List of German Nobel laureates

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From the Nobel Prize's establishment in 1901 until 1956, Germany had the highest number of Nobel laureates in the world.[1] Today, Germany is the nation with the 3rd most Nobel Prize winners: 2nd most in the category of physics, 3rd most in chemistry[2] and physiology or medicine,[3] and 4th most in literature. Overall, there are 112 German Nobel Prize laureates.

Nobel Peace Prize

More information Year, Laureate ...
Year Laureate Born Died Citation Ref.
1926 Gustav Stresemann 10 May 1878
in Berlin, German Reich		 3 October 1929
in Berlin, German Reich		 "For their crucial role in bringing about the Locarno Treaty." [4]
1927 Ludwig Quidde 23 March 1858
in Bremen, Free City of Bremen		 4 March 1941
in Geneva, Swiss Confederation		 "For their contribution to the emergence in France and Germany of a public opinion which favours peaceful international cooperation." [5]
1935 Carl von Ossietzky 3 October 1889
in Hamburg, German Reich		 4 May 1938
in Berlin, German Reich		 "For his burning love for freedom of thought and expression and his valuable contribution to the cause of peace." [6]
1952 Albert Schweitzer 14 January 1875
in Kaisersberg, German Reich		 4 September 1965
in Lambaréné, Gabonese Republic		 "For his altruism, reverence for life, and tireless humanitarian work which has helped making the idea of brotherhood between men and nations a living one." [7]
1971 Willy Brandt 18 December 1913
in Lübeck, German Reich		 8 October 1992
in Unkel, Federal Republic of Germany		 "For paving the way for a meaningful dialogue between East and West." [8]
1973 Henry Kissinger 27 May 1923
in Fürth, German Reich		 29 November 2023
in Kent, Connecticut, USA		 "For jointly having negotiated a cease fire in Vietnam in 1973." [9]
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Nobel Prize in Literature

More information Year, Laureate ...
Year Laureate Born Died Citation Ref.
1902 Theodor Mommsen 30 November 1817
in Garding, Duchy of Schleswig		 1 November 1903
in Charlottenburg, German Reich		 "The greatest living master of the art of historical writing, with special reference to his monumental work, A history of Rome." [10]
1908 Rudolf Eucken 5 January 1846
in Aurich, Kingdom of Hanover		 14 September 1926
in Jena, German Reich		 "In recognition of his earnest search for truth, his penetrating power of thought, his wide range of vision, and the warmth and strength in presentation with which in his numerous works he has vindicated and developed an idealistic philosophy of life." [11]
1910 Paul Heyse 15 March 1830
in Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia		 2 April 1914
in Munich, German Reich		 "As a tribute to the consummate artistry, permeated with idealism, which he has demonstrated during his long productive career as a lyric poet, dramatist, novelist and writer of world-renowned short stories." [12]
1912 Gerhart Hauptmann 15 November 1862
in Bad Salzbrunn, Kingdom of Prussia		 6 June 1946
in Agnetendorf, Republic of Poland		 "Primarily in recognition of his fruitful, varied and outstanding production in the realm of dramatic art." [13]
1929 Thomas Mann 6 June 1875
in Lübeck, German Reich		 12 August 1955
in Zurich, Swiss Confederation		 "Principally for his great novel, Buddenbrooks, which has won steadily increased recognition as one of the classic works of contemporary literature." [14]
1946 Hermann Hesse 2 July 1877
in Calw, German Reich		 9 August 1962
in Montagnola, Swiss Confederation		 "For his inspired writings which, while growing in boldness and penetration, exemplify the classical humanitarian ideals and high qualities of style." [15]
1966 Nelly Sachs 10 December 1891
in Berlin, German Reich		 12 May 1970
in Stockholm, Kingdom of Sweden		 "For her outstanding lyrical and dramatic writing, which interprets Israel's destiny with touching strength." [16]
1972 Heinrich Böll 21 December 1917
in Cologne, German Reich		 16 July 1985
in Kreuzau, Federal Republic of Germany		 "For his writing which through its combination of a broad perspective on his time and a sensitive skill in characterization has contributed to a renewal of German literature." [17]
1999 Günter Grass 16 October 1927
in Danzig, Free City of Danzig		 13 April 2015
in Lübeck, Federal Republic of Germany		 "Whose frolicsome black fables portray the forgotten face of history." [18]
2009 Herta Müller 17 August 1953
in Nitzkydorf, Romanian People's Republic		 — "Who, with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, depicts the landscape of the dispossessed." [19]
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Nobel Prize in Chemistry

More information Year, Laureate ...
