Complete List of Nobel Prize Winners in Physics (1901-1950)

Discover the Nobel Prize winners in Physics from 1901 to 1950 with this comprehensive list.

Nomination to the Nobel Prize in Physics is by invitation only. The names of the nominees and other information about the nominations cannot be revealed until 50 years later.

Who is eligible for the Nobel Prize in Physics?
The candidates eligible for the Physics Prize are those nominated by qualified persons who have received an invitation from the Nobel Committee to submit names for consideration. No one can nominate himself or herself.

How are the Nobel Laureates selected?The Nomination process for Nobel Laureates in Physics

Nobel Prize Winners in Physics (1901-1950)

• 1901: Wilhelm Röntgen – for the discovery of X-rays.
• 1902: Hendrik Lorentz and Pieter Zeeman – for their work on the influence of magnetism on radiation phenomena.
• 1903: Antoine Henri Becquerel, Marie Curie, and Pierre Curie – for their joint research on radiation phenomena.
• 1904: John William Strutt (Lord Rayleigh) – for his investigations of the densities of the most important gases and for his discovery of argon in connection with these studies.
• 1905: Albert Einstein – for his discovery of the photoelectric effect.
• 1906: J.J. Thomson – for the discovery of the electron and for his work on the conduction of electricity in gases.
• 1907: Albert A. Michelson – for his precision optical instruments and the spectroscopic and metrological investigations carried out with their aid.
• 1908: Max Planck – for his origin and development of the quantum theory.
• 1909: Guglielmo Marconi and Karl Ferdinand Braun – for their contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy.
• 1910: Johannes Diderik van der Waals – for his work on the equation of state for gases and liquids.
• 1911: Marie Curie – for her services to the advancement of chemistry by the discovery of the elements radium and polonium.
• 1912: Niels Bohr – for his investigation of the structure of atoms and the radiation emanating from them.
• 1913: Heike Kamerlingh Onnes – for his investigations on the properties of matter at low temperatures which led, inter alia, to the production of liquid helium.
• 1914: Max von Laue – for his discovery of the diffraction of X-rays by crystals.
• 1915: William Henry Bragg and William Lawrence Bragg – for their services in the analysis of crystal structure by means of X-rays.
• 1916: No award given.
• 1917: Charles Glover Barkla – for his discovery of the characteristic X-rays of elements.
• 1918: Max Planck – for the origin and development of the quantum theory.
• 1919: Johannes Stark – for his discovery of the Doppler effect in canal rays and the splitting of spectral lines in electric fields.
• 1920: No award given.
• 1921: Albert Einstein – for his services to Theoretical Physics and for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect.
• 1922: Niels Bohr – for his investigations of the structure of atoms and the radiation emanating from them.
• 1923: Robert Millikan – for his work on the elementary charge of electricity and on the photoelectric effect.
• 1924: No award given.
• 1925: James Franck and Gustav Hertz – for their discovery of the laws governing the impact of an electron upon an atom.
• 1926: Jean Baptiste Perrin – for his work on the discontinuous structure of matter.
• 1927: Arthur Holly Compton and Charles Thomson Rees Wilson – for their methods of investigating the scattering of X-rays and for his method of determining the paths of charged particles.
• 1928: Owen Willans Richardson – for his work on the thermionic phenomenon and its application to the production of high vacuums.
• 1929: No award given.
• 1930: Hans Geiger and Walther Bothe – for their jointly developed method of registering the impact of radiation.
• 1931: Carl David Anderson – for his discovery of the positron.
• 1932: Werner Heisenberg – for the creation of quantum mechanics.
• 1933: Erwin Schrödinger and Paul Dirac – for the discovery of new productive forms of atomic theory.
• 1934: No award given.
• 1935: James Chadwick – for the discovery of the neutron.
• 1936: Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker – for his contributions to nuclear physics.
• 1937: Clinton Joseph Davisson and George Paget Thomson – for their experimental discovery of the diffraction of electrons by crystals.
• 1938: Enrico Fermi – for his demonstrations of the existence of new radioactive elements produced by neutron irradiation.
• 1939: Ernest Orlando Lawrence – for the invention and development of the cyclotron and for results obtained with it.
• 1940: No award given.
• 1941: No award given.
• 1942: No award given.
• 1943: Otto Stern – for his contribution to the molecular ray method and his discovery of the magnetic moment of the proton.
• 1944: Isidor Isaac Rabi – for his resonance method for recording the magnetic properties of atomic nuclei.
• 1945: Wolfgang Pauli – for the discovery of the exclusion principle, also known as the Pauli principle.
• 1946: Percy Williams Bridgman – for the invention of an apparatus to produce extreme pressure and for his investigations of the properties of matter under these conditions.
• 1947: Edward Victor Appleton – for his investigations of the physics of the upper atmosphere, particularly for the discovery of the Appleton layer.
• 1948: Patrick M.S. Blackett – for his development of the Wilson cloud chamber method and his discoveries therewith in the fields of nuclear physics and cosmic radiation.
• 1949: Hideki Yukawa – for his prediction of the existence of mesons on the basis of theoretical work on nuclear forces.
• 1950: Cecil Frank Powell – for his development of the photographic method of studying nuclear processes and for the results obtained with it.

This list showcases the remarkable contributions of physicists who have shaped our understanding of the physical world throughout the first half of the 20th century.