American Nobel Prize Winners

American nobel prize winners

INTRODUCTION

The United States has won the most Nobel prizes. Most Nobel prizes are for high level scientific research and it's awarded by a western country so it's to be expected that by far the largest of the western developed countries, the USA, has the most Nobel prizes. This page looks at a more detailed breakdown of the characteristics of US Nobel prize winners.

Charts

1. Distribution By Award of US Born Nobel Prize Winners

2. US Born Nobel Prize Winners by Region of Birth and Award Category

3. States with Most Nobel Prize Winners

4. Cities with Most Nobel Prize Winners

Data Table

5. Award, City/Town, State and Region of Birth of US Born Nobel Prize Winners

Like other countries with a large number of Nobel prizes, the majority of American Nobel prize winners are for the science subjects. Notable American Nobel winning scientists include Richard Feynman for Physics, James Watson for Physiology and Medicine and Linus Pauling for Chemistry. The latter also won the Nobel peace prize. America has notably few Nobel prize winners for Literature. Only 3% of it's Nobel prizes have been for literature, mostly recently musician Bob Dylan for his musical lyrics. 7% have been for peace including Martin Luther King who won the award in 1964 for his work in the civil rights campaign and Teddy Roosevelt who was the first American to win a Nobel prize in any field. 17% have been for Economics including John Forbes Nash Jr whose work on Game Theory earned him the award in 1994.

Martin Luther King won the Nobel peace prize in 1964 for his work in the civil rights movement.

The Northeast has produced by far the largest number of Nobel prize winners compared to other regions. The Northeast is the location of America's 8 prestigious Ivy League Universities including Harvard. As such, it's unsurprising that it's most successful scientific minds come from this region. The south, the poorest and least developed region of the USA, has the fewest. The western region has the same number as the south although it has been less populated than other regions for much of the 20th century. A substantial proportion of American Nobel prize winners come from Jewish backgrounds, being primarily from the Northeast especially New York.

Linus Pauling is the only person to have been awarded two unshared Nobel prizes, for chemistry in 1954 and for peace in 1962.

New York is by far the most successful state in producing Nobel prize winners with nearly 3 times the number of the 2nd state. A large proportion of Jewish and born in New York City. Massachusetts, a relatively small state, notable has 22 Nobel Prize winners born in the state. The largest state in America, California, is in 4th with 17. California had quite a small population at the beginning of the 20th century which explains is relatively low place relative to current population size. The state is home to many of America's top Universities such as Stanford and Caltech.

Bob Dylan, from New York City, won the Nobel prize for literature.

Among cities, New York City has by far been the most frequent birthplace of American born Nobel prize winners. Even after adjusting for population, it's still the most successful of the major US cities in this regard. As mentioned above, a big part of the reason for this is the large Jewish community in New York City.

Theodore Roosevelt, the first American Nobel prize winner and President of the United States, was born in Manhattan in New York City.

