Skip to main content
Physics LibreTexts

1.1: Nobel Prizes in Particle Physics

  • Page ID
    14996
  • \( \newcommand{\vecs}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } \) \( \newcommand{\vecd}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash {#1}}} \)\(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\)\(\newcommand{\AA}{\unicode[.8,0]{x212B}}\)

    1903

    BECQUEREL, ANTOINE HENRI, France, École Polytechnique, Paris, b. 1852, d. 1908:

    ”in recognition of the extraordinary services he has rendered by his discovery of spontaneous radioactivity”;

    CURIE, PIERRE, France, cole municipale de physique et de chimie industrielles, (Municipal School of Industrial Physics and Chemistry), Paris, b. 1859, d. 1906; and his wife CURIE, MARIE, née SKLODOWSKA, France, b. 1867 (in Warsaw, Poland), d. 1934:

    ”in recognition of the extraordinary services they have rendered by their joint researches on the radiation phenomena discovered by Professor Henri Becquerel”

    1922

    BOHR, NIELS, Denmark, Copenhagen University, b. 1885, d. 1962:

    ”for his services in the investigation of the structure of atoms and of the radiation emanating from them”

    1927

    COMPTON, ARTHUR HOLLY, U.S.A., University of Chicago b. 1892, d. 1962:

    ”for his discovery of the effect named after him”;

    and WILSON, CHARLES THOMSON REES, Great Britain, Cambridge University, b. 1869 (in Glencorse, Scotland), d. 1959:

    ”for his method of making the paths of electrically charged particles visible by condensation of vapour”

    1932

    HEISENBERG, WERNER, Germany, Leipzig University, b. 1901, d. 1976:

    ”for the creation of quantum mechanics, the application of which has, inter alia, led to the discovery of the allotropic forms of hydrogen”

    SCHRÖDINGER, ERWIN, Austria, Berlin University, Germany, b. 1887, d. 1961; and DIRAC, PAUL ADRIEN MAURICE, Great Britain, Cambridge University, b. 1902, d. 1984:

    ”for the discovery of new productive forms of atomic theory”

    1935

    CHADWICK, Sir JAMES, Great Britain, Liverpool University, b. 1891, d. 1974:

    ”for the discovery of the neutron”

    1936

    HESS, VICTOR FRANZ, Austria, Innsbruck University, b. 1883, d. 1964:

    ”for his discovery of cosmic radiation”; and

    ANDERSON, CARL DAVID, U.S.A., California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, b. 1905, d. 1991:

    ”for his discovery of the positron”

    1938

    FERMI, ENRICO, Italy, Rome University, b. 1901, d. 1954:

    ”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”

    1939

    LAWRENCE, ERNEST ORLANDO, U.S.A., University of California, Berkeley, CA, b. 1901, d. 1958:

    ”for the invention and development of the cyclotron and for results obtained with it, especially with regard to artificial radioactive elements”

    1943

    STERN, OTTO, U.S.A., Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburg, PA, b. 1888 (in Sorau, then Germany), d. 1969:

    ”for his contribution to the development of the molecular ray method and his discovery of the magnetic moment of the proton”

    1944

    RABI, ISIDOR ISAAC, U.S.A., Columbia University, New York, NY, b. 1898, (in Rymanow, then Austria-Hungary) d. 1988:

    ”for his resonance method for recording the magnetic properties of atomic nuclei”

    1945

    PAULI, WOLFGANG, Austria, Princeton University, NJ, U.S.A., b. 1900, d. 1958:

    ”for the discovery of the Exclusion Principle, also called the Pauli Principle”

    1948

    BLACKETT, Lord PATRICK MAYNARD STUART, Great Britain, Victoria University, Manchester, b. 1897, d. 1974:

    ”for his development of the Wilson cloud chamber method, and his discoveries therewith in the fields of nuclear physics and cosmic radiation”

    1949

    YUKAWA, HIDEKI, Japan, Kyoto Imperial University and Columbia University, New York, NY, U.S.A., b. 1907, d. 1981:

