Nobel Laureates
An extraordinary number of Nobel Prizes and the Prize in Economic Sciences have been awarded to University of Chicago faculty members, students, or researchers at some point in their careers. Some of the Nobel winners whose work is closely associated with the University are Milton Friedman (Economic Sciences, 1976), Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (Physics, 1983), Saul Bellow (Literature, 1976), Charles Huggins (Physiology or Medicine, 1966), and Willard Libby (Chemistry, 1960). In addition, Alexei Abrikosov of Argonne National Laboratory (which has been operated by the University of Chicago for the U.S. Department of Energy since the laboratory was established in 1946) shared the 2003 Nobel Prize in Physics “for pioneering contributions to the theory of superconductors and superfluids.” The University of Chicago’s first Nobel Laureate was Albert A. Michelson. The first American to win the Nobel Prize in any of the sciences, Michelson was recognized in 1907 for his measurements of the speed of light. Robert A. Millikan (Physics, 1923) did both of his prize-winning experiments on campus in the Ryerson Laboratory.
Chemistry
- John Goodenough*, 2019
- Ada E. Yonath, 2009
- Irwin Rose*, 2004
- Richard E. Smalley, 1996
- Paul Crutzen, 1995
- F. Sherwood Rowland*, 1995
- Yuan T. Lee, 1986
- Henry Taube, 1983
- Herbert C. Brown*, 1979
- Ilya Prigogine, 1977
- William H. Stein, 1972
- Gerhard Herzberg, 1971
- Robert S. Mulliken*, 1966
- Karl Ziegler, 1963
- Willard Frank Libby, 1960
- Glenn Theodore Seaborg, 1951
- Harold Clayton Urey, 1934
Economic Sciences
- Michael Kremer‡, 2019
- Paul M. Romer*, 2018
- Richard Thaler‡, 2017
- Lars Peter Hansen‡, 2013
- Eugene F. Fama*‡, 2013
- Thomas J. Sargent, 2011
- Leonid Hurwicz, 2007
- Roger B. Myerson‡, 2007
- Edward C. Prescott, 2004
- Daniel L. McFadden, 2000
- James J. Heckman‡, 2000
- Robert A. Mundell, 1999
- Myron S. Scholes*, 1997
- Robert E. Lucas Jr.*‡, 1995
- Robert W. Fogel, 1993
- Gary S. Becker*, 1992
- Ronald H. Coase, 1991
- Harry M. Markowitz*, 1990
- Merton H. Miller, 1990
- Trygve Haavelmo, 1989
- James M. Buchanan Jr.*, 1986
- Gerard Debreu, 1983
- George J. Stigler*, 1982
- Lawrence R. Klein, 1980
- Theodore W. Schultz, 1979
- Herbert A. Simon*, 1978
- Milton Friedman*, 1976
- Tjalling C. Koopmans, 1975
- Friedrich August von Hayek, 1974
- Kenneth J. Arrow, 1972
- Paul A. Samuelson*, 1970
Literature
- John M. Coetzee, 2003
- Saul Bellow*, 1976
- Bertrand Russell, 1950
Peace
- Barack Obama, 2009
Physics
- Andrea Ghez*, 2020
- George E. Smith*, 2009
- Yoichiro Nambu, 2008
- Frank Wilczek*, 2004
- Alexei A. Abrikosov, 2003
- Masatoshi Koshiba, 2002
- Daniel C. Tsui*, 1998
- Jerome I. Friedman*, 1990
- Leon M. Lederman, 1988
- Jack Steinberger*, 1988
- Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, 1983
- James W. Cronin*, 1980
- J. Robert Schrieffer, 1972
- Murray Gell-Mann, 1969
- Luis W. Alvarez*, 1968
- Hans Albrecht Bethe, 1967
- Julian Schwinger, 1965
- Maria Goeppert-Mayer, 1963
- Eugene P. Wigner, 1963
- Owen Chamberlain*, 1959
- Tsung-Dao Lee*, 1957
- Chen Ning Yang*, 1957
- Ernest Orlando Lawrence*, 1939
- Enrico Fermi, 1938
- Clinton Joseph Davisson*, 1937
- Werner Heisenberg, 1932
- Arthur Holly Compton, 1927
- James Franck, 1925
- Robert Andrews Millikan*, 1923
- Albert Abraham Michelson, 1907
Physiology or Medicine
- Bruce A. Beutler*, 2011
- Roger W. Sperry*, 1981
- George Wald, 1967
- Charles Brenton Huggins, 1966
- Konrad Bloch, 1964
- Sir John Carew Eccles, 1963
- James Dewey Watson*, 1962
- George Wells Beadle, 1958
- Edward Lawrie Tatum*, 1958
- Hermann Joseph Muller, 1946
- Edward Adelbert Doisy, 1943
- Alexis Carrel, 1912
* University of Chicago alumnus
‡ Current member of faculty