DATA TABLE

5. Award, City/Town, State and Region of Birth of US Born Nobel Prize Winners

Name	Award	Year	City/town of birth	State of birth
Theodore Roosevelt	Peace	1906	New York City	New York
Elihu Root	Peace	1912	Clinton	New York
Theodore W. Richards	Chemistry	1914	Germantown	Pennsylvania
Woodrow Wilson	Peace	1919	Staunton	Virginia
Robert A. Millikan	Physics	1923	Morrison	Illinois
Charles G. Dawes	Peace	1925	Marietta	Ohio
Arthur H. Compton	Physics	1927	Wooster	Ohio
Frank B. Kellogg	Peace	1929	Potsdam	New York
Sinclair Lewis	Literature	1930	Sauk Centre	Minnesota
Jane Addams	Peace	1931	Cedarville	Illinois
Nicholas M. Butler	Peace	1931	Elizabeth	New Jersey
Irving Langmuir	Chemistry	1932	New York City	New York
Thomas H. Morgan	Physiology or Medicine	1933	Lexington	Kentucky
Harold C. Urey	Chemistry	1934	Walkerton	Indiana
William P. Murphy	Physiology or Medicine	1934	Stoughton	Wisconsin
George R. Minot	Physiology or Medicine	1934	Boston	Massachusetts
George H. Whipple	Physiology or Medicine	1934	Ashland	New Hampshire
Eugene O'Neill	Literature	1936	New York City	New York
Carl Anderson	Physics	1936	New York City	New York
Clinton Davisson	Physics	1937	Bloomington	Illinois
Pearl S. Buck	Literature	1938	Hillsboro	West Virginia
Ernest Lawrence	Physics	1939	Canton	South Dakota
Edward A. Doisy	Physiology or Medicine	1943	Hume	Illinois
Herbert S. Gasser	Physiology or Medicine	1944	Platteville	Wisconsin
Joseph Erlanger	Physiology or Medicine	1944	San Francisco	California
Cordell Hull	Peace	1945	Olympus	Tennessee
Wendell M. Stanley	Chemistry	1946	Ridgeville	Indiana
James B. Sumner	Chemistry	1946	Canton	Massachusetts
John H. Northrop	Chemistry	1946	Yonkers	New York
Emily G. Balch	Peace	1946	Boston	Massachusetts
Percy W. Bridgman	Physics	1946	Cambridge	Massachusetts
Hermann J. Muller	Physiology or Medicine	1946	New York City	New York
John R. Mott	Peace	1946	null	null
American Friends Service Committee (The Quakers)	Peace	1947	null	null
T. S. Eliot*	Literature	1948	St Louis	Missouri
William Faulkner	Literature	1949	New Albany	Mississippi
Ralph J. Bunche	Peace	1950	Detroit	Michigan
Philip S. Hench	Physiology or Medicine	1950	Pittsburgh	Pennsylvania
Edward C. Kendall	Physiology or Medicine	1950	South Norwalk	Connecticut
Glenn Theodore Seaborg	Chemistry	1951	Ishpeming	Michigan
Edwin M. McMillan	Chemistry	1951	Redondo Beach	California
E. M. Purcell	Physics	1952	Taylorville	Illinois
George C. Marshall	Peace	1953	Uniontown	Pennsylvania
Ernest Hemingway	Literature	1954	Oak Park	Illinois
Thomas H. Weller	Physiology or Medicine	1954	Ann Arbor	Michigan
John F. Enders	Physiology or Medicine	1954	West Hartford	Connecticut
Frederick C. Robbins	Physiology or Medicine	1954	Auburn	Alabama
Linus C. Pauling	Chemistry	1954	Portland	Oregon
Vincent du Vigneaud	Chemistry	1955	Chicago	Illinois
Willis E. Lamb	Physics	1955	Los Angeles	California
John Bardeen	Physics	1956	Madison	Wisconsin
Dickinson W. Richards	Physiology or Medicine	1956	Orange	New Jersey
William B. Shockley	Physics	1956	null	null
George Beadle	Physiology or Medicine	1958	Wahoo	Nebraska
Joshua Lederberg	Physiology or Medicine	1958	Montclair	New Jersey
Edward Tatum	Physiology or Medicine	1958	Boulder	Colorado
Arthur Kornberg	Physiology or Medicine	1959	New York City	New York
Owen Chamberlain	Physics	1959	San Francisco	California
Donald A. Glaser	Physics	1960	Cleveland	Ohio
Willard F. Libby	Chemistry	1960	Grand Valley	Colorado
Melvin Calvin	Chemistry	1961	St Paul	Minnesota
Robert Hofstadter	Physics	1961	Stanford	California
James D. Watson	Physiology or Medicine	1962	Chicago	Illinois
John Steinbeck	Literature	1962	Salinas	California
Linus C. Pauling	Peace	1962	Portland	Oregon
Martin Luther King Jr.	Peace	1964	Atlanta	Georgia
Charles H. Townes	Physics	1964	Greenville	South Carolina
Robert B. Woodward	Chemistry	1965	Boston	Massachusetts
