List of Asian Nobel laureates

The Nobel Prize is an annual, international prize first awarded in 1901 for achievements in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace. An associated prize in Economics has been awarded since 1969.[1] Nobel Prizes have been awarded to over 800 individuals.[2]

Asians have been the recipients of all six award categories: Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, Peace, and Economics. The first Asian recipient, Rabindranath Tagore, was awarded the Literature Prize in 1913. In 1930, C. V. Raman became the first Asian recipient of a Nobel Prize in one of the sciences. The most Nobel Prizes awarded to Asians in a single year was in 2014, when five Asians became laureates. The most recent Asian laureates, South Korean writer Han Kang, Japanese organization Nihon Hidankyo, and Turkish-American economist Daron Acemoglu were awarded their prizes in 2024.

To date (2024), there have been Sixty-three Asian winners of the Nobel Prize, including thirty Japanese, twelve Israeli, nine Indian (not including non-Indian Laureates born in India) and eight Chinese (not including non-Chinese Laureates born in China). The list does not include Russians.

Physics

As of 2021, there are 21 Asians or Asian Americans who have won the Nobel Prize in Physics. Japanese comprise the majority, with 12 laureates.

Year Image Laureate Country at the time of the award Category Comment
1930 Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman British India Physics First Asian and Indian Nobel laureate in Science
1949 Hideki Yukawa Japan Physics First Japanese Nobel laureate
1957 Chen Ning Yang Taiwan Physics First Chinese Nobel laureate
1957 Tsung-Dao Lee Taiwan Physics First Chinese Nobel laureate
1965 Shin'ichiro Tomonaga Japan Physics
1973 Leo Esaki Japan Physics
1976 Samuel C. C. Ting United States Physics Dual-citizen of United States and Republic of China
1979 Abdus Salam Pakistan Physics First Pakistani Nobel laureate
1983 Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar United States Physics Born in India
1997 Steven Chu United States Physics Born in United States
1998 Daniel C. Tsui United States Physics Born in China
2002 Masatoshi Koshiba Japan Physics
2008 Yoichiro Nambu United States Physics Born in Japan
2008 Makoto Kobayashi Japan Physics
2008 Toshihide Maskawa Japan Physics
2009 Charles K. Kao United Kingdom and United States Physics First Hong Kong citizenship Nobel laureate
2014 Isamu Akasaki Japan Physics
2014 Hiroshi Amano Japan Physics
2014 Shuji Nakamura United States Physics Born in Japan
2015 Takaaki Kajita Japan Physics
2021 Syukuro Manabe United States Physics Born in Japan

Chemistry

As of 2024, there are 20 Asians or Asian Americans who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, with the Japanese comprising the most with 8 laureates.

Year Image Laureate Country at the time of the award Category Comment
1981 Kenichi Fukui Japan Chemistry First Asian and Japanese Nobel laureate in Chemistry
1986 Yuan T. Lee Taiwan and United States Chemistry First Taiwanese Nobel laureate
1987 Charles J. Pedersen United States Chemistry Japanese mother; born in Korea
2000 Hideki Shirakawa Japan Chemistry
2001 Ryōji Noyori Japan Chemistry
2002 Koichi Tanaka Japan Chemistry
2004 Aaron Ciechanover Israel Chemistry
2004 Avram Hershko Israel Chemistry
2008 Osamu Shimomura Japan Chemistry
2008 Roger Y. Tsien United States Chemistry Born in United States
2009 Venki Ramakrishnan United Kingdom and United States Chemistry Born in India
2009 Ada Yonath Israel Chemistry
2010 Ei-ichi Negishi Japan Chemistry
2010 Akira Suzuki Japan Chemistry
2011 Dan Shechtman Israel Chemistry
2013 Arieh Warshel Israel and United States Chemistry
2013 Michael Levitt Israel, United Kingdom and United States Chemistry
2015 Aziz Sancar Turkey and United States Chemistry First Turkish Nobel laureate in science
2019 Akira Yoshino Japan Chemistry
2024 Demis Hassabis United Kingdom Chemistry Singaporean mother

Physiology or Medicine

As of 2018, there are 7 Asians who won Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, with the Japanese comprising the most with 5 laureates.

