Physics2026
Listening to the universe through ice
A vast Antarctic detector catches rare messengers from violent cosmic events.
The storyAn illustrated archive · 2023–2026
Extraordinary minds.
A different world.
The people, discoveries and ideas behind the Nobel Prizes.
Big contributions, explained in everyday language.
04Award years
23Award stories
45Laureate entries
From the smallest particles
to the biggest human questions.
2026 edition · Verified 9 October 2026. Five prizes announced; Economic Sciences is scheduled for 12 October.
The collection
A world of ideas, year by year.
24 award entries
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2026
Six fields. A year of extraordinary contributions.5 announced · 1 pendingChemistry2026
When molecules choose a handedness
Chemical reactions can amplify a tiny preference between two mirror-image forms.
The storyPhysiology or Medicine2026
A light switch for brain circuits
Optogenetics helps researchers test how selected nerve cells influence behaviour.
The storyLiterature2026
Ancient voices, new literary forms
Anne Carson brings the classical world into inventive conversations with the present.
The storyPeace2026
Law as a foundation for peace
Navi Pillay’s career connects human rights with international accountability.
The storyEconomic Sciences2026
Announcement pending
Awaiting the announcement
Scheduled for 12 October 2026, at 11:45 CEST at the earliest.
View announcement status2025
Six fields. A year of extraordinary contributions.6 awardsPhysics2025
Quantum behaviour on a circuit board
An electrical circuit revealed effects once associated mainly with individual particles.
The storyChemistry2025
Crystals with room inside
Metal–organic frameworks made empty space a material designers could put to work.
The storyPhysiology or Medicine2025
How immunity learns when to stop
Regulatory T cells and a crucial gene revealed a control system that protects our own tissues.
The storyLiterature2025
Finding art at the edge of collapse
László Krasznahorkai’s fiction searches for meaning in worlds that seem to be coming apart.
The storyPeace2025
Making the vote count
Maria Corina Machado was recognised for her work for democratic rights in Venezuela.
The storyEconomic Sciences2025
Why progress can keep going
Useful knowledge and creative destruction help explain sustained economic growth.
The story2024
Six fields. A year of extraordinary contributions.6 awardsPhysics2024
When a network learns to remember
Ideas from physics became tools for storing patterns and learning from data.
The storyChemistry2024
Reading and writing the shapes of life
Computers helped predict protein structures—and design proteins nature had never made.
The storyPhysiology or Medicine2024
The tiny switches inside our cells
Small RNA molecules revealed another way cells control which proteins they make.
The storyLiterature2024
History felt through a human body
Han Kang’s poetic prose gives intimate form to violence, grief and vulnerability.
The storyPeace2024
The witnesses who said: never again
Survivors of atomic bombings made the human cost of nuclear weapons impossible to ignore.
The storyEconomic Sciences2024
Why the rules of a society matter
Institutions help explain why some countries prosper while others remain poor.
The story2023
Six fields. A year of extraordinary contributions.6 awardsPhysics2023
A shutter fast enough for electrons
Flashes of light lasting billionths of a billionth of a second opened a new window into matter.
The storyChemistry2023
Tiny crystals, a whole spectrum
Quantum dots showed that changing a particle’s size can change the colour of its light.
The storyPhysiology or Medicine2023
A message the cell can use
A small chemical change to messenger RNA helped make a new kind of vaccine possible.
The storyLiterature2023
What lives between the words
Jon Fosse’s plays and prose make silence, repetition and hesitation speak.
The storyPeace2023
A voice that prison could not contain
Narges Mohammadi was recognised for defending women’s rights and freedom in Iran.
The storyEconomic Sciences2023
The missing history of women’s work
Claudia Goldin traced the long, uneven path of women’s employment and earnings.
The story