Richard P. Feynman	Physics	1965	New York City	New York
Julian Schwinger	Physics	1965	New York City	New York
Robert S. Mulliken	Chemistry	1966	Newburyport	Massachusetts
Francis Peyton Rous	Physiology or Medicine	1966	Baltimore	Maryland
Haldan Keffer Hartline	Physiology or Medicine	1967	Bloomsburg	Pennsylvania
George Wald	Physiology or Medicine	1967	New York City	New York
Robert W. Holley	Physiology or Medicine	1968	Urbana	Illinois
Marshall Warren Nirenberg	Physiology or Medicine	1968	New York City	New York
Luis Alvarez	Physics	1968	San Francisco	California
Alfred Hershey	Physiology or Medicine	1969	Owosso	Michigan
Murray Gell-Mann	Physics	1969	New York City	New York
Paul A. Samuelson	Economics	1970	Gary	Indiana
Norman Borlaug	Peace	1970	Cresco	Iowa
Julius Axelrod	Physiology or Medicine	1970	New York City	New York
Earl W. Sutherland Jr.	Physiology or Medicine	1971	Burlingame	Kansas
Stanford Moore	Chemistry	1972	Chicago	Illinois
John Bardeen	Physics	1972	Madison	Wisconsin
Robert Schrieffer	Physics	1972	Oak Park	Illinois
Christian Anfinsen	Chemistry	1972	Monessen	Pennsylvania
William H. Stein	Chemistry	1972	New York City	New York
Kenneth J. Arrow	Economics	1972	New York City	New York
Leon N. Cooper	Physics	1972	New York City	New York
Gerald Edelman	Physiology or Medicine	1972	New York City	New York
Paul J. Flory	Chemistry	1974	Sterling	Illinois
Ben Roy Mottelson*	Physics	1975	Chicago	Illinois
James Rainwater	Physics	1975	Council	Idaho
David Baltimore	Physiology or Medicine	1975	New York City	New York
Howard Martin Temin	Physiology or Medicine	1975	Philadelphia	Pennsylvania
William Lipscomb	Chemistry	1976	Cleveland	Ohio
Samuel C. C. Ting	Physics	1976	Ann Arbor	Michigan
Milton Friedman	Economics	1976	New York City	New York
Burton Richter	Physics	1976	New York City	New York
Baruch S. Blumberg	Physiology or Medicine	1976	New York City	New York
Daniel Carleton Gajdusek	Physiology or Medicine	1976	Yonkers	New York
Philip Anderson	Physics	1977	Indianapolis	Indiana
John H. van Vleck	Physics	1977	Middletown	Connecticut
Rosalyn Yalow	Physiology or Medicine	1977	New York City	New York
Herbert A. Simon	Economics	1978	Milwaukee	Wisconsin
Hamilton O. Smith	Physiology or Medicine	1978	New York City	New York
Robert Woodrow Wilson	Physics	1978	Houston	Texas
Daniel Nathans	Physiology or Medicine	1978	Wilmington	Delaware
Theodore Schultz	Economics	1979	Arlington	South Dakota
Steven Weinberg	Physics	1979	New York City	New York
Sheldon Glashow	Physics	1979	New York City	New York
Lawrence R. Klein	Economics	1980	Omaha	Nebraska
James Cronin	Physics	1980	Chicago	Illinois
Val Fitch	Physics	1980	Merriman	Nebraska
Walter Gilbert	Chemistry	1980	Boston	Massachusetts
Paul Berg	Chemistry	1980	New York City	New York
George D. Snell	Physiology or Medicine	1980	Bradford	Massachusetts
James Tobin	Economics	1981	Champaign	Illinois
Arthur L. Schawlow	Physics	1981	Mount Vernon	New York
Roger W. Sperry	Physiology or Medicine	1981	Hartford	Connecticut
Kenneth G. Wilson	Physics	1982	Waltham	Massachusetts
George J. Stigler	Economics	1982	Seattle	Washington
William A. Fowler	Physics	1983	Pittsburgh	Pennsylvania
Barbara McClintock	Physiology or Medicine	1983	Hartford	Connecticut
Bruce Merrifield	Chemistry	1984	Forth Worth	Texas
Jerome Karle	Chemistry	1985	New York City	New York
Herbert A. Hauptman	Chemistry	1985	New York City	New York
Michael S. Brown	Physiology or Medicine	1985	New York City	New York
Joseph L. Goldstein	Physiology or Medicine	1985	Kingstree	South Carolina
Stanley Cohen	Physiology or Medicine	1986	New York City	New York
James M. Buchanan	Economics	1986	Murrfreesboro	Tennessee
Dudley R. Herschbach	Chemistry	1986	San Jose	California
Donald J. Cram	Chemistry	1987	Chester	Vermont
Robert M. Solow	Economics	1987	New York City	New York
Leon M. Lederman	Physics	1988	New York City	New York
Melvin Schwartz	Physics	1988	New York City	New York
