List of Jewish Nobel laureates
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File:PikiWiki Israel 9696 jewish laureates promenade in rishon lezion.jpg saluting Jewish Nobel laureates]]
Of the 965 individual recipients of the Nobel Prize and the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences between 1901 and 2023,[https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/lists/all/index.html All Nobel Prizes] at least 216 have been Jews or people with at least one Jewish parent, representing 22% of all recipients. Jews constitute only 0.2% of the world's population, meaning their share of winners is 110 times their proportion of the world's population.{{cite web |title=The Mystery of Jewish Nobel Prize Laureates |url=https://nobel.anumuseum.org.il/en/about/ |website=Jewish Nobel Prize Winners |publisher=ANU - Museum of the Jewish People |access-date=6 October 2023}}{{cite web |title=Jewish Nobel Prize Winners |url=https://www.jinfo.org/Nobel_Prizes.html |website=JINFO.ORG |access-date=4 October 2023 |quote=Cited by JTA}}
- {{cite news| url = http://www.thejc.com/news/world-news/112223/a-remarkable-week-jewish-nobel-prize-winners| title = A remarkable week for Jewish Nobelהש Prize winners| work = The Jewish Chronicle| date = October 10, 2013| quote = Jews have won more than 20 per cent of the 850-plus prizes awarded, despite making up just 0.2 per cent of world's population.}}
- {{cite web| url = https://www.ishitech.co.il/1204ar3.htm| title=One-of-five Nobel Prize Laureates are Jewish| publisher = Israel High-Tech & Investment Report| date = December 2004| access-date = 2010-02-15}}
- {{cite news| url = https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4291987,00.html| title = Jews make up less than 0.32% of mankind| newspaper = ynetnews| date = October 2012| last1 = Silverman| first1 = Anav}}
- {{cite news| url = https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/12/opinion/12brooks.html| title = The Tel Aviv Cluster| first = David| last = Brooks| author-link = David Brooks (journalist)| date = January 11, 2010| work = The New York Times| page = A23| quote = Jews are a famously accomplished group. They make up 0.2 percent of the world population, but 54 percent of the world chess champions, 27 percent of the Nobel physics laureates and 31 percent of the medicine laureates. Jews make up 2 percent of the U.S. population, but 21 percent of the Ivy League student bodies, 26 percent of the Kennedy Center honorees, 37 percent of the Academy Award-winning directors, 38 percent of those on a recent Business Week list of leading philanthropists, 51 percent of the Pulitzer Prize winners for nonfiction.}}
- {{cite web| url = http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/17015/edition_id/335/format/html/displaystory.html| title = As the Nobel Prize marks centennial, Jews constitute 1/5 of laureates| access-date = January 23, 2009| last = Dobbs| first = Stephen Mark| date = October 12, 2001| work = J. The Jewish News of Northern California| quote = Throughout the 20th century, Jews, more so than any other minority, ethnic or cultural group, have been recipients of the Nobel Prize – perhaps the most distinguished award for human endeavor in the six fields for which it is given. Remarkably, Jews constitute almost one-fifth of all Nobel laureates. This, in a world in which Jews number just a fraction of 1 percent of the population.}}
- {{cite book| title = Judaism for dummies|author=Ted Falcon |author2=David Blatner | chapter=28| year=2001| publisher = John Wiley & Sons| quote = Similarly, because Jews make up less than a quarter of one percent of the world's population, it's surprising that over 20 percent of Nobel prizes have been awarded to Jews or people of Jewish descent.}}
- {{cite book| title=The Central Liberal Truth: How Politics Can Change a Culture and Save It| author = Lawrence E. Harrison| page = 102| year = 2008| publisher = Oxford University Press| quote = That achievement is symbolized by the fact that 15 to 20 percent of Nobel Prizes have been won by Jews, who represent two tenths of one percent of the world's population.}}
- {{cite book| title = The History of the Jewish People: Ancient Israel to 1880s America|author=Jonathan B. Krasner |author2=Jonathan D. Sarna | page = 1| year = 2006| publisher = Behrman House, Inc.| quote = These accomplishments account for 20 percent of the Nobel Prizes awarded since 1901. What a feat for a people who make up only .2 percent of the world's population!}}
- {{cite web| title= Why have Jews won Nobel Prizes disproportionately? - Prof. Robert Aumann (Nobel Prize Economist)| website = YouTube | date = 2017-04-17 | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUGy8mm2KJs| access-date=2018-03-17}}
- {{cite web| last = Pontz| first = Zach| title = Richard Dawkins Perplexed by High Number of Jewish Nobel Prize Winners| website = Algemeiner.com| date = 2013-10-29| url=https://www.algemeiner.com/2013/10/29/richard-dawkins-perplexed-by-high-number-of-jewish-nobel-prize-winners/| access-date=2018-03-17}}
- [https://www.jweekly.com/2002/10/25/jews-rank-high-among-winners-of-nobel-but-why-not-israelis/ "Jews rank high among winners of Nobel, but why not Israelis"], J. The Jewish News of Northern California, October 25, 2002. "There are three central theories given for Jewish academic achievement, according to Shulamit Volkov, professor of history at Tel Aviv University and author of "The Magic Circle: Germans, Jews and Anti-Semites." The first theory says that Jews are cleverer than others, a theory dismissed by Volkov and other serious academics. The second theory, proposed first by an American sociologist in 1919, holds that because Jews were on the margins of society they were forced to excel. The third and more common explanation, says Volkov, states that generations of Jewish Orthodox learning later translated brilliantly into secular learning."
