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Female Nobel Prize Laureates

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The Nobel Prize Internet Archive
Female Nobel Laureates

In 1903, only two years after the Nobel Foundation was established, a Nobel Prize was awarded to a woman, Marie Curie, for the first time. Women have been winning Nobel Prizes ever since, but in very small numbers compared to their male colleagues. It took 40 years from its inception for the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences to be awarded to a woman, Elinor Ostrom. This is despite the fact that one woman, Bertha von Suttner was influential in convincing Alfred Nobel to establish a Prize for Peace. Feel free to let your opinions be heard on how we can increase the role of women in the Arts & Sciences on our feeback page!. Best feedback will be posted.

Physics: (4/219 = 1.8% [CI: 0.5-4.6%] since 1901)
1903 Marie Sklodowska Curie
1963 Maria Goeppert Mayer
2018 Donna Strickland
2020 Andrea Ghez

Chemistry: (7/188 = 3.7% [CI: 1.5-7.5%] since 1901)
1911 Marie Sklodowska Curie
1935 Irene Joliot-Curie
1964 Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin
2009 Ada E. Yonath
2018 Frances H. Arnold
2020 Emmanuelle Charpentier
2020 Jennifer A. Doudna
2022 Carolyn R. Bertozzi

Physiology & Medicine: (12/224 = 5.4% [CI: 2.8-9.2%] since 1901)
1947 Gerty Radnitz Cori
1977 Rosalyn Sussman Yalow
1983 Barbara McClintock
1986 Rita Levi-Montalcini
1988 Gertrude Elion
1995 Christiane Nusslein-Volhard
2004 Linda B. Buck
2008 Francoise Barre-Sinoussi
2009 Elizabeth H. Blackburn
2009 Carol W. Greider
2014 May-Britt Moser
2015 Youyou Tu

Peace: (18/137 = 13.1% [CI: 8.0-20.0%] since 1901)
1905 Baroness Bertha von Suttner
1931 Jane Addams
1946 Emily Greene Balch
1976 Betty Williams
1976 Mairead Corrigan
1979 Mother Teresa
1982 Alva Myrdal
1991 Aung San Suu Kyi
1992 Rigoberta Menchu Tum
1997 Jody Williams
2003 Shirin Ebadi
2004 Wangari Maathai
2011 Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
2011 Leymah Gbowee
2011 Tawakkul Karman
2014 Malala Yousafzai
2018 Nadia Murad
2021 Maria Ressa

Literature: (16/118 = 13.6% [CI:8.0-21.1%] since 1901)
1909 Selma Ottilia Lovisa Lagerlof
1926 Grazia Deledda
1928 Sigrid Undset
1938 Pearl Buck
1945 Gabriela Mistral
1966 Nelly Sachs
1991 Nadine Gordimer
1993 Toni Morrison
1996 Wislawa Szymborska
2004 Elfriede Jelinek
2007 Doris Lessing
2009 Herta Müller
2013 Alice Munro
2015 Svetlana Alexievich
2018 Olga Tokarczuk
2020 Louise Glück
2022 Annie Ernaux

Economics: (2/86 = 2.3% [CI: 0.3-8.1%] since 1969)
2009 Elinor Ostrom
2019 Esther Duflo

For more information about female scientists in general and Nobel Prize-winning women in particular, we recommend the following books from our Book Stacks.

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General Overview

Nobel-Prize winning Researchers in Science Nobel-Prize worthy Researchers in Science A variety of organizations exist which serve to promote the role of women in science, technology, politics, and society. Below are links to some of the more prominent ones. If you would like to add your favorite women-advocacy organization to this list, please send us a note.

Women in Science:

Women in Technology:

Articles on Women and Science:


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