecules"[73]

"for his work on the stereochemistry of

enzyme-catalyzed reactions"[74]

1975

1976

Vladimir

Yugoslavia/S "for his research into the stereochemistry of

Prelog

witzerland

William N.

United

Lipscomb

States

organic molecules and reactions"[74]

"for his studies on the structure

of boranes illuminating problems of chemical
bonding"[75]

"for his contributions to non-equilibrium

1977

Ilya Prigogine

Belgium

thermodynamics, particularly the theory

of dissipative structures"[76]

Year

1978

Laureate

Country

Peter D.

United

Mitchell

Kingdom

Herbert C.

United

Brown

States

Rationale

"for his contribution to the understanding of

biological energy transfer through the
formulation of the chemiosmotic theory"[77]

"for their development of the use of boron- and

phosphorus-containing compounds,

1979
Federal
Georg Wittig

Republic of

respectively, into important reagents in organic

synthesis"[78]

Germany

Paul Berg

1980

Walter Gilbert

United
States

"for his fundamental studies of the

biochemistry of nucleic acids, with particular
regard torecombinant-DNA"[79]

United
States
"for their contributions concerning
the determination of base sequences in nucleic
acids"[79]

Frederick

United

Sanger

Kingdom

Year

Laureate

Kenichi Fukui

Country

Rationale

Japan

"for their theories, developed independently,

1981
Roald

United

Hoffmann

States

concerning the course of chemical reactions"[80]

"for his development of crystallographic

1982

Aaron Klug

United

electron microscopy and his structural

Kingdom

elucidation of biologically important nucleic

acid-protein complexes"[81]

1983

1984

1985

Henry Taube

United
States

"for his work on the mechanisms of electron

transfer reactions, especially in metal
complexes"[82]

Robert Bruce

United

"for his development of methodology

Merrifield

States

for chemical synthesis on a solid matrix"[83]

Herbert A.

United

"for their outstanding achievements in

Hauptman

States

developing direct methods for the

determination of crystal structures"[84]

Year

Laureate

Jerome Karle

Country

Rationale

United
States

Dudley R.

United

Herschbach

States

"for their contributions concerning

1986
Yuan T. Lee

United

the dynamics of chemical elementary

States / Taiw

processes"[85]

an

1987

John C.

Canada /

Polanyi

Hungary

Donald J.

United

Cram

States

Jean-Marie
Lehn

"for their development and use of molecules

France

with structure-specific interactions of high

selectivity"[86]

Charles J.

United

Pedersen

States

Year

Laureate

Johann
Deisenhofer

1988

Robert Huber

Hartmut
Michel

Country

Rationale

Federal
Republic of
Germany

Federal

"for their determination of the three-

Republic of

dimensional structure of a photosynthetic

Germany

reaction centre"[87]

Federal
Republic of
Germany

Canada
Sidney Altman

United
States
"for their discovery of catalytic properties of

1989

RNA"[88]

Thomas Cech

1990

United
States

Elias James

United

"for his development of the theory and

Corey

States

methodology of organic synthesis"[89]

Year

1991

1992

Laureate

Richard R.
Ernst

Rudolph A.
Marcus

Country

Rationale

"for his contributions to the development of the

Switzerland

methodology of high resolution nuclear

magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy"[90]

United
States/Cana
da

"for his contributions to the theory of electron

transfer reactions in chemical systems"[91]

"for contributions to the developments of

Kary B. Mullis

United

methods within DNA-based chemistry [...] for

States

his invention of the polymerase chain

reaction (PCR) method"[92]

1993
"for contributions to the developments of
methods within DNA-based chemistry [...] for
Michael Smith

Canada

his fundamental contributions to the

establishment of oligonucleotide-based, sitedirected mutagenesis and its development for
protein studies"[92]

1994

George A.
Olah

United
States /
Hungary

"for his contribution to carbocation chemistry"[93]

Year

Laureate

Paul J.
Crutzen

Country

Rationale

Netherlands

"for their work in atmospheric chemistry,

1995

Mario J.
Molina

1996

Mexico

F. Sherwood

United

Rowland

States

Robert F. Curl

United

Jr.

States

Sir Harold W.