Year Laureate Born Died Citation Ref.
1902 Emil Fischer 9 October 1852
in Euskirchen, Kingdom of Prussia		 15 July 1919
in Berlin, German Reich		 "In recognition of the extraordinary services he has rendered by his work on sugar and purine syntheses." [20]
1905 Adolf von Baeyer 31 October 1835
in Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia		 20 August 1917
in Starnberg, German Reich		 "In recognition of his services in the advancement of organic chemistry and the chemical industry, through his work on organic dyes and hydroaromatic compounds." [21]
1907 Eduard Buchner 20 May 1860
in Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria		 13 August 1917
in Focșani, Kingdom of Romania		 "For his biochemical researches and his discovery of cell-free fermentation." [22]
1909 Wilhelm Ostwald 2 September 1853
in Riga, Russian Empire		 4 April 1932
in Leipzig, German Reich		 "In recognition of his work on catalysis and for his investigations into the fundamental principles governing chemical equilibria and rates of reaction." [23]
1910 Otto Wallach 27 March 1847
in Königsberg, Kingdom of Prussia		 26 February 1931
in Göttingen, German Reich		 "In recognition of his services to organic chemistry and the chemical industry by his pioneer work in the field of alicyclic compounds." [24]
1915 Richard Willstätter 13 August 1872
in Karlsruhe, German Reich		 3 August 1942
in Locarno, Swiss Confederation		 "For his researches on plant pigments, especially chlorophyll." [25]
1918 Fritz Haber 9 December 1868
in Breslau, Kingdom of Prussia		 29 January 1934
in Basel, Swiss Confederation		 "For the synthesis of ammonia from its elements." [26]
1920 Walther Nernst 25 June 1864
in Briesen, Kingdom of Prussia		 18 November 1941
in Zibelle, German Reich		 "In recognition of his work in thermochemistry." [27]
1927 Heinrich Wieland 4 June 1877
in Pforzheim, German Reich		 5 August 1957
in Munich, Federal Republic of Germany		 "For his investigations of the constitution of the bile acids and related substances." [28]
1928 Adolf Windaus 25 December 1876
in Berlin, German Reich		 9 June 1959
in Göttingen, Federal Republic of Germany		 "For the services rendered through his research into the constitution of the sterols and their connection with the vitamins." [29]
1929 Hans von Euler-Chelpin 15 February 1873
in Augsburg, German Reich		 6 November 1964
in Stockholm, Kingdom of Sweden		 "For their investigations on the fermentation of sugar and fermentative enzymes." [30]
1930 Hans Fischer 27 July 1881
in Höchst, German Reich		 31 March 1945
in Munich, Greater German Reich		 "For his researches into the constitution of haemin and chlorophyll and especially for his synthesis of haemin." [31]
1931 Friedrich Bergius 11 October 1884
in Breslau, German Reich		 30 March 1949
in Buenos Aires, Argentine Republic		 "In recognition of their contributions to the invention and development of chemical high pressure methods." [32]
1931 Carl Bosch 27 August 1874
in Cologne, German Reich		 26 April 1940
in Heidelberg, German Reich		 "In recognition of their contributions to the invention and development of chemical high pressure methods." [33]
1938 Richard Kuhn 3 December 1900
in Vienna, Austro-Hungarian Monarchy		 31 July 1967
in Heidelberg, Federal Republic of Germany		 "For his work on carotenoids and vitamins." [34]
