- See also Wikipedia's article about "Nobel Prize".
The Nobel Prize is a highly prestigious academic award. It was founded by Alfred Nobel who decided to give back to the world after his dynamite creations were used to kill lots of people.
Today, many Nobel Prizes are claimed by the faculty and alumni of Columbia.
Universities count their Nobel Prizes in various ways, normally whatever gives them the most or the highest ranking among universities. By most accounts, Columbia has the third most number of Nobel Prizes (74), after the University of Cambridge (80+) and the University of Chicago (79).
Columbia-affiliated Nobel Prizes
Alumni
| 1932 |
Irving Langmuir |
(B.S., 1903; M.A., 1906) |
| 1946 |
John H. Northrop |
(B.S., 1912; M.A., 1913; Ph.D., 1915) |
| 1972 |
William H. Stein |
(Ph.D., 1938) |
| 1981 |
Roald Hoffmann |
(B.A., 1958) |
| 1985 |
Herbert A. Hauptman |
(M.A., 1939) |
| 1989 |
Sidney Altman |
(graduate student, teaching assistant, 1960 to 1962) |
| 2001 |
William S. Knowles |
(Ph.D., 1942) |
| 2005 |
Robert H. Grubbs |
(Ph.D., 1968) |
| 1971 |
Simon S. Kuznets |
(B.S., 1923; M.A., 1924; Ph.D., 1926) |
| 1972 |
Kenneth J. Arrow |
(M.A., 1941; Ph.D., 1951) |
| 1976 |
Milton Friedman |
(Researcher, 1943 to 1945; Ph.D., 1946; faculty member, 1937 to 1940 and 1964 to 1965) |
| 1993 |
Robert W. Fogel |
(M.A., 1960) |
| 1996 |
William S. Vickrey |
(M.A., 1937; Ph.D., 1948; faculty member, 1946 to 1996) |
| 1997 |
Robert C. Merton |
(B.S., 1966) |
| 1923 |
Robert A. Millikan |
(Ph.D., 1895) |
| 1944 |
I.I. Rabi |
(Ph.D., 1927; faculty member, 1929 to 1988) |
| 1965 |
Julian S. Schwinger |
(B.A., 1936; Ph.D., 1939) |
| 1972 |
Leon N. Cooper |
(B.A., 1951; M.A., 1953; Ph.D., 1954) |
| 1975 |
James Rainwater |
(M.A., 1941; Ph.D., 1946; faculty member, 1939 to 1986) |
| 1978 |
Arno A. Penzias |
(M.A., 1958; Ph.D., 1962) |
| 1980 |
Val L. Fitch |
(Ph.D., 1954; faculty member, 1953 to 1954) |
| 1988 |
Leon M. Lederman |
(M.A., 1948; Ph.D., 1951; faculty member, 1951 to 1989) |
| 1988 |
Melvin Schwartz |
(B.A., 1953; Ph.D., 1958; faculty member, 1958 to 1966, 1991 to 2006)
|
| 1989 |
Norman F. Ramsey |
(B.A., 1935; Ph.D., 1940; faculty member, 1941 to 1947) |
| 1995 |
Martin L. Perl |
(Ph.D., 1955) |
| 1946 |
Hermann J. Muller |
(B.A., 1910; M.A., 1911; Ph.D., 1916; faculty member, 1918 to 1920)
|
| 1950 |
Edward C. Kendall |
(B.S., 1908; M.A., 1909; Ph.D., 1910) |
| 1956 |
Dickinson W. Richards |
(M.A., 1922; M.D., 1923; faculty member, 1925 to 1973) |
| 1958 |
Joshua Lederberg |
(B.A., 1944; medical student, 1944-1946; faculty member, 1990 to 1999) |
| 1964 |
Konrad E. Bloch |
(Ph.D., 1938; faculty member, 1938 to 1946, 1966) |
| 1967 |
George Wald |
(M.A., 1928) |
| 1973 |
Konrad Lorenz |
(Columbia College, 1922 to 1923) |
| 1976 |
Baruch S. Blumberg |
(Grad student in Mathematics, 1946 to 1947; M.D., 1951; resident, 1951-1953; fellow 1953-1955) |
| 1980 |
Baruj Benacerraf |
(B.S., 1942; research scientist, 1948 to 1950) |
| 1989 |
Harold E. Varmus |
(M.D., 1966; Presbyterian Hospital staff, 1966 to 1968, University Trustee, 2002 to 2005) |
| 1998 |
Louis J. Ignarro |
(B.S., 1962) |
| 2004 |
Richard Axel |
(A.B., 1967; resident, fellow and research scientist, 1971 to 1978; faculty member, 1978 to present) |
