
Award winners
Nobel Prize winners
Nobel Prizes are awarded annually in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, peace and economics.
Chemistry
LAUREATE | COLLEGE* | YEAR | FURTHER INFORMATION |
---|---|---|---|
John B Goodenough | Academic staff | 2019 | Head of Inorganic Chemistry, 1976-86; Honorary Fellow, St Catherine's, 2010-2023 |
M Stanley Whittingham | New | 2019 | |
Professor Robert H Grubbs | Academic staff | 2005 | Christensen Visiting Fellow, St Catherine's, 1997 |
Ahmed Zewail | Academic staff | 1999 | Christensen Visiting Fellow, St Catherine's and Hinshelwood Lecturer, 1991-92 |
Sir John Walker | St Catherine's | 1997 | |
Sir John Cornforth | St Catherine's | 1975 | |
Robert Mulliken | Academic staff | 1966 | Fullbright Scholar and Visiting Fellow, St John's 1952-54 |
Dorothy Hodgkin | Somerville | 1964 | Fellow, Somerville, 1935-46; Lecturer, 1946-56; Reader in X-ray Crystallography, 1956-60; Wolfson Research Professor, 1960-77; Fellow, Wolfson, 1977-83 |
Sir Alexander Todd | Oriel | 1957 | |
Sir Cyril Hinshelwood | Balliol | 1956 | Tutor, Trinity, 1921-37; Dr Lee's Professor of Chemistry 1937-64 |
Linus Pauling | Academic staff | 1954 | George Eastman Visiting Professor and Fellow of Balliol, 1948 |
Sir Robert Robinson | Academic staff | 1947 | Waynflete Professor of Chemistry; Fellow of Magdalen, 1930-55 |
Frederick Soddy | Merton | 1921 | Dr Lee's Professor of Chemistry, 1919-37 |
Economics
LAUREATE | COLLEGE* | YEAR | FURTHER INFORMATION |
---|---|---|---|
Simon Johnson | Corpus Christi | 2024 | |
A Michael Spence | Magdalen | 2001 | Rhodes Scholar |
Joseph E Stiglitz | Academic staff | 2001 | Drummond Professor of Political Economy; Fellow of All Souls, 1976-79; Visiting Fellow, St Catherine’s, 1973-74 |
Amartya Sen | Academic staff | 1998 | Fellow of Nuffield, 1977-80; Drummond Professor of Political Economy and Fellow of All Souls 1980-88 |
Sir James Mirrlees | Academic staff | 1996 | Edgeworth Professor of Economics; Fellow of Nuffield, 1968-95 |
Robert Solow | Academic staff | 1987 | George Eastman Visiting Professor; Fellow of Balliol, 1968-69 |
Lawrence Klein | Lincoln | 1980 | |
James E Meade | Oriel | 1977 | |
Gunnar Myrdal | Academic staff | 1974 | Fellow of Balliol, 1959 |
Sir John Hicks | Balliol | 1972 | Fellow, Nuffield, 1946-52; Drummond Professor of Political Economy 1952-65; Research Fellow, All Souls, 1965-71 |
Literature
LAUREATE | COLLEGE* | YEAR | FURTHER INFORMATION |
---|---|---|---|
Sir VS Naipaul | University | 2001 | |
Seamus Heaney | Academic staff | 1995 | Professor of Poetry 1989-94 |
William Golding | Brasenose | 1983 | |
T S Eliot | Merton | 1948 | |
John Galsworthy | New | 1932 |
Medicine
LAUREATE | COLLEGE* | YEAR | FURTHER INFORMATION |
---|---|---|---|
Sir Peter J Ratcliffe | Academic staff | 2019 | Director of the Target Discovery Institute in the Nuffield Department of Medicine, 2016 - present; Professor of Medicine; Head of the Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, 2004 - 2016 |
Sir John Gurdon | Christ Church | 2012 | Assistant Lecturer in Zoology, Department of Zoology, 1962-71 |
Oliver Smithies | Balliol | 2007 | |
Sydney Brenner | Exeter | 2002 | |
Sir Paul Nurse | Academic staff | 2001 | Iveagh Professor of Microbiology; Fellow, Linacre, 1987-91 |
Sir John Vane | St Catherine's | 1982 | |
Baruch S Blumberg | Balliol | 1976 | Master of Balliol, 1989-94 |
Nikolas Tinbergen | Academic staff | 1973 | Fellow of Merton, 1950-66; Professor of Animal Behaviour 1966-76 |
Rodney Porter | Academic staff | 1972 | Whitley Professor of Biochemistry; Fellow of Trinity, 1967-85 |
Ragnar Granit | Academic staff | 1967 | Visiting Fellow, St Catherine's, 1967 |
Sir John Eccles | Magdalen | 1963 | Rhodes Scholar. Staines Medical Fellowship, Exeter College; Tutorial Fellowship, Magdalen College; University Demonstrator, 1934-37 |
Sir Peter Medawar | Magdalen | 1960 | Fellow, Magdalen, 1938-44; Senior Research Fellow, St John's and Demonstrator in Zoology and Comparative Anatomy, 1944-46 |
Severo Ochoa | Academic staff | 1959 | Demonstrator and Nuffield Research Assistant 1938-41 |
George Wells Beadle | Academic staff | 1958 | George Eastman Visiting Professor and Fellow of Balliol, 1958 |
Sir Ernest Chain | Academic staff | 1945 | Lecturer in Chemical Pathology; Fellow of University College, 1936-48 |
Lord (Howard) Florey | Magdalen | 1945 | Rhodes Scholar. Professor of Pathology 1935-62; Provost of The Queen's College, 1962-68 |
Sir Charles Sherrington | Academic staff | 1932 | Waynflete Professor of Physiology; Fellow of Magdalen, 1913-36 |
Peace
LAUREATE | COLLEGE* | YEAR | FURTHER INFORMATION |
---|---|---|---|
José Ramos-Horta | Academic staff | 1996 | Senior Associate Member, St Antony's, 1987 |
Aung Sang Suu Kyi | St Hugh's | 1991 | |
Linus Pauling | Academic staff | 1962 | George Eastman Visiting Professor 1948 |
Lester B Pearson | St John's | 1957 | |
Viscount Cecil of Chelwood | University | 1937 |
Physics
LAUREATE | COLLEGE* | YEAR | FURTHER INFORMATION |
---|---|---|---|
Prof Sir R Penrose FRS | Academic staff | 2020 | Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics (1999 – present) and Emeritus Fellow, Wadham College |
J Michael Kosterlitz | Brasenose | 2016 | |
Anthony J Leggett | Balliol, Merton, Magdalen | 2003 | Fellow, Magdalen, 1963-67 |
Norman Ramsey | Academic staff | 1989 | John Simon Guggenheim Fellow 1953-54, George Eastman Visiting Professor 1973-74 |
John H Van Vleck | Academic staff | 1977 | George Eastman Visiting Professor 1961-62 |
Sir Martin Ryle | Christ Church | 1974 | |
Erwin Schrödinger | Academic staff | 1933 | Fellow of Magdalen, 1933-36 |
* Colleges are listed for those Laureates who studied at Oxford.