1939 Adolf Butenandt 24 March 1903
in Lehe, German Reich		 18 January 1995
in Munich, Federal Republic of Germany		 "For his work on sex hormones." [35]
1944 Otto Hahn 8 March 1879
in Frankfurt, German Reich		 28 July 1968
in Göttingen, Federal Republic of Germany		 "For his discovery of the fission of heavy nuclei." [36]
1950 Kurt Alder 10 July 1902
in Königshütte, German Reich		 20 June 1958
in Cologne, Federal Republic of Germany		 "For their discovery and development of the diene synthesis." [37]
1950 Otto Diels 23 January 1876
in Hamburg, German Reich		 7 March 1954
in Kiel, Federal Republic of Germany		 "For their discovery and development of the diene synthesis." [38]
1953 Hermann Staudinger 23 March 1881
in Worms, German Reich		 8 September 1965
in Freiburg, Federal Republic of Germany		 "For his discoveries in the field of macromolecular chemistry." [39]
1963 Karl Ziegler 26 November 1898
in Helsa, German Reich		 12 August 1973
in Mülheim, Federal Republic of Germany		 "For their discoveries in the field of the chemistry and technology of high polymers." [40]
1967 Manfred Eigen 9 May 1927
in Bochum, German Reich		 6 February 2019
in Göttingen, Federal Republic of Germany		 "For their studies of extremely fast chemical reactions, effected [sic] by disturbing the equilibrium by means of very short pulses of energy." [41]
1971 Gerhard Herzberg 25 December 1904
in Hamburg, German Reich		 3 March 1999
in Ottawa, Canada		 "For his contributions to the knowledge of electronic structure and geometry of molecules, particularly free radicals." [42]
1973 Ernst Otto Fischer 10 November 1918
in Munich, German Reich		 23 July 2007
in Munich, Federal Republic of Germany		 "For their pioneering work, performed independently, on the chemistry of the organometallic, so called sandwich compounds." [43]
1979 Georg Wittig 16 June 1897
in Berlin, German Reich		 26 August 1987
in Heidelberg, Federal Republic of Germany		 "For their development of the use of boron- and phosphorus-containing compounds, respectively, into important reagents in organic synthesis." [44]
1988 Johann Deisenhofer 30 September 1943
in Zusamaltheim, Greater German Reich		 — "For the determination of the three-dimensional structure of a photosynthetic reaction centre." [45]
1988 Robert Huber 20 February 1937
in Munich, German Reich		 — "For the determination of the three-dimensional structure of a photosynthetic reaction centre." [46]
1988 Hartmut Michel 18 July 1948
in Ludwigsburg, Occupation of Germany		 — "For the determination of the three-dimensional structure of a photosynthetic reaction centre." [47]
2007 Gerhard Ertl 10 October 1936
in Bad Cannstatt, German Reich		 — For his studies of chemical processes on solid surfaces." [48]
2014 Stefan W. Hell 23 December 1962
in Arad, Romanian People's Republic		 — "For the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy." [49]
2017 Joachim Frank 12 September 1940
in Siegen, German Reich		 — "For developing cryo-electron microscopy for the high-resolution structure determination of biomolecules in solution." [50]
2021 Benjamin List 11 January 1968
in Frankfurt, Federal Republic of Germany		 — "For the development of asymmetric organocatalysis." [51]
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Nobel Prize in Physics

More information Year, Laureate ...
Year Laureate Born Died Citation Ref.
