The Nobel Prize is a set of annual international awards bestowed on "those who conferred the greatest benefit on humankind" in the fields of Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, Peace and Economic Sciences,[1] instituted by Alfred Nobel's last will, which specified that a part of his fortune be used to create the prizes. Each laureate (recipient) receives a gold medal, a diploma and a sum of money, which is decided annually by the Nobel Foundation.[2] They are widely recognized as one of the most prestigious honours awarded in the aforementioned fields.[3]
First instituted in 1901, the Nobel Prize has been awarded to a total of 965 individuals and 27 organizations .[4] Among them, 21 Italian nationals have been honored with the Nobel Prize.[5] [6]
The latest Italian laureate is Giorgio Parisi, who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2021. Two women received the award: Grazia Deledda in 1926, and Rita Levi-Montalcini in 1986.[7] The 21 prizes are distributed as follows: six for physics, literature, and medicine; one for chemistry, peace, and economic sciences.
| Year | Image | Laureate | Born | Died | Field | Rationale | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1906 | in Corteno | in Pavia | Physiology or Medicine | "in recognition of their work on the structure of the nervous system"[8] prize shared with Santiago Ramón y Cajal | ||||
| 1906 | in Valdicastello | in Bologna | Literature | "not only in consideration of his deep learning and critical research, but above all as a tribute to the creative energy, freshness of style, and lyrical force which characterize his poetic masterpieces"[9] | ||||
| 1907 | in Milan, Austrian Empire | in Milan | Peace | "for his work in the press and in peace meetings, both public and private, for an understanding between France and Italy"[10] prize shared with Louis Renault | ||||
| 1909 | in Bologna | in Rome | Physics | "in recognition of their contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy"[11] prize shared with Karl Ferdinand Braun | ||||
| 1926 | in Nuoro | in Rome | Literature | "for her idealistically inspired writings which with plastic clarity picture the life on her native island and with depth and sympathy deal with human problems in general"[12] | ||||
| 1934 | in Agrigento | in Rome | Literature | "for his bold and ingenious revival of dramatic and scenic art"[13] | ||||
| 1938 | in Rome since 1944 also American citizen[14] | in Chicago, USA | Physics | "for his demonstrations of the existence of new radioactive elements produced by neutron irradiation, and for his related discovery of nuclear reactions brought about by slow neutrons"[15] | ||||
| 1957 | in Neuchâtel, Switzerland acquired Italian citizenship in 1947 or 1948[16] | in Rome | Physiology or Medicine | "for his discoveries relating to synthetic compounds that inhibit the action of certain body substances, and especially their action on the vascular system and the skeletal muscles"[17] | ||||
| 1959 | in Tivoli since 1944 also American citizen[18] | in Lafayette, USA | Physics | "for their discovery of the antiproton"[19] prize shared with Owen Chamberlain | ||||
| 1959 | in Modica | in Naples | Literature | "for his lyrical poetry, which with classical fire expresses the tragic experience of life in our own times"[20] | ||||
| 1963 | in Imperia | in Bergamo | Chemistry | "for their discoveries in the field of the chemistry and technology of high polymers"[21] prize shared with Karl Ziegler | ||||
| 1969 | in Turin since 1947 also American citizen[22] | in Lexington, USA | Physiology or Medicine | "for their discoveries concerning the replication mechanism and the genetic structure of viruses"[23] prize shared with Max Delbrück and Alfred D. Hershey | ||||
| 1975 | in Catanzaro since 1953 also American citizen[24] | in La Jolla, USA | Physiology or Medicine | "for their discoveries concerning the interaction between tumour viruses and the genetic material of the cell"[25] prize shared with David Baltimore and Howard Martin Temin | ||||
| 1975 | in Genoa | in Milan | Literature | "for his distinctive poetry which, with great artistic sensitivity, has interpreted human values under the sign of an outlook on life with no illusions"[26] | ||||
| 1984 | in Gorizia | data-sort-value="2999-12-31" | — | Physics | "for their decisive contributions to the large project, which led to the discovery of the field particles W and Z, communicators of weak interaction"[27] prize shared with Simon van der Meer | |||
| 1985 | in Rome since 1946 also American citizen[28] | in Cambridge, USA | Economics | "for his pioneering analyses of saving and of financial markets"[29] | ||||
| 1986 | in Turin | in Rome | Physiology or Medicine | "for their discoveries of growth factors"[30] prize shared with Stanley Cohen | ||||
| 1997 | in Leggiuno-Sangiano | in Milan | Literature | "who emulates the jesters of the Middle Ages in scourging authority and upholding the dignity of the downtrodden"[31] | ||||
| 2002 | in Genoa since 1960 also American citizen[32] | in La Jolla | Physics | "for pioneering contributions to astrophysics, which have led to the discovery of cosmic X-ray sources"[33] prize shared with Raymond Davis Jr. and Masatoshi Koshiba | ||||
| 2007 | in Verona later naturalized American[34] | data-sort-value="2999-12-31" | — | Physiology or Medicine | "for their discoveries of principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem cells"[35] prize shared with Martin J. Evans and Oliver Smithies | |||
| 2021 | in Rome | data-sort-value="2999-12-31" | — | Physics | "for the discovery of the interplay of disorder and fluctuations in physical systems from atomic to planetary scales"[36] prize shared with Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann |