X-rays earned the very first Nobel Prize in physics for revealing hidden worlds

Marie Curie's research in radioactivity made her the first woman to win a Nobel Prize

Overcoming social and academic barriers, Curie's realization that radiation resulted from an intrinsic property of atoms reframed scientific understanding of the phenomenon. Her subsequent work in discovering two new elements—polonium and radium—earned her a second Nobel Prize.

Rosalind Franklin’s work led to Nobel Prize-winning discoveries in DNA and virology

Her X-ray diffraction imaging helped uncover the structure of DNA, which earned James Watson, Francis Crick, and Maurice Wilkins a Nobel Prize. The same techniques enabled virus imaging, contributing to Aaron Klug's Nobel Prize in chemistry.

X-ray diffraction reveals atomic structures by analyzing how crystals scatter X-rays

X-ray diffraction involves rotating a crystal in an X-ray beam while a detector captures the resulting diffraction patterns, which depend on the crystal’s internal structure. The mathematical principles behind the technique won the 1915 Nobel Prize and improved crystallography.

Astronauts have used a small portable device to take the first-ever X-rays in space, opening the door for new opportunities for aerospace medicine.

As of 2026, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, which advises the pope on scientific matters, has included 90 Nobel laureates among its members.

The discovery of nuclear fission was facilitated by the discovery of the neutron

The discovery of the neutron provided scientists with a particle that could penetrate the nucleus and advance atomic physics. Otto Hahn was the sole Nobel recipient for the discovery of fission, despite collaborating with Lise Meitner and Fritz Strassmann.

By measuring them in hot-air balloons during a partial solar eclipse and at night, Victor Hess discovered cosmic rays and concluded they came from beyond the solar system.

The discovery of neutron stars by Jocelyn Bell Burnell, who was not awarded the corresponding Nobel Prize

During her doctoral program in radio astronomy at Cambridge University, Bell Burnell's first two observations of a neutron star were initially dismissed as interference by Antony Hewish, her advisor. He and Martin Ryle, head of the research group, were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in physics, the first awarded for astronomical research.

Marie Curie's daughter Irene discovered artificial radioactivity

The discovery continued the family's Nobel legacy by winning the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1935 alongside her husband, Frederic Joliot. Their work laid the foundation for the use of radioisotopes in medicine, agriculture, and energy production.

The discovery of the neutron paved the way for nuclear weapons

In 1932, James Chadwick discovered the subatomic particle when trying to explain the radiation emitted by beryllium after it was bombarded with alpha particles. The radiation’s ability to eject protons from a target suggested a chargeless particle with slightly more mass than a proton.

Penicillin’s pioneers were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1945

Alexander Fleming, Howard Florey, and Ernst Chain received the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering and developing penicillin.

Before 1932, when particle accelerators were first used for nuclear research, scientists relied on naturally radioactive substances to advance their understanding of the atomic nucleus.

Marie Curie pioneered radioactivity research, for which she won two Nobel Prizes

Marie Curie and her husband isolated polonium and radium despite poor lab conditions and financial hardship. President Harding, on behalf of the women of America, presented her with one gram of radium in 1921 in recognition of her service to science.

The Nobel Prize remains science's top honor despite limits and inequities

Each October, a few scientists gain global fame when told they’ve won a Nobel Prize—a century-old award founded by Alfred Nobel to recognize major achievements. While the prizes boost attention and prestige for winners, they exclude many deserving scientists due to rigid rules.

Of the 736 Nobel Prizes in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, and economics awarded through 2023, more than 95% come from the same academic family, having been taught by a lineage of previous winners.

The 2018 Nobel Prize in physics was awarded for creating tweezers out of light

At 96, Arthur Ashkin became the oldest person to win a Nobel Prize in Physics for demonstrating how lasers can hold and measure objects, a technique that has since been used to explore microbiological environments. The award was also given to Gérard Mourou and Donna Strickland for developing a method of creating optical pulses.

During his 'miraculous year,' Einstein published four groundbreaking papers

The 1905 "annus mirabilis" papers explained the photoelectric effect, Brownian motion, the absolutism of the speed of light, and mass-energy equivalence, revolutionizing scientists' understandings of space, time, mass, and energy. For the discovery of the photoelectric effect, Einstein won the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics.

Radioactivity was accidentally discovered when uranium left marks on photographic plates

In 1896, Henri Becquerel had been exploring phosphorescence—the emission of light of one color after an object is exposed to another color. He expected these emissions to come from objects exposed to sunlight, but he observed emissions after an overcast day.