    ”for his prediction of the existence of mesons on the basis of theoretical work on nuclear forces”

    1950

    POWELL, CECIL FRANK, Great Britain, Bristol University, b. 1903, d. 1969:

    ”for his development of the photographic method of studying nuclear processes and his discoveries regarding mesons made with this method”

    1951

    COCKCROFT, Sir JOHN DOUGLAS, Great Britain, Atomic Energy Research Establishment, Harwell, Didcot, Berks., b. 1897, d. 1967; and WALTON, ERNEST THOMAS SINTON, Ireland, Dublin University, b. 1903, d. 1995:

    ”for their pioneer work on the transmutation of atomic nuclei by artificially accelerated atomic particles”

    1955

    LAMB, WILLIS EUGENE, U.S.A., Stanford University, Stanford, CA, b. 1913:

    ”for his discoveries concerning the fine structure of the hydrogen spectrum”; and

    KUSCH, POLYKARP, U.S.A., Columbia University, New York, NY, b. 1911 (in Blankenburg, then Germany), d. 1993:

    ”for his precision determination of the magnetic moment of the electron”

    1957

    YANG, CHEN NING, China, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ, U.S.A., b. 1922; and LEE, TSUNG-DAO, China, Columbia University, New York, NY, U.S.A., b. 1926:

    ”for their penetrating investigation of the so-called parity laws which has led to important discoveries regarding the elementary particles”

    1959

    SEGRÉ, EMILIO GINO, U.S.A., University of California, Berkeley, CA, b. 1905 (in Tivoli, Italy), d. 1989; and CHAMBERLAIN, OWEN, U.S.A., University of California, Berkeley, CA, b. 1920:

    ”for their discovery of the antiproton”

    1960

    GLASER, DONALD A., U.S.A., University of California, Berkeley, CA, b. 1926:

    ”for the invention of the bubble chamber”

    1961

    HOFSTADTER, ROBERT, U.S.A., Stanford University, Stanford, CA, b. 1915, d. 1990:

    ”for his pioneering studies of electron scattering in atomic nuclei and for his thereby achieved discoveries concerning the stucture of the nucleons”; and

    MÖSSBAUER, RUDOLF LUDWIG, Germany, Technische Hochschule, Munich, and California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, U.S.A., b. 1929:

    ”for his researches concerning the resonance absorption of gamma radiation and his discovery in this connection of the effect which bears his name”

    1963

    WIGNER, EUGENE P., U.S.A., Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, b. 1902 (in Budapest, Hungary), d. 1995:

    ”for his contributions to the theory of the atomic nucleus and the elementary particles, particularly through the discovery and application of fundamental symmetry principles”;

    GOEPPERT-MAYER, MARIA, U.S.A., University of California, La Jolla, CA, b. 1906 (in Kattowitz, then Germany), d. 1972; and JENSEN, J. HANS D., Germany, University of Heidelberg, b. 1907, d. 1973:

    ”for their discoveries concerning nuclear shell structure”

    1965

    TOMONAGA, SIN-ITIRO, Japan, Tokyo, University of Education, Tokyo, b. 1906, d. 1979;

    SCHWINGER, JULIAN, U.S.A., Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, b. 1918, d. 1994; and

    FEYNMAN, RICHARD P., U.S.A., California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, b. 1918, d. 1988:

    ”for their fundamental work in quantum electrodynamics, with deep-ploughing consequences for the physics of elementary particles”

    1967

    BETHE, HANS ALBRECHT, U.S.A., Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, b. 1906 (in Strasbourg, then Germany):

    ”for his contributions to the theory of nuclear reactions, especially his discoveries concerning the energy production in stars”

    1968

    ALVAREZ, LUIS W., U.S.A., University of California, Berkeley, CA, b. 1911, d. 1988:

    ”for his decisive contributions to elementary particle physics, in particular the discovery of a large number of resonance states, made possible through his development of the technique of using hydrogen bubble chamber and data analysis”

    1969

    GELL-MANN, MURRAY, U.S.A., California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, b. 1929:

    ”for his contributions and discoveries concerning the classification of elementary particles and their interactions”

    1975

    BOHR, AAGE, Denmark, Niels Bohr Institute, Copenhagen, b. 1922;

    MOTTELSON, BEN, Denmark, Nordita, Copenhagen, b. 1926 (in Chicago, U.S.A.); and

    RAINWATER, JAMES, U.S.A., Columbia University, New York, NY, b. 1917, d. 1986:

    ”for the discovery of the connection between collective motion and particle motion in atomic nuclei and the development of the theory of the structure of the atomic nucleus based on this connection”

    1976

    RICHTER, BURTON, U.S.A., Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Stanford, CA, b. 1931;

    TING, SAMUEL C. C., U.S.A., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA, (European Center for Nuclear Research, Geneva, Switzerland), b. 1936:

    ”for their pioneering work in the discovery of a heavy elementary particle of a new kind”

    1979

    GLASHOW, SHELDON L., U.S.A., Lyman Laboratory, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, b. 1932;

    SALAM, ABDUS, Pakistan, International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, and Imperial College of Science and Technology, London, Great Britain, b. 1926, d. 1996; and

    WEINBERG, STEVEN, U.S.A., Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, b. 1933:

    ”for their contributions to the theory of the unified weak and electromagnetic interaction between elementary particles, including inter alia the prediction of the weak neutral current”

    1980

    CRONIN, JAMES, W., U.S.A., University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, b. 1931; and

    FITCH, VAL L., U.S.A., Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, b. 1923:

    ”for the discovery of violations of fundamental symmetry principles in the decay of neutral K-mesons”

    1983

    CHANDRASEKHAR, SUBRAMANYAN, U.S.A., University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, b. 1910 (in Lahore, India), d. 1995:

    ”for his theoretical studies of the physical processes of importance to the structure and evolution of the stars”

    FOWLER, WILLIAM A., U.S.A., California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, b. 1911, d. 1995:

    ”for his theoretical and experimental studies of the nuclear reactions of importance in the formation of the chemical elements in the universe”

    1984

    RUBBIA, CARLO, Italy, CERN, Geneva, Switzerland, b. 1934; and

    VAN DER MEER, SIMON, the Netherlands, CERN, Geneva, Switzerland, b. 1925:

    ”for their decisive contributions to the large project, which led to the discovery of the field particles W and Z, communicators of weak interaction”

    1988

    LEDERMAN, LEON M., U.S.A., Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, IL, b. 1922;

    SCHWARTZ, MELVIN, U.S.A., Digital Pathways, Inc., Mountain View, CA, b. 1932; and

    STEINBERGER, JACK, U.S.A., CERN, Geneva, Switzerland, b. 1921 (in Bad Kissingen, FRG):

    ”for the neutrino beam method and the demonstration of the doublet structure of the leptons through the discovery of the muon neutrino”

    1990

    FRIEDMAN, JEROME I., U.S.A., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, b. 1930;

    KENDALL, HENRY W., U.S.A., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, b. 1926; and

    TAYLOR, RICHARD E., Canada, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, U.S.A., b. 1929:

    ”for their pioneering investigations concerning deep inelastic scattering of electrons on protons and bound neutrons, which have been of essential importance for the development of the quark model in particle physics”

    1992

    CHARPAK, GEORGES, France, École Supèrieure de Physique et Chimie, Paris and CERN, Geneva, Switzerland, b. 1924 ( in Poland):

    ”for his invention and development of particle detectors, in particular the multiwire proportional chamber”

    1995

    ”for pioneering experimental contributions to lepton physics”

    PERL, MARTIN L., U.S.A., Stanford University, Stanford, CA, U.S.A., b. 1927,

    ”for the discovery of the tau lepton”

    REINES, FREDERICK, U.S.A., University of California at Irvine, Irvine, CA, U.S.A., b. 1918, d. 1998:

    ”for the detection of the neutrino”


    This page titled 1.1: Nobel Prizes in Particle Physics is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Niels Walet via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit history is available upon request.