1901 Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen 27 March 1845
in Lennep, Kingdom of Prussia		 10 February 1923
in Munich, German Reich		 "In recognition of the extraordinary services he has rendered by the discovery of the remarkable rays subsequently named after him." [52]
1905 Philipp Lenard 7 June 1862
in Pozsony, Kingdom of Hungary		 20 May 1947
in Messelhausen, Occupation of Germany		 "For his work on cathode rays." [53]
1909 Ferdinand Braun 6 June 1850
in Fulda, Electorate of Hesse		 20 April 1918
in Brooklyn, USA		 "In recognition of their contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy." [54]
1911 Wilhelm Wien 13 January 1864
in Gaffken, Kingdom of Prussia		 30 August 1928
in Munich, German Reich		 "For his discoveries regarding the laws governing the radiation of heat." [55]
1914 Max von Laue 9 October 1879
in Pfaffendorf, German Reich		 23 April 1960
in West Berlin, Federal Republic of Germany		 "For his discovery of the diffraction of X-rays by crystals." [56]
1918 Max Planck 23 April 1858
in Kiel, Duchy of Holstein		 4 October 1947
in Göttingen, Occupation of Germany		 "In recognition of the services he rendered to the advancement of Physics by his discovery of energy quanta." [57]
1919 Johannes Stark 15 April 1874
in Schickenhof, German Reich		 21 June 1957
in Traunstein, Federal Republic of Germany		 "For his discovery of the Doppler effect in canal rays and the splitting of spectral lines in electric fields." [58]
1921 Albert Einstein 14 March 1879
in Ulm, German Reich		 18 April 1955
in Princeton, New Jersey, USA		 "For his services to Theoretical Physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect." [59]
1925 James Franck 26 August 1882
in Hamburg, German Reich		 21 May 1964
in Göttingen, Federal Republic of Germany		 "For their discovery of the laws governing the impact of an electron upon an atom." [60]
1925 Gustav Hertz 22 July 1887
in Hamburg, German Reich		 30 October 1975
in East Berlin, German Democratic Republic		 "For their discovery of the laws governing the impact of an electron upon an atom." [61]
1932 Werner Heisenberg 5 December 1901
in Würzburg, German Reich		 1 February 1976
in Munich, Federal Republic of Germany		 "For the creation of quantum mechanics, the application of which has, inter alia, led to the discovery of the allotropic forms of hydrogen." [62]
1943 Otto Stern 17 February 1888
in Sorau, German Reich		 17 August 1969
in Berkeley, California, USA		 "For his contribution to the development of the molecular ray method and his discovery of the magnetic moment of the proton." [63]
1954 Max Born 11 December 1882
in Breslau, German Reich		 5 January 1970
in Göttingen, Federal Republic of Germany		 "For his fundamental research in quantum mechanics, especially for his statistical interpretation of the wavefunction." [64]
1954 Walther Bothe 8 January 1891
in Oranienburg, German Reich		 8 February 1957
in Heidelberg, Federal Republic of Germany		 "For the coincidence method and his discoveries made therewith." [65]
1955 Polykarp Kusch 26 January 1911
in Blankenburg, German Reich		 20 March 1993
in Dallas, USA		 "For his precision determination of the magnetic moment of the electron." [66]
1961 Rudolf Mössbauer 31 January 1929
in Munich, German Reich		 14 September 2011 "For his researches concerning the resonance absorption of gamma radiation and his discovery in this connection of the effect which bears his name." [67]
1963 J. Hans D. Jensen 25 June 1907
in Hamburg, German Reich		 11 February 1973
in Heidelberg, Federal Republic of Germany		 "For their discoveries concerning nuclear shell structure." [68]
1963 Maria Goeppert Mayer 28 June 1906
in Kattowitz, German Reich		 20 February 1972
San Diego, USA		 "For their discoveries concerning nuclear shell structure." [69]
1966 Alfred Kastler 3 May 1902
in Gebweiler, German Reich		 7 January 1984
in Bandol, French Republic		 "For the discovery and development of optical methods for studying Hertzian resonances in atoms." [70]
1967 Hans Bethe 2 July 1906
in Strassburg, German Reich		 6 March 2005
in Ithaca, New York, USA		 "For his contributions to the theory of nuclear reactions, especially his discoveries concerning the energy production in stars." [71]
1978 Arno Penzias 26 April 1933