Ernest Rutherford's gold foil and nitrogen experiments revealed nuclear structure

Observing high-angle deflections when alpha particles were fired at gold foil led to an atomic model with a dense, positively charged nucleus. Firing those particles at nitrogen resulted in the emission of hydrogen nuclei—protons—leading to the discovery of the subatomic particle.

The 2011 Nobel Prize in physics was awarded for the discovery of dark energy

Through the use of standard candles—objects whose brightness is well-known—astronomers can determine distances by recognizing that the same phenomena will dim in predictable ways with increasing distance. By observing the same type of bright stellar explosion at various locations, Saul Perlmutter, Brian Schmidt, and Adam Riess identified that the universe's expansion was increasing.

The 2017 Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to LIGO's founders

Rainer Weiss, Kip Thorne, and Barry Barish won the award for their contributions to the detector a year after the discovery of gravitational waves was announced. Acknowledging the Nobel statutes limited the prize to no more than three people, Thorne stated, "our marvelous discovery is the work of more than a thousand."

Scientists can create movies of atomic and molecular phenomena using X-ray free-electron lasers, in which images are produced by matter being struck by high-intensity light created by accelerating electrons.

In an X-ray free-electron laser, electromagnetic fields are used to accelerate and move electrons in wiggling patterns, causing them to emit synchronized, high-energy X-rays. This resulting light beam can strike targets up to 120 times per second to create movies of changing molecular structures and phenomena.

X-ray data from Rosalind Franklin was key to discovering DNA’s double-helix structure

Although unpublished, the data reached James Watson and Francis Crick, who worked at another institution. Incorporating her data allowed them to validate their model of DNA, which they published without crediting her.

The Nobel Prizes honor global achievements in science, literature, and peace efforts

Established by Alfred Nobel’s will, the Nobel Prizes have been awarded since 1901 to individuals and organizations making major contributions to humanity. Although often grouped with the five original prizes, the economics award was added later by Sweden’s central bank in 1968 and isn't technically a Nobel Prize.

Light therapy was widely used as a medical treatment for various maladies in the early 1900s before it was replaced by antibiotics.

View the evolution of atomic models, with four successively overturned between 1900 and 1926

Originally thought to be indivisible spheres unique to each element, the discovery of the electron by J.J. Thomson revealed them to be made of smaller particles. Ernest Rutherford's gold foil experiment uncovered the existence of nuclei, which Niels Bohr suggested were surrounded by electrons in fixed orbits. By applying quantum mechanics, Erwin Schrödinger replaced orbits with probability clouds.

Marie Curie developed and trained women to operate mobile X-ray units in World War I

The “petites Curies” allowed medical professionals to identify the severity of wounds without transporting soldiers to medical facilities, expediting treatment and saving lives. The efforts of Curie and other women led to expansions in their rights after the war.

How scientists earned themselves a Nobel Prize by discovering what destroyed ozone

In 1974, chemists Mario Molina and F. Sherwood Rowland showed that chlorofluorocarbons—then used as aerosol propellants, refrigerants, and industrial solvents—rise into the stratosphere and, upon being struck by ultraviolet radiation, release chlorine atoms, which break apart ozone molecules. Their work earned them the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1995.

Despite the rules, a Nobel Prize in medicine has been awarded posthumously

Ralph Steinman, whose work revealed how dendritic cells activate immune responses, passed away just days before being named a Nobel laureate. Although Nobel Prizes cannot be awarded posthumously, the committee made an exception because they believed he was alive at the time of the decision.

Read more about the backstory on the 2025 Nobel Prize for immune system work

A trio of scientists won the Nobel in Physiology or Medicine that year, but they performed their award-worthy work beginning about two decades before winning the prize. This announcement includes details about the science and notes that the three scientists will equally share the 11 million Swedish kronor (almost $1.2M).

Synchrotron radiation has revealed the fur color of creatures millions of years old

When electrons are accelerated in the loop, they produce intense X-rays that can reveal properties of a sample struck by them, just as X-rays can be used to show bone structure in humans. Studying the reflected light from fossils can uncover the presence of known pigmentation compounds.

In 1880, Jacques and Pierre Curie discovered that electricity could be produced by striking certain materials—the piezoelectric effect—a phenomenon that is seen in barbecue lighters.

Pierre Curie's knowledge of electromagnetism helped decipher radioactivity

Alongside his brother, he studied electric fields in crystals and the magnetic properties of substances, which required the construction of delicate electrometers. He would use this apparatus with Marie Curie to measure radioactive emissions and the presence of undiscovered radioactive elements.

