The Women Who Have Won the Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prize has been awarded to over 930 recipients since its inception in 1901. However, only 58 of those awards have been granted to 57 women. Marie Curie is the only woman to ever receive this honor twice—once for physics in 1903 involving her work with radiation and again in 1911 for chemistry after discovering radium and polonium. She did not stop there, though. She also left a legacy as her daughter, Irene Joliot-Curie, won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1935 for contributions to new radioactive elemental synthesis.
Nobel Prizes are awarded across six categories: physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, peace, and economic sciences. Women have won awards for all of the categories over the years, with the most significant numbers in literature and peace. They were particularly influential women within their field and often contributed to other spheres of influence as well.
It is significant to note that there has been a significant change over the last 20 years regarding the number of women winning Nobel Prizes. There have been as many women who have won the prize from 2000-2020 as there have been in the first 100 years of the award’s existence!
The Youngest Woman to Have Won the Prize
The youngest person to ever win a Nobel Prize was Malala Yousafzai, who won the Nobel Peace Prize when she was just 17. While she faced extreme adversity in her home-country of Pakistan, such as Taliban assassination attempts in 2012 due to her BBC blog, Malala Yousafzai continued to fight for children’s educational rights and in particular, for young girls in poorer countries. Her contributions bring awareness, support, and resources to underprivileged children and provide access to education for all.
The Oldest Woman to Have Won the Prize
Doris Lessing won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2007, at the age of 88, making her the oldest woman ever to win it. She was awarded the prize for, as the Swedish Academy stated, “that epicist of the female experience, who with skepticism, fire, and visionary power has subjected a divided civilization to scrutiny.” Lessing’s wildly free and nomadic lifestyle allowed her to be creative and not only reinvent herself, but the world of literature as well. The award celebrated an incredible writer, storyteller, political activist, mother, and all-around influential woman.
Four Women Who Won the Prize in 2020
Only last year, in 2020, four influential women were awarded the Nobel Prize:
- Andrea Ghez for physics thanks to the discovery of a supermassive black hole located at the center of our galaxy;
- Jennifer A. Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier for chemistry thanks to their development of gene-editing tools (and the first women ever to win the award in chemistry without a male collaborator);
- Louise Gluck for literature thanks to her “unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal,” as stated by the Swedish Academy.
Each woman listed below has her own unique story. Some of them have had to face extreme racism and sexism from within their field of study. Others, like Malala Yousafzai, were also physically threatened and had to leave their homeland to continue their mission.
Women Nobel Prize Winners for Physics
- Andrea Ghez, 2020
- Donna Strickland, 2018
- Maria Goeppert Mayer, 1963
- Marie Curie, 1903
Women Nobel Prize Winners for Chemistry
- Emmanuelle Charpentier, 2020
- Jennifer A. Doudna, 2020
- Frances H. Arnold, 2018
- Ada E. Yonath, 2009
- Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin, 1964
- Irene Joliot-Curie, 1935
- Marie Curie, 1911
Women Nobel Prize Winners in Physiology or Medicine
- Tu Youyou, 2015
- May-Britt Moser, 2014
- Elizabeth H. Blackburn, 2009
- Carol W. Greider, 2009
- Francoise Barre-Sinoussi, 2008
- Linda B. Buck, 2004
- Christiane Nusslein-Volhard, 1995
- Gertrude B. Elion, 1988
- Rita Levi-Montalcini, 1986
- Barbara McClintock, 1983
- Rosalyn Yalow, 1977
- Gerty Theresa Cori, 1947
Women Nobel Prize Winners for Literature
- Louise Gluck, 2020
- Olga Tokarczuk, 2018
- Svetlana Alexievich, 2015
- Alice Munro, 2013
- Herta Muller, 2009
- Doris Lessing, 2007
- Elfriede Jelinek, 2004
- Wislawa Szymborska, 1996
- Toni Morrison, 1993
- Nadine Gordimer, 1991
- Nelly Sachs, 1966
- Gabriela Mistral, 1945
- Pearl Buck, 1938
- Sigrid Undset, 1928
- Grazia Deledda, 1926
- Selma Ottilia Lovisa Lagerlof, 1909
Women Nobel Peace Prize Winners for Peace
- Nadia Murad, 2018
- Malala Yousafzai, 2014
- Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, 2011
- Leymah Gbowee, 2011
- Tawakkol Karman, 2011
- Wangari Muta Maathai, 2004
- Shirin Ebadi, 2003
- Jody Williams, 1997
- Rigoberta Menchu Tum, 1992
- Aung San Suu Kyi, 1991
- Alva Myrdal, 1982
- Mother Teresa, 1979
- Betty Williams, 1976
- Mairead Corrigan, 1976
- Emily Greene Balch, 1946
- Jane Addams, 1931
- Baroness Bertha Sophie Felicita von Suttner, 1905
Women Winners of the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel
- Elinor Ostro, 2009
- Esther Duflo, 2019
