Nobel Prize Award Winners | Books Tell You Why

Since 1901, the Nobel Prize has been honoring men and women from all corners of the globe for outstanding achievements in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and for work in peace. The foundations for the prize were laid in 1895 when Alfred Nobel wrote his last will, leaving much of his wealth to the establishment of the Nobel Prize.

In the month of September, the respective Nobel Committees send invitations to thousands of qualified individuals to submit names of candidates for the following year. Around 200-300 names are submitted since the same candidate can be nominated by several persons. The names of the nominees cannot be revealed until 50 years later.

1901 | 1902 | 1903 | 1904 | 1905 | 1906 | 1907 | 1908 | 1909 | 1910 | 1911 | 1912 | 1913 | 1914 | 1915 | 1916 | 1917 | 1918
1919 | 1920 | 1921 | 1922 | 1923 | 1924 | 1925 | 1926 | 1927 | 1928 | 1929 | 1930 | 1931 | 1932 | 1933 | 1934 | 1935 | 1936
1937 | 1938 | 1939 | 1940 | 1941 | 1942 | 1943 | 1944 | 1945 | 1946 | 1947 | 1948 | 1949 | 1950 | 1951 | 1952 | 1953 | 1954
1955 | 1956 | 1957 | 1958 | 1959 | 1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972
1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990
1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008
2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012

