Jewish Nobel Laureates

Nobel Prizes have been awarded to over 900 individuals, of whom at least 20% were Jews.
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The number of Jews receiving Nobel prizes has been the subject of some attention.*
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"Jews rank high among winners of Nobel, but why not Israelis"
'' J. The Jewish News of Northern California'', October 25, 2002. "There are three central theories given for Jewish academic achievement, according to Shulamit Volkov, professor of history at Tel Aviv University and author of "The Magic Circle: Germans, Jews and Anti-Semites." The first theory says that Jews are cleverer than others, a theory dismissed by Volkov and other serious academics. The second theory, proposed first by an American sociologist in 1919, holds that because Jews were on the margins of society they were forced to excel. The third and more common explanation, says Volkov, states that generations of Jewish Orthodox learning later translated brilliantly into secular learning."
* Noah Efron
"The Real Reason Why Jews Win So Many Nobel Prizes"
''Haaretz'', October 21, 2013.
*Mark Mietkiewicz
"Nobel Prize and the Jews"
''Canadian Jewish News, December 10, 2018.''
* Raphael Patai, '' The Jewish Mind'', Wayne State University Press, 1996, pp. 339-371, 547-548. Israeli academics Elay Ben-Gal and Yeshayahu Leibowitz began an encyclopedia of Jewish Nobel laureates, and have interviewed as many as possible about their life and work.

Jews have been recipients of all six awards. The first Jewish recipient, Adolf von Baeyer, was awarded the prize in Chemistry in 1905.

Jewish laureates Elie Wiesel and Imre Kertész survived the extermination camps during the Holocaust,"Winfrey selects Wiesel's 'Night' for book club"
'' Associated Press'', January 16, 2006. while François Englert survived by being hidden in orphanages and children's homes. Others, such as Walter Kohn, Otto Stern, Albert Einstein, Hans Krebs and Martin Karplus had to flee Nazi Germany to avoid persecution. Still others, including Rita Levi-Montalcini, Herbert Hauptman, Robert Furchgott, Arthur Kornberg, and Jerome Karle experienced significant antisemitism in their careers.

Arthur Ashkin, a 96-year-old American Jew, was, at the time of his award, the oldest person to receive a Nobel Prize.Hilary Brueck
"The world's oldest Nobel Prize winner, a 96-year-old physicist, says his new invention will give everyone in the world clean, cheap energy"
'' Business Insider'', January 26, 2019.

Chemistry

Physiology or Medicine

Physics

Literature

Economics

Peace

Forced to decline prize

Boris Pasternak, a Russian Jew, who was awarded the 1958 prize for literature, initially accepted the award, but—after intense pressure from Soviet authorities—subsequently declined it.Mark Franchetti
"How the CIA won Zhivago a Nobel"
'' The Sunday Times''. January 14, 2007.

(Via )

Jewish laureates per country

Below is a chart of all Jewish Nobel laureates per country (updated to 2022 laureates). Some laureates are counted more than once if have multiple citizenship.

Nobel Laureates Boulevard

The Israeli city of Rishon LeZion has an avenue dedicated to honoring all Jewish Nobel laureates. The street, called ''Tayelet Hatanei Pras Nobel'' (Nobel Laureates Boulevard/Promenade), has a monument with attached plaque for each Nobel laureate. The scientific adviser of the project was Prof. Israel Hanukoglu."Nobel Prize Laureates Boulevard"
, ''Structures'', Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute, Spring 2011, p. 4. "Dr. Hauptman interestingly is one of 160 Jewish Nobel Laureates... In honor of this distinction, there is a boulevard dedicated to Jewish Nobel Prize Laureates in a town called Kiryat Hatanei Pras Nobel (Nobel Prize Laureates' Town) outside of Tel Aviv, Israel. On this boulevard, a monument and plaque have been dedicated in Dr. Hauptman's honor."

See also

* List of Nobel laureates
* List of Muslim Nobel laureates
* List of Christian Nobel laureates
* List of black Nobel laureates
* List of Israeli Nobel laureates

References

Further reading

* Charpa, Ulrich; Deichmann, Ute. (eds.) (2007)
''Jews and Sciences in German Contexts: Case Studies From the 19th and 20th Centuries''
Mohr Siebeck, pp. 23–25.
* Feldman, Burton (2001)
''The Nobel Prize: A History of Genius, Controversy, and Prestige''
Arcade Publishing, pp. 407–10.
* Julius, Anthony (1995)
''T. S. Eliot, Anti-Semitism, and Literary Form''
Cambridge University Press, p. 266.
* Lazarus, William P.; Sullivan, Mark. (2008)
''Comparative Religion For Dummies''
Wiley Publishing, p. 45.
* Levitan, Tina (1960)
The Laureates: Jewish Winners of the Nobel prize
Twayne Publishers (New York), 236 pages.
* Patai, Raphael (1996)
''The Jewish Mind''
Wayne State University Press, pp. 339–42.
* Rubinstein, W. D. (1982)
''The Left, the Right and the Jews''
Croom Helm, p. 63.
* Scharfstein, Sol (1999)
''Understanding Jewish Holidays and Customs: Historical and Contemporary''
KTAV Publishing House, p. 168.
* Weiss, Mosheh (2004)
''A Brief History of the Jewish People''
Rowman & Littlefield, pp. 216–17.
* Zuckerman, Harriet (1996)
''Scientific Elite: Nobel Laureates in the United States''
Transaction Publishers, originally publishing in 1977, pp. 71–78.

External links

Nobel Luminaries Project
– The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot

Video by the National Museum of American Jewish History with some Jewish Nobel laureates listed



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