Excluded from this list are those Nobel Laureates whose only connection with Oxford is that they were awarded an honorary degree by the University, and those Laureates who came to Oxford after receiving their Nobel prize.
Fields Medal Winners
The Fields Medals recognise existing work and the promise of future achievement in mathematicians under the age of forty. Oxford recipients include:
NAME | ROLE AT OXFORD | YEAR AWARDED |
---|---|---|
James Maynard | Professor of Number Theory at the Mathematical Institute and Fellow of St John's College, 2018-present | 2022 |
Simon Donaldson | Wallis Professor of Mathematics and Fellow of St Anne's College, 1985-98 | 1986 |
Daniel Quillen | Waynflete Professor of Pure Mathematics and Fellow of Magdalen College, 1985-2006 | 1978 |
Sir Michael Atiyah | Savilian Professor of Geometry and Fellow of New College, 1963-69 Royal Society Research Professor and Professorial Fellow, St Catherine's College, 1973-90 | 1966 |
Balzan Prize Winners
The interdisciplinary Balzan Prizes are awarded annually by the International Balzan Foundation. Oxford recipients include:
NAME | ROLE AT OXFORD | YEAR AWARDED |
---|---|---|
Reinhard Strohm | Emeritus Professor of Music (Professor of Music 1996-2010) and Emeritus Fellow of Wadham College | 2012 |
Joseph Silk | Fellow of New College and Savilian Professor of Astronomy 1999-2010 | 2011 |
Terence Cave | Emeritus Research Fellow, St John's College and former Professor of French Literature 1989-2001 | 2009 |
Martin West | Senior Research Fellow, All Souls College | 2000 |
Sir John Elliott | Regius Professor Emeritus and Honorary Fellow of Oriel College | 1999 |
Lord May | Royal Society Research Professor in Zoology and Fellow of Merton College | 1998 |
Sir Richard Southern | President of St John's 1969-81 | 1987 |
Jerome Bruner | Watts Professor of Psychology and Fellow of Wolfson College, 1972-80 | 1987 |
Sir Ernst Gombrich | Slade Professor of Fine Art, 1950-53 | 1985 |
Rolf Schock Prize Winners
The Rolf Schock prizes are awarded biennially in the fields of logic and philosophy, mathematics, the visual arts and music. Oxford recipients include:
NAME | COLLEGE | YEAR | PRIZE | FURTHER INFORMATION |
---|---|---|---|---|
Jonathan Pila | Wolfson | 2022 | Mathematics | Reader in Mathematical Logic |
Derek Parfit | Balliol | 2014 | Logic and Philosophy | Emeritus Fellow, All Souls College (Senior Research Fellow, 1984-2010; Research Fellow, 1981-1984; Junior Research Fellow, 1974-1981; Prize Fellow, 1967-1974) |
Thomas Nagel | Corpus Christi | 2008 | Logic and Philosophy | |
John Rawls | Christ Church | 1999 | Logic and Philosophy | |
Dana S Scott | Academic staff | 1997 | Logic and Philosophy | Professor of Mathematical Logic; Fellow of Merton College 1972-81 |
Sir Michael Dummett | Christ Church | 1995 | Logic and Philosophy | Reader in the Philosophy of Mathematics, 1962-74; Fellow, All Souls 1950-79; Wykeham Professor of Logic and Fellow, New College, 1979-92 |
Sir Andrew Wiles | Merton | 1995 | Mathematics | Royal Society Research Professor in Maths; Professorial Fellow at Merton College, 1988-90 |
Willard V Quine | Academic staff | 1993 | Logic and Philosophy | George Eastman Visiting Professor and Fellow of Balliol, 1953-54 |
Excluded from this list are those Schock Laureates whose only connection with Oxford is that they were awarded an honorary degree by the University.
Abel Prize Winners
The Abel prizes are awarded annually, and recognizes contributions to the field of mathematics that are of extraordinary depth and influence. Oxford recipients include:
NAME | ROLE AT OXFORD | YEAR AWARDED |
---|---|---|
Sir Andrew Wiles | Royal Society Research Professor in Maths; Professorial Fellow at Merton College, 1988-90 | 2016 |
Sir Michael Atiyah | Wallis Professor of Mathematics and Fellow of St Anne's College, 1985-98 | 2004 |