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
Richard Robson	Brasenose	2025	Read chemistry at the University of Oxford (BA 1959, DPhil 1962)
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	Academic staff	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	St Catherine's	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

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