United

Kroto

Kingdom

Richard E.

United

Smalley

States

particularly concerning the formation

anddecomposition of ozone"[94]

"for their discovery of fullerenes"[95]

Year

Laureate

Paul D. Boyer

Country

Rationale

United
States

"for their elucidation of the enzymatic

mechanism underlying the synthesis of

1997

John E.

United

Walker

Kingdom

Jens C. Skou

Denmark

Walter Kohn

adenosine triphosphate (ATP)"[96]

"for the first discovery of an ion-transporting

enzyme, Na+, K+ -ATPase"[96]

United

"for his development of the density-functional

States

theory"[97]

United

"for his development of computational

Kingdom

methods in quantum chemistry"[97]

1998

John A. Pople

"for his studies of the transition states of

1999

Ahmed Zewail

Egypt

chemical reactions using femtosecond

spectroscopy"[98]

2000

Alan J.

United

"for their discovery and development

Heeger

States

of conductive polymers"[99]

Year

Laureate

Country

Rationale

United
Alan G.

States

MacDiarmid

New
Zealand

Hideki
Shirakawa

Japan

William S.

United

Knowles

States
"for their work on chirally catalysed
hydrogenation reactions"[100]

2001

Ryji Noyori

Japan

K. Barry

United

"for his work on chirally catalysed oxidation

Sharpless

States

reactions"[100]

2002
John B. Fenn

United
States

"for the development of methods for

identification and structure analyses of
biological macromolecules [...] for their
development of soft desorption ionisation
methods for mass spectrometric analyses of

Koichi Tanaka

Japan

biological macromolecules"[101]

Year

Laureate

Country

Rationale

"for the development of methods for

identification and structure analyses of
biological macromolecules [...] for his
Kurt Wthrich

Switzerland

development of nuclear magnetic resonance

spectroscopy for determining the threedimensional structure of biological
macromolecules in solution"[101]

Peter Agre

United
States

"for discoveries concerning channels in cell

membranes [...] for the discovery of water
channels"[102]

2003

Roderick

United

MacKinnon

States

2004

"for discoveries concerning channels in cell

membranes [...] for structural and
mechanisticstudies of ion channels"[102]

"for the discovery of ubiquitin-mediated protein

Aaron
Ciechanover

Avram
Hershko

Israel

Israel

degradation"[103]

Year

Laureate

Irwin Rose

Country

United
States

Yves Chauvin

France

Robert H.

United

Grubbs

States

2005

2006

2007

Rationale

"for the development of the metathesis method

in organic synthesis"[104]

Richard R.

United

Schrock

States

Roger D.

United

"for his studies of the molecular basis

Kornberg

States

of eukaryotic transcription"[105]

Gerhard Ertl

Germany

"for his studies of chemical processes on solid

surfaces"[106]

Year

Laureate

Osamu
Shimomura

2008

Martin Chalfie

Roger Y. Tsien

2009
Venkatraman
Ramakrishnan

Country

Rationale

Japan[107]

United

"for the discovery and development of

States

the green fluorescent protein, GFP"[108]

United
States

United

"for studies of the structure and function of

States

the ribosome"[109]

India
United
Kingdom

Thomas A.

United

Steitz

States

Year

2010

2011

Laureate

Country

Ada E. Yonath

Israel

Richard F.

United

Heck

States

Rationale

"for palladium-catalyzed cross couplings in

Ei-ichi Negishi

Japan

Akira Suzuki

Japan

Dan
Shechtman

Israel

organic synthesis"[110]

"for the discovery of quasicrystals"[111]

Year

Laureate

Country

Robert

United

Lefkowitz

States

2012

Rationale

"for studies of G-protein-coupled receptors"[112]

Brian Kobilka

United
States

United
Martin Karplus States
Austria

United
States
2013

Michael Levitt

United

"for the development of multiscale models for

Kingdom

complex chemical systems"[113]

Israel[114]

United
Arieh Warshel

States
Israel

2014

Eric Betzig

United

"for the development of super-resolved

States

fluorescence microscopy"[115]

Year

Laureate

Country

Stefan W. Hell

Germany

William E.

United

Moerner

States

Rationale