in Munich, German Reich		 22 January 2024
in San Francisco, California, USA		 "For their discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation." [72]
1985 Klaus von Klitzing 28 June 1943
in Schroda, Greater German Reich		 — "For the discovery of the quantized Hall effect." [73]
1986 Gerd Binnig 20 July 1947
in Frankfurt, Occupation of Germany		 — "For their design of the scanning tunneling microscope." [74]
1986 Ernst Ruska 25 December 1906
in Heidelberg, German Reich		 27 May 1988
in West Berlin, Federal Republic of Germany		 "For his fundamental work in electron optics, and for the design of the first electron microscope." [75]
1987 J. Georg Bednorz 16 May 1950
in Neuenkirchen, Federal Republic of Germany		 — "For their important break-through in the discovery of superconductivity in ceramic materials." [76]
1989 Hans G. Dehmelt 9 September 1922
in Görlitz, German Reich		 7 March 2017
in Seattle, USA		 "For the development of the ion trap technique." [77]
1989 Wolfgang Paul 10 August 1913
in Lorenzkirch, German Reich		 7 December 1993
in Bonn, Federal Republic of Germany		 "For the development of the ion trap technique." [78]
1998 Horst L. Störmer 6 April 1949
in Frankfurt, Occupation of Germany		 — "For their discovery of a new form of quantum fluid with fractionally charged excitations." [79]
2000 Herbert Kroemer 25 August 1928
in Weimar, German Reich		 8 March 2024 "For developing semiconductor heterostructures used in high-speed- and opto-electronics." [80]
2001 Wolfgang Ketterle 21 October 1957
in Heidelberg, Federal Republic of Germany		 — "For the achievement of Bose-Einstein condensation in dilute gases of alkali atoms, and for early fundamental studies of the properties of the condensates." [81]
2005 Theodor W. Hänsch 30 October 1941
in Heidelberg, German Reich		 — "For their contributions to the development of laser-based precision spectroscopy, including the optical frequency comb technique." [82]
2007 Peter Grünberg 18 May 1939
in Plzeň, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia		 9 April 2018
in Jülich, Federal Republic of Germany		 "For the discovery of Giant Magnetoresistance." [83]
2017 Rainer Weiss 29 September 1932
in Berlin, German Reich		 25 August 2025
in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA		 "For decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves." [84]
2020 Reinhard Genzel 24 March 1952
in Bad Homburg, Federal Republic of Germany		 — "For the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy." [85]
2021 Klaus Hasselmann 25 October 1931
in Hamburg, German Reich		 — "For the physical modelling of Earth’s climate, quantifying variability and reliably predicting global warming." [86]
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Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

More information Year, Laureate ...
Year Laureate Born Died Citation Ref.
1901 Emil von Behring 15 March 1854
in Hansdorf, Kingdom of Prussia		 31 March 1917
in Marburg, German Reich		 "For his work on serum therapy, especially its application against diphtheria, by which he has opened a new road in the domain of medical science and thereby placed in the hands of the physician a victorious weapon against illness and deaths." [87]
1905 Robert Koch 11 December 1843
in Clausthal, Kingdom of Hanover		 27 May 1910
in Baden-Baden, German Reich		 "For his investigations and discoveries in relation to tuberculosis." [88]
1908 Paul Ehrlich 14 March 1854
in Strehlen, Kingdom of Prussia		 20 August 1915
in Bad Homburg, German Reich		 "In recognition of their work on immunity." [89]
1910 Albrecht Kossel 16 September 1853
in Rostock, Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin		 5 July 1927
in Heidelberg, German Reich		 "In recognition of the contributions to our knowledge of cell chemistry made through his work on proteins, including the nucleic substances." [90]
1922 Otto Meyerhof 12 April 1884
in Hanover, German Reich		 6 October 1951
in Philadelphia, USA		 "For his discovery of the fixed relationship between the consumption of oxygen and the metabolism of lactic acid in the muscle." [91]
1931 Otto Warburg 8 October 1883
in Freiburg, German Reich		 1 August 1970
in West Berlin, Federal Republic of Germany		 "For his discovery of the nature and mode of action of the respiratory enzyme." [92]