The woman erased from the DNA breakthrough

Rosalind Franklin captured “Photo 51,” the key to DNA’s double helix. Her data, shared without her knowledge, helped Watson and Crick win a Nobel. She never got the prize, but today, her role in unlocking life’s blueprint is finally recognized.

The disputed inventor of the radio

Guglielmo Marconi was awarded the 1909 Nobel Prize in physics for inventing the wireless telegraph, which used radio waves to transmit Morse code. Nikola Tesla, however, was experimenting with radio waves in the 1890s, though much of his work was destroyed in a 1895 fire.

Watch a crystal undergo X-ray diffraction to determine its internal geometry

In the early days of X-ray crystallography, getting photos of a single sample could take dozens of hours, followed by months of mathematical analysis. Today, automation and computer software can complete such tasks in a few hours.

The Curies developed a way to measure radioactivity in an old medical dissecting room

Despite lacking proper laboratory conditions, Marie and Pierre built an ionization chamber and a piezoelectric quartz electrometer to measure the amount of charged particles released by radiation, with a sensitivity of ten-trillionth of an ampere. Substances with different emission rates indicated different elements.

The first circular particle accelerator was narrower than the average cereal bowl

The 1939 Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to Ernest Lawrence for inventing the cyclotron. By comparison, the Large Hadron Collider is 5 miles in diameter and is the largest cryogenic system in the world, cooling its electromagnets to temperatures colder than those found in outer space.

Alfred Nobel invented dynamite and later used his fortune to fund peace prizes

Nobel stabilized dangerous nitroglycerin to create dynamite, revolutionizing construction and mining in the 19th century. Despite his success with explosives, he was deeply disturbed by their destructive potential and redirected his legacy toward rewarding human progress.

Explore the full list of Nobel Prize winners

Since 1901, about 1,000 individuals have been awarded Nobel Prizes. The Nobel Foundation provides biographies of every winner and concise descriptions of their accomplishments, as well as interviews and videos with more recent winners.

Robert Koch won the Nobel for his tuberculosis work, but he also pioneered cholera research

Koch was one of the first scientists to isolate the bacterium that causes cholera while investigating an outbreak in Egypt in 1883. He went on to advise about rules to control cholera outbreaks, which formed the basis of the disease control approaches and water hygiene techniques still used today.

Critics say Nobel Prizes need updating to reflect how science and society work today

The rules still favor individuals over teams and may reflect outdated views on who does science. In 2013, the Nobel Prize in physics went to two theorists, even though over 5,000 scientists helped confirm the Higgs boson.

How Nobel Prize-winning research unraveled why the immune system doesn't always attack itself

The 2025 Nobel Prize was awarded to scientists who discovered how immune system soldiers are typically stopped from attacking healthy tissue. The work furthered autoimmune understanding and cancer therapies.

A look at the giants of quantum mechanics

German physicist Max Planck publishes his groundbreaking study of the effect of radiation on a “blackbody” substance, and the quantum theory of modern physics

Photo 51's distinct 'X' pattern and spacing provided data to validate DNA's model

Rosalind Franklin and Raymond Gosling captured the photo after bombarding DNA fibers with X-rays and observing how the beams were deflected. The photo had a 62-hour exposure time and indicated a helical structure for DNA.

Why a Nobel Prize winner was awarded 30 years of free beer

Niels Bohr, the Danish physicist who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1922, moved into the Carlsberg Honorary Residence in 1932 and was entitled to free delivery of Carlsberg beer for as long as he lived there. He did so until he died in 1962.

Oxford scientists turned Fleming’s mold discovery into medicine

In 1939, a team at Oxford—including Howard Florey, Ernst Chain, and Norman Heatley—revived Fleming’s forgotten discovery. Using makeshift equipment like bedpans and milk churns, they purified enough penicillin to prove it could treat deadly infections.

Cathode rays are beams of electrons that emit light when hitting a fluorescent screen

When these beams are emitted into an evacuated tube containing charged plates or a nearby magnet, deflections are observed due to the electron charge. In 1897, J.J. Thomson's calculations of this deflection led to his discovery of the subatomic particle.

Photons are both particles of light and messengers of the electromagnetic force

Einstein's model of light as a wave and a massless particle of energy revolutionized physics, and scientists' application of the model led to groundbreaking technologies, including medical imaging and treatments, telecommunication signals, and probes of the quantum and cosmological realms.

The Curies were buried in lead-lined coffins to contain their radioactive bodies

Their discoveries of polonium and radium involved ongoing exposure to radioactive materials before shielding technology was developed. Their notebooks, furniture, and other belongings remain radioactive today, requiring researchers to sign a waiver and wear protective clothing to access.