Gertrude B. Elion	Physiology or Medicine	1988	New York City	New York
George H. Hitchings	Physiology or Medicine	1988	Hoquiam	Washington
Thomas R. Cech	Chemistry	1989	Chicago	Illinois
J. Michael Bishop	Physiology or Medicine	1989	York	Pennsylvania
Harold E. Varmus	Physiology or Medicine	1989	Oceanside	New York
Norman F. Ramsey	Physics	1989	Washington	DC
Harry M. Markowitz	Economics	1990	Chicago	Illinois
Jerome I. Friedman	Physics	1990	Chicago	Illinois
Elias James Corey	Chemistry	1990	Methuen	Massachusetts
Merton H. Miller	Economics	1990	Boston	Massachusetts
William F. Sharpe	Economics	1990	Boston	Massachusetts
Henry W. Kendall	Physics	1990	Boston	Massachusetts
Joseph E. Murray	Physiology or Medicine	1990	Milford	Massachusetts
E. Donnall Thomas	Physiology or Medicine	1990	Mart	Texas
Edwin G. Krebs	Physiology or Medicine	1992	Lansing	Iowa
Gary S. Becker	Economics	1992	Pottsville	Pennsylvania
Toni Morrison	Literature	1993	Lorain	Ohio
Robert W. Fogel	Economics	1993	New York City	New York
Douglass C. North	Economics	1993	Cambridge	Massachusetts
Russell A. Hulse	Physics	1993	New York City	New York
Joseph H. Taylor Jr.	Physics	1993	Philadelphia	Pennsylvania
Kary B. Mullis	Chemistry	1993	Lenoir	North Carolina
Phillip A. Sharp	Physiology or Medicine	1993	Falmouth	Kentucky
Clifford G. Shull	Physics	1994	Pittsburgh	Pennsylvania
Alfred G. Gilman	Physiology or Medicine	1994	New Haven	Connecticut
John Forbes Nash	Economics	1994	Bluefield	West Virginia
Martin Rodbell	Physiology or Medicine	1994	Baltimore	Maryland
F. Sherwood Rowland	Chemistry	1995	Delaware	Ohio
Eric F. Wieschaus	Physiology or Medicine	1995	South Bend	Indiana
Martin L. Perl	Physics	1995	New York City	New York
Frederick Reines	Physics	1995	Paterson	New Jersey
Edward B. Lewis	Physiology or Medicine	1995	Wilkes-Barre	Pennsylvania
Robert Lucas Jr.	Economics	1995	Yakima	Washington
Richard E. Smalley	Chemistry	1996	Akron	Ohio
David M. Lee	Physics	1996	Rye	New York
Robert F. Curl Jr.	Chemistry	1996	Alice	Texas
Robert C. Richardson	Physics	1996	Washington	DC
Douglas D. Osheroff	Physics	1996	Aberdeen	Washington
Steven Chu	Physics	1997	St Louis	Missouri
Stanley B. Prusiner	Physiology or Medicine	1997	Des Moines	Iowa
Robert C. Merton	Economics	1997	New York City	New York
Jody Williams	Peace	1997	Rutland	Vermont
William D. Phillips	Physics	1997	Wilkes-Barre	Pennsylvania
Paul D. Boyer	Chemistry	1997	Provo	Utah
Ferid Murad	Physiology or Medicine	1998	Whiting	Indiana
Louis J. Ignarro	Physiology or Medicine	1998	New York City	New York
Robert F. Furchgott	Physiology or Medicine	1998	Charleston	South Carolina
Robert B. Laughlin	Physics	1998	Visalia	California
Alan Heeger	Chemistry	2000	Sioux City	Iowa
James J. Heckman	Economics	2000	Chicago	Illinois
Jack Kilby	Physics	2000	Jefferson City	Missouri
Paul Greengard	Physiology or Medicine	2000	New York City	New York
Daniel L. McFadden	Economics	2000	Raleigh	North Carolina
Joseph E. Stiglitz	Economics	2001	Gary	Indiana
William S. Knowles	Chemistry	2001	Taunton	Massachusetts
K. Barry Sharpless	Chemistry	2001	Philadelphia	Pennsylvania
George A. Akerlof	Economics	2001	New Haven	Connecticut
A. Michael Spence	Economics	2001	Montclair	New Jersey
Eric A. Cornell	Physics	2001	Palo Alto	California
Carl E. Wieman	Physics	2001	Corvallis	Oregon
Leland H. Hartwell	Physiology or Medicine	2001	Los Angeles	California
Vernon L. Smith	Economics	2002	Wichita	Kansas
H. Robert Horvitz	Physiology or Medicine	2002	Chicago	Illinois

OTHER PAGES ABOUT SCIENCE AND ACADEMICS

British Nobel Prize Winners

Highly Cited Researchers by Country

Top 50 American Universities

Top 50 European Universities

Source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nobel_laureates_by_country#United_States

https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/lists/all-nobel-prizes/

Charts created using OpenOffice Calc.