1935 Hans Spemann 27 June 1869
in Stuttgart, Kingdom of Württemberg		 12 September 1941
in Freiburg, German Reich		 "For his discovery of the organizer effect in embryonic development." [93]
1936 Otto Loewi 3 June 1873
in Frankfurt, German Reich		 25 December 1961
in New York City, USA		 "For their discoveries relating to chemical transmission of nerve impulses." [94]
1939 Gerhard Domagk 30 October 1895
in Lagow, German Reich		 24 April 1964
in Burgberg, Federal Republic of Germany		 "For the discovery of the antibacterial effects of prontosil." [95]
1945 Ernst B. Chain 19 June 1906
in Berlin, German Reich		 12 August 1979
in Mulranny, Ireland		 "For the discovery of penicillin and its curative effect in various infectious diseases." [96]
1953 Hans Krebs 25 August 1900
in Hildesheim, German Reich		 22 November 1981
in Oxford, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland		 "For his discovery of the citric acid cycle." [97]
1953 Fritz Lipmann 12 June 1899
in Königsberg, German Reich		 24 July 1986
in Poughkeepsie, USA		 "For his discovery of co-enzyme A and its importance for intermediary metabolism." [98]
1964 Konrad Bloch 21 January 1912
in Neisse, German Reich		 15 October 2000
in Burlington, Massachusetts, USA		 "For their discoveries concerning the mechanism and regulation of the cholesterol and fatty acid metabolism." [99]
1964 Feodor Lynen 6 April 1911
in Munich, German Reich		 6 August 1979
in Munich, Federal Republic of Germany		 "For their discoveries concerning the mechanism and regulation of the cholesterol and fatty acid metabolism." [100]
1969 Max Delbrück 4 September 1906
in Berlin, German Reich		 9 March 1981
in Pasadena, California, USA		 "For their discoveries concerning the replication mechanism and the genetic structure of viruses." [101]
1970 Bernard Katz 26 March 1911
in Leipzig, German Reich		 20 April 2003
in London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland		 "For their discoveries concerning the humoral transmitters in the nerve terminals and the mechanism for their storage, release and inactivation." [102]
1973 Karl von Frisch 20 November 1886
in Vienna, Austro-Hungarian Monarchy		 12 June 1982
in Munich, Federal Republic of Germany		 "For their discoveries concerning organization and elicitation of individual and social behaviour patterns." [103]
1984 Georges J. F. Köhler 17 April 1946
in Munich, Occupation of Germany		 1 March 1995
in Freiburg, Federal Republic of Germany		 "For theories concerning the specificity in development and control of the immune system and the discovery of the principle for production of monoclonal antibodies." [104]
1991 Erwin Neher 20 March 1944
in Landsberg am Lech, Greater German Reich		 — "For their discoveries concerning the function of single ion channels in cells." [105]
1991 Bert Sakmann 12 June 1942
in Stuttgart, German Reich		 — "For their discoveries concerning the function of single ion channels in cells." [106]
1995 Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard 20 October 1942
in Magdeburg, German Reich		 — "For their discoveries concerning the genetic control of early embryonic development." [107]
1999 Günter Blobel 21 May 1936
in Waltersdorf, German Reich		 18 February 2018
in New York City, USA		 "For the discovery that proteins have intrinsic signals that govern their transport and localization in the cell." [108]
2008 Harald zur Hausen 11 March 1936
in Gelsenkirchen, German Reich		 28 May 2023
in Heidelberg, Federal Republic of Germany		 "For his discovery of human papilloma viruses causing cervical cancer." [109]
2013 Thomas C. Südhof 22 December 1955
in Göttingen, Federal Republic of Germany		 — "For their discoveries of machinery regulating vesicle traffic, a major transport system in our cells." [110]
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Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel

More information Year, Laureate ...
Year Laureate Born Died Citation Ref.
1994 Reinhard Selten 5 October 1930
in Breslau, German Reich		 23 August 2016
in Poznań, Republic of Poland		 "For their pioneering analysis of equilibria in the theory of non-cooperative games." [111]
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