Nobel Prize in Chemistry

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was established by the will of Swedish chemist and industrialist Alfred Nobel, signed on 27 November 1895, which dedicated the bulk of his fortune to fund five prizes, including one for chemistry.¹ The first prize was awarded in 1901 to Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff for his work on chemical dynamics and osmotic pressure.² The prize is awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which appoints a Nobel Committee for Chemistry to screen nominations and recommend laureates.³ The prize has been awarded annually, with a few interruptions during the World Wars, and has recognized breakthroughs ranging from the discovery of new elements to the development of revolutionary analytical techniques.

The selection process begins with nominations invited from qualified individuals, including previous laureates, professors at select universities, and members of academies worldwide.³ The Nobel Committee evaluates nominations and submits a proposal to the Academy, which makes the final decision by majority vote.³ The prize is awarded for a specific discovery or improvement, not for a lifetime of work, and the significance of the contribution is assessed for its impact on the field.⁴ The award can be shared among up to three individuals, reflecting the collaborative nature of modern chemistry.

Many laureates have transformed chemistry and related fields. Marie Curie, the first woman to win the prize (1911), discovered radium and polonium.⁵ Ernest Rutherford (1908) was honored for his investigations into the disintegration of elements and the chemistry of radioactive substances.² Linus Pauling (1954) received the prize for his research into the nature of the chemical bond, and later won the Nobel Peace Prize, making him the only person to win two unshared Nobel Prizes.⁶ More recent awards include the 2020 prize to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna for the development of CRISPR-Cas9 genetic scissors, a breakthrough with profound implications for chemistry and biology.⁷

Several lesser-known facts enrich the prize's history. The prize has been declined twice: Richard Kuhn (1938) and Adolf Butenandt (1939) were forced by the Nazi regime to refuse the prize, though they later received diplomas and medals.⁸ The youngest laureate is Frédéric Joliot-Curie, who was 35 when he won in 1935, while the oldest is John B. Goodenough, who was 97 in 2019.⁹ The prize has been awarded posthumously only once, to Erik Wallenberg in 1982, though he was not officially a laureate because he had died before the announcement; the statutes were later changed to prevent posthumous awards. Additionally, the prize has recognized work that was initially overlooked, such as the 2011 award to Dan Shechtman for quasicrystals, which was met with skepticism for decades.¹⁰

The prize has faced criticism for its occasional omissions, such as not recognizing the contributions of Rosalind Franklin to the discovery of DNA's structure, though that was in physiology or medicine. In chemistry, the 1918 prize to Fritz Haber for ammonia synthesis was controversial due to his role in chemical warfare during World War I.¹¹ The rule limiting the prize to three individuals has also been criticized for excluding deserving collaborators, as in the case of the 2017 prize for cryo-electron microscopy, which recognized only three of the many contributors.¹²

As of 2023, 115 prizes have been awarded, with 194 laureates.⁹ The average age of laureates at the time of award is about 58.⁹ The prize has been shared among three laureates 25 times, and among two laureates 25 times.⁹ The most common field within chemistry is biochemistry, followed by physical chemistry and organic chemistry. The United States has produced the most laureates, with over 70, reflecting its strong research infrastructure.⁹

Laureate

A recipient of a Nobel Prize.

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

The body that awards the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Nobel Committee for Chemistry

A group that evaluates nominations and recommends candidates.

CRISPR-Cas9

A gene-editing technology that won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.