Year	Prize	Winner	Available Books
2012	Literature Available Books	Yan, Mo	click here
2011	Literature Available Books	Tomas Tranströmer	click here
2010	Literature Available Books	Mario Vargas Llosa	click here
2010	Medicine Available Books	Robert G. Edwards	click here
2009	Literature Available Books	Herta Müller	click here
2008	Economics Available Books	Paul Krugman	click here
2008	Literature Available Books	Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio	click here
2007	Literature Available Books	Doris Lessing	click here
2006	Literature Available Books	Orhan Pamuk	click here
2005	Literature Available Books	Harold Pinter	click here
2004	Literature Available Books	Elfriede Jelinek	n/a
2003	Literature Available Books	J.M. Coetzee	click here
2003	Peace Available Books	Shirin Ebadi	click here
2002	Literature Available Books	Imre Kertész	n/a
2002	Peace Available Books	Jimmy Carter	click here
2001	Literature Available Books	V.S. Naipaul	click here
2000	Literature Available Books	Gao Xingjian	click here
1999	Literature Available Books	Günter Grass	click here
1998	Economics Available Books	Amartya Sen	click here
1998	Literature Available Books	José Saramago	click here
1997	Literature Available Books	Dario Fo	n/a
1996	Literature Available Books	Wislawa Szymborska	n/a
1995	Literature Available Books	Seamus Heaney	n/a
1994	Literature Available Books	Kenzaburo Oe	n/a
1993	Literature Available Books	Toni Morrison	click here
1992	Literature Available Books	Derek Walcott	click here
1992	Peace Available Books	Rigoberta Menchú Tum	click here
1991	Literature Available Books	Nadine Gordimer	click here
1990	Literature Available Books	Octavio Paz	click here
1990	Peace Available Books	Mikhail Gorbachev	click here
1989	Literature Available Books	Camilo José Cela	n/a
1988	Literature Available Books	Naguib Mahfouz	click here
1987	Literature Available Books	Joseph Brodsky	click here
1986	Literature Available Books	Wole Soyinka	click here
1986	Peace Available Books	Elie Wiesel	click here
1985	Literature Available Books	Claude Simon	click here
1984	Literature Available Books	Jaroslav Seifert	n/a
1983	Literature Available Books	William Golding	click here
1983	Medicine Available Books	Barbara McClintock	click here
1982	Literature Available Books	Gabriel García Márquez	click here
1981	Literature Available Books	Elias Canetti	n/a
1980	Literature Available Books	Czeslaw Milosz	n/a
1979	Literature Available Books	Odysseus Elytis	n/a
1979	Peace Available Books	Mother Teresa	click here
1978	Economics Available Books	Herbert A. Simon	click here
1978	Literature Available Books	Isaac Bashevis Singer	click here
1977	Chemistry Available Books	Ilya Prigogine	click here
1977	Literature Available Books	Vicente Aleixandre	n/a
1976	Economics Available Books	Milton Friedman	click here
1976	Literature Available Books	Saul Bellow	click here
1975	Literature Available Books	Eugenio Montale	n/a
1975	Peace Available Books	Andrei Sakharov	click here
1974	Literature Available Books	Eyvind Johnson, Harry Martinson	n/a
1973	Literature Available Books	Patrick White	click here
1972	Literature Available Books	Heinrich Böll	click here
1971	Literature Available Books	Pablo Neruda	click here
1970	Literature Available Books	Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr Isayevich	click here
1969	Literature Available Books	Samuel Beckett	click here
1968	Literature Available Books	Yasunari Kawabata	n/a
1967	Literature Available Books	Miguel Angel Asturias	click here
1966	Literature Available Books	Samuel Agnon, Nelly Sachs	n/a
1965	Literature Available Books	Mikhail Sholokhov	n/a
1965	Medicine Available Books	Fran	click here
1964	Literature Available Books	Jean-Paul Sartre	click here
1964	Peace Available Books	Martin Luther King	click here
1963	Literature Available Books	Giorgos Seferis	n/a
1962	Literature Available Books	John Steinbeck	click here
1961	Literature Available Books	Ivo Andric	n/a
1961	Peace Available Books	Dag Hammarskjöld	click here
1960	Literature Available Books	Saint-John Perse	n/a
1959	Literature Available Books	Salvatore Quasimodo	n/a
1958	Literature Available Books	Boris Pasternak	click here
1957	Literature Available Books	Albert Camus	click here
1956	Literature Available Books	Juan Ramón Jiménez	n/a
1955	Literature Available Books	Halldór Laxness	n/a
1954	Literature Available Books	Ernest Hemingway	click here
1953	Literature Available Books	Winston Churchill	click here
1952	Literature Available Books	François Mauriac	click here
1952	Peace Available Books	Albert Schweitzer	click here
1951	Literature Available Books	Pär Lagerkvist	click here
1950	Literature Available Books	Bertrand Russell	click here
1949	Literature Available Books	William Faulkner	click here
1948	Literature Available Books	T.S. Eliot	click here
1947	Literature Available Books	André Gide	n/a
1946	Literature Available Books	Hermann Hesse	click here
1945	Literature Available Books	Gabriela Mistral	n/a
1944	Literature Available Books	Johannes V. Jensen	n/a
1943	Physics Available Books	Otto Stern	click here
1942	Medicine Available Books	[No award]	n/a
1941	Medicine Available Books	[No award]	n/a
1940	Medicine Available Books	[No award]	n/a
1939	Literature Available Books	Frans Eemil Sillanpää	n/a
1939	Physics Available Books	Ernest Lawrence	click here
1938	Literature Available Books	Pearl Buck	click here
1937	Literature Available Books	Roger Martin du Gard	n/a
1937	Peace Available Books	Robert Cecil	click here
1936	Literature Available Books	Eugene O'Neill	click here
1934	Literature Available Books	Luigi Pirandello	n/a
1933	Literature Available Books	Ivan Bunin	n/a
1932	Literature Available Books	John Galsworthy	click here
1931	Literature Available Books	Erik Axel Karlfeldt	n/a
1930	Chemistry Available Books	Hans Fischer	click here
1930	Literature Available Books	Sinclair Lewis	click here
1929	Literature Available Books	Thomas Mann	click here
1928	Literature Available Books	Sigrid Undset	click here
1927	Literature Available Books	Henri Bergson	n/a
1926	Literature Available Books	Grazia Deledda	click here
1925	Literature Available Books	George Bernard Shaw	click here
1925	Medicine Available Books	[No award]	n/a
1924	Literature Available Books	Wladyslaw Reymont	n/a
1923	Literature Available Books	William Butler Yeats	click here
1922	Literature Available Books	Jacinto Benavente	n/a
1922	Peace Available Books	Fridtjof Nansen	click here
1921	Literature Available Books	Anatole France	n/a
1921	Medicine Available Books	[No award]	n/a
1921	Physics Available Books	Albert Einstein	click here
1920	Literature Available Books	Knut Hamsun	click here
1919	Literature Available Books	Carl Spitteler	n/a
1919	Peace Available Books	Woodrow Wilson	click here
1918	Medicine Available Books	[No award]	n/a
1917	Literature Available Books	Karl Gjellerup, Henrik Pontoppidan	n/a
1917	Medicine Available Books	[No award]	n/a
1916	Literature Available Books	Verner von Heidenstam	n/a
1916	Medicine Available Books	[No award]	n/a
1915	Literature Available Books	Romain Rolland	n/a
1915	Medicine Available Books	[No award]	n/a
1913	Literature Available Books	Rabindranath Tagore	n/a
1912	Literature Available Books	Gerhart Hauptmann	click here
1911	Chemistry Available Books	Marie Curie	click here
1911	Literature Available Books	Maurice Maeterlinck	click here
1910	Literature Available Books	Paul Heyse	n/a
1909	Literature Available Books	Selma Lagerlöf	n/a
1908	Literature Available Books	Rudolf Eucken	n/a
1907	Literature Available Books	Rudyard Kipling	click here
1906	Literature Available Books	Giosuè Carducci	n/a
1906	Peace Available Books	Theodore Roosevelt	click here
1905	Literature Available Books	Henryk Sienkiewicz	click here
1904	Literature Available Books	Frédéric Mistral, José Echegaray	n/a
1903	Literature Available Books	Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson	n/a
1902	Literature Available Books	Theodor Mommsen	n/a
1901	Literature Available Books	Sully Prudhomme	n/a