Year Image Laureate Country at the time of the award Category Comment
1968 Har Gobind Khorana United States Physiology or Medicine First Asian and Indian Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine. Born in India
1987 Susumu Tonegawa Japan Physiology or Medicine First Japanese Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine
2012 Shinya Yamanaka Japan Physiology or Medicine First Nobel Medicine Laureate to achieve rewarded results in Asia
2015 Satoshi Ōmura Japan Physiology or Medicine
2015 Tu Youyou China Physiology or Medicine First Chinese woman Nobel laureate
2016 Yoshinori Ohsumi Japan Physiology or Medicine
2018 Tasuku Honjo Japan Physiology or Medicine

Literature

As of 2024, there are 9 Asians who won Nobel Prize in Literature, with the Japanese comprising the most with 3 laureates.

Year Image Laureate Country at the time of the award Category Comment
1913 Rabindranath Tagore British India Literature First Asian and Indian Nobel laureate
1968 Yasunari Kawabata Japan Literature
1994 Kenzaburō Ōe Japan Literature
2000 Gao Xingjian France Literature Born in China
2001 V. S. Naipaul United Kingdom Literature Indian origin. Born in Trinidad and Tobago.
2006 Orhan Pamuk Turkey Literature First Turkish Nobel laureate
2012 Mo Yan China Literature
2017 Kazuo Ishiguro United Kingdom Literature Born in Japan
2024 Han Kang South Korea Literature First Asian female Nobel laureate in Literature

Peace

As of 2024, there are 23 Asians who won Nobel Peace Prize, with the Israeli and Indian comprising the most with 3 laureates.

Year Image Laureate Country at the time of the award Category Comment
1973 Lê Đức Thọ
(declined award) 		North Vietnam Peace First Asian and Vietnamese Nobel laureate in Peace
1974 Eisaku Satō Japan Peace
1978 Menachem Begin Israel Peace
1979 Mother Teresa India Peace First Asian woman Nobel laureate
1989 Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama India, China and Tibet Peace First Tibetan Nobel laureate
1991 Aung San Suu Kyi Burma Peace First Myanmar Nobel laureate
1994 Yasser Arafat Palestine Peace First Palestinian Arab in Nobel laureate
1994 Shimon Peres Israel Peace
1994 Yitzhak Rabin Israel Peace
1996 Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo Timor-Leste Peace First Timorese Nobel laureate
1996 José Ramos-Horta Timor-Leste Peace First Timorese Nobel laureate
2000 Kim Dae-jung South Korea Peace First Korean Nobel laureate
2003 Shirin Ebadi Iran Peace First Iranian Nobel laureate
2006 Muhammad Yunus Bangladesh Peace First Bangladeshi Nobel laureate in Peace
2006 Grameen Bank Bangladesh Peace First Bangladeshi Nobel laureate in Peace and First Asian organization to receive the award
2010 Liu Xiaobo China Peace First Asian Nobel laureate in prison
2011 Tawakkul Karman Yemen Peace First Arab Woman and First Yemeni Nobel laureate
2014 Kailash Satyarthi India Peace
2014 Malala Yousafzai Pakistan Peace First Pakistani Woman Nobel laureate and youngest Nobel laureate
2018 Nadia Murad Iraq Peace First Iraqi Nobel laureate
2021 Maria Ressa Philippines Peace First Filipino Nobel laureate
2023 Narges Mohammadi Iran Peace Second Iranian Nobel laureate and awarded while in prison
2024 Nihon Hidankyo Japan Peace

Economics

As of 2024, five Asians have won the Nobel Prize in Economics.

Year Image Laureate Country at the time of the award Category Comment
1998 Amartya Sen India Economics First Asian and Indian Nobel laureate in Economics.
2002 Daniel Kahneman Israel and United States Economics
2005 Robert Aumann Israel and United States Economics
2019 Abhijit Banerjee United States Economics Born in India[3]
2024 Daron Acemoglu Turkey and United States Economics

Non-Asian born Laureates of Asian descent

Main article: List of Chinese Nobel laureates § Laureates of Han Chinese linkage

Non-Asian Laureates born in Asia

Main article: List of Chinese Nobel laureates § Non-Chinese Laureates born in China
Main article: List of Japanese Nobel laureates § Laureates with Japanese linkage
Main article: List of Indian Nobel laureates § Others

See also

References

  1. ^ "Nobel Prize" (2007), in Encyclopædia Britannica, accessed 14 November 2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online:

    An additional award, the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, was established in 1968 by the Bank of Sweden and was first awarded in 1969
  2. ^ "All Nobel Laureates". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 2010-03-01.
  3. ^ Hannon, Dominic Chopping and Paul. "Nobel Prize in Economics Awarded for Work Alleviating Poverty". WSJ. Retrieved 14 October 2019.
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