Awards Record

Physiology or medicine

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine: winners and how it is awarded

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded since 1901 under the will of Alfred Nobel. It is decided by the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm and is the first Nobel Prize announced each year.2,1,5

Awarded byNobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet
Established1901
FrequencyAnnual
Prize valueSEK 11.0 million per full Nobel Prize, shared equally or by the committee's division where there are several laureates (as of 2023 (amount set for 2023 on the official prize amounts page))

How the winner is chosen

Nominations are by invitation. The Nobel Prize organisation says thousands of members of academies, university professors, scientists, previous laureates and others are asked to propose candidates, and the deadline for submissions is midnight on 31 January. A Nobel Committee of five to ten members reviews the candidates and consults experts, and the prize-awarding institution then takes a final vote. For physiology or medicine the selecting body is the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet, which announces the prize first each October.

Winners

  1. 2026Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann, Georg Nagel9,11Work that led to optogenetics. Al Jazeera quoted the Nobel Assembly as citing "their discovery of a molecular switch for nerve cells", and AP described a tool that uses light to help unravel how the brain works
  2. 2025Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell, Shimon Sakaguchi6Discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance
  3. 2024Victor Ambros, Gary Ruvkun7Discovery of microRNA and its role in post transcriptional gene regulation
  4. 2023Katalin Karikó, Drew Weissman8Discoveries on nucleoside base modifications that enabled effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19
  5. 2022Svante Pääbo12Discoveries concerning the genomes of extinct hominins and human evolution
  6. 2021David Julius, Ardem Patapoutian13Discovery of receptors for temperature and touch
  7. 2020Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton, Charles M. Rice14Discovery of Hepatitis C virus
  8. 2019William Kaelin Jr., Peter J. Ratcliffe, Gregg L. Semenza15Discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability
  9. 2018James P. Allison, Tasuku Honjo16Discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation
  10. 2017Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash, Michael W. Young17Discoveries of molecular mechanisms controlling the circadian rhythm
  11. 2016Yoshinori Ohsumi18Discoveries of mechanisms for autophagy

Notable facts

Nominee names and other nomination details are kept secret and the Nobel Prize organisation says they cannot be revealed until 50 years later.4

The official prize amounts page states that the Nobel