- Noah Efron, [https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-the-real-reason-jews-win-so-many-nobels-1.5276705 "The Real Reason Why Jews Win So Many Nobel Prizes"], Haaretz, October 21, 2013.
- Mark Mietkiewicz, [https://www.cjnews.com/living-jewish/nobel-prize-and-the-jews "Nobel Prize and the Jews"], Canadian Jewish News, December 10, 2018.
- Raphael Patai, The Jewish Mind, Wayne State University Press, 1996, pp. 339-371, 547-548.
Jews have been awarded all six of the Nobel Foundation's awards:
- Chemistry: 37 (19% of total)
- Economics: 38 (41% of total)
- Literature: 16 (13% of total)
- Peace: 9 (8% of total)
- Physics: 56 (25% of total)
- Physiology or Medicine: 60 (26% of total)
Adolf von Baeyer, recipient of the 1905 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, was Jewish on his mother's side and is considered the first Jewish awardee.{{cite book |last1=Pulzer |first1=Peter G. J. |title=Jews and the German State: The Political History of a Minority, 1848-1933 |date=1991 |publisher=Wayne State University Press |isbn=0814331300 |page=110 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T8tVo-xbKn8C&dq=Adolf+von+Baeyer+jewish&pg=PA110 |access-date=4 October 2023}}
Jewish laureates Elie Wiesel and Imre Kertész survived the extermination camps during the Holocaust.[https://www.today.com/popculture/winfrey-selects-wiesel-s-night-book-club-wbna10879079 "Winfrey selects Wiesel's 'Night' for book club"], Associated Press, January 16, 2006. François Englert survived by being hidden in orphanages and children's homes. Others, such as Hans Bethe, Walter Kohn, Otto Stern, Albert Einstein, Hans Krebs and Martin Karplus fled Nazi Germany to avoid persecution. Still others, including Rita Levi-Montalcini, Herbert Hauptman, Robert Furchgott, Arthur Kornberg, and Jerome Karle, experienced significant antisemitism in their careers.
Arthur Ashkin, a 96-year-old American Jew, was, at the time of his award, the oldest person to receive a Nobel Prize.Hilary Brueck, [https://www.businessinsider.com/oldest-nobel-prize-winner-arthur-ashkin-optical-tweezers-levitation-2019-1 "The world's oldest Nobel Prize winner, a 96-year-old physicist, says his new invention will give everyone in the world clean, cheap energy"], Business Insider, January 26, 2019.[https://www.apnews.com/016653d84a8146bba023060fb152e20e "The Latest: US scientist, 96, is oldest to win Nobel Prize"], Associated Press, October 2, 2018.
Chemistry
Physiology or Medicine
Physics
Literature
Economics
Peace
Forced to decline prize
Jewish laureates per country
Below is a chart of all Jewish Nobel laureates per country (updated to 2024 laureates). Some laureates are counted more than once if have multiple citizenship.
class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center; overflow:auto;border:2px solid; margin-left:0px; margin-right:auto;"
!Country !Number of Jewish Nobel laureates !Percent of laureates |
style="text-align:left;" |{{flag|United States}}
|136 |32.4% |
style="text-align:left;" |{{flag|Germany}}
|29 |25.2% |
style="text-align:left;" |{{flag|United Kingdom}}
|20 |14.1% |
style="text-align:left;" |{{flag|Russia}}/{{flag|USSR}}
|14 |46.7% |
style="text-align:left;" |{{flag|Israel}}
|13 |100% |
style="text-align:left;" |{{flag|Poland}}
|11 |57.9% |
style="text-align:left;" |{{flag|Austria}}
|10 |40.0% |
style="text-align:left;" |{{flag|France}}
|10 |13.3% |
style="text-align:left;" |{{flag|Hungary}}
|14 |60.0% |
style="text-align:left;" |{{flag|Canada}}
|6 |21.4% |
style="text-align:left;" |{{flag|Switzerland}}
|5 |20.0% |
style="text-align:left;" |{{flag|Ukraine}}
|5 |83.3% |
style="text-align:left;" |{{flag|South Africa}}
|4 |36.4% |
style="text-align:left;" |{{flag|Italy}}
|4 |19.0% |
style="text-align:left;" |{{flag|Denmark}}
|3 |21.4% |
style="text-align:left;" |{{flag|Belgium}}
|2 |18.2% |
style="text-align:left;" |{{flag|Lithuania}}
|1 |33.3% |
style="text-align:left;" |{{flag|Bulgaria}}
|1 |100% |
style="text-align:left;" |{{flag|Morocco}}
|1 |100% |
style="text-align:left;" |{{flag|Venezuela}}
|1 |100% |
style="text-align:left;" |{{flag|Luxemburg}}
|1 |50% |
style="text-align:left;" |{{flag|Algeria}}
|1 |50% |
style="text-align:left;" |{{flag|Belarus}}
|1 |16.7% |
style="text-align:left;" |{{flag|Romania}}
|1 |25.0% |
style="text-align:left;" |{{flag|Argentina}}
|1 |20.0% |
style="text-align:left;" |{{flag|Czechia}}
|1 |16.7% |
style="text-align:left;" |{{flag|Netherlands}}
|1 |4.5% |
style="text-align:left;" |{{flag|Sweden}}
|1 |2.9% |
Nobel Laureates Boulevard
File:PikiWiki Israel 9695 jewish laureates promenade in rishon lezion.jpg on Nobel Laureates Boulevard/Promenade in Rishon LeZion, Israel]]
The Israeli city of Rishon LeZion has an avenue dedicated to honoring all Jewish Nobel laureates. The street, called Tayelet Hatanei Pras Nobel (Nobel Laureates Boulevard/Promenade), has a monument with attached plaque for each Nobel laureate. The scientific adviser of the project was Prof. Israel Hanukoglu.[http://www.hwi.buffalo.edu/newsroom/Newsletter/spring_11.pdf "Nobel Prize Laureates Boulevard"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120104180530/http://www.hwi.buffalo.edu/newsroom/Newsletter/spring_11.pdf |date=2012-01-04 }}, Structures, Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute, Spring 2011, p. 4. "Dr. Hauptman interestingly is one of 160 Jewish Nobel Laureates... In honor of this distinction, there is a boulevard dedicated to Jewish Nobel Prize Laureates in a town called Kiryat Hatanei Pras Nobel (Nobel Prize Laureates' Town) outside of Tel Aviv, Israel. On this boulevard, a monument and plaque have been dedicated in Dr. Hauptman's honor."
See also
References
{{Reflist|2}}
{{reflist|group=Note}}
Further reading
- Charpa, Ulrich; Deichmann, Ute. (eds.) (2007). [https://books.google.com/books?id=00dDXnUck9QC&pg=PA23 Jews and Sciences in German Contexts: Case Studies From the 19th and 20th Centuries], Mohr Siebeck, pp. 23–25.
- Feldman, Burton (2001). [https://archive.org/details/nobelprizehistor00feld/page/407 The Nobel Prize: A History of Genius, Controversy, and Prestige], Arcade Publishing, pp. 407–10.
- Julius, Anthony (1995). [https://books.google.com/books?id=QSU4AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA266 T. S. Eliot, Anti-Semitism, and Literary Form], Cambridge University Press, p. 266.
- Lazarus, William P.; Sullivan, Mark. (2008). [https://books.google.com/books?id=oTtcFiGbW2kC&pg=PA45 Comparative Religion For Dummies], Wiley Publishing, p. 45.
- Levitan, Tina (1960). [https://books.google.com/books?id=OYMYAAAAIAAJ& The Laureates: Jewish Winners of the Nobel prize], Twayne Publishers (New York), 236 pages.
- Patai, Raphael (1996). [https://books.google.com/books?id=6jNniq7Ji7YC&pg=PA339 The Jewish Mind], Wayne State University Press, pp. 339–42.
- Rubinstein, W. D. (1982). [https://books.google.com/books?id=5dUOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA63 The Left, the Right and the Jews], Croom Helm, p. 63.
- Scharfstein, Sol (1999). [https://books.google.com/books?id=mE031Ysq03wC&pg=PA168 Understanding Jewish Holidays and Customs: Historical and Contemporary], KTAV Publishing House, p. 168.
- Weiss, Mosheh (2004). [https://books.google.com/books?id=oJOvpkHg7msC&pg=PA216 A Brief History of the Jewish People], Rowman & Littlefield, pp. 216–17.
- Zuckerman, Harriet (1996). [https://books.google.com/books?id=HAHCzJfmD5IC&pg=PA71 Scientific Elite: Nobel Laureates in the United States], Transaction Publishers, originally publishing in 1977, pp. 71–78.
External links
- [http://nobel.bh.org.il/en/ Nobel Luminaries Project] – The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBmglA-yCCk Video by the National Museum of American Jewish History with some Jewish Nobel laureates listed]
- [https://www.jinfo.org/Nobel_Prizes.html JINFO – Jewish Nobel Prize Winners]
{{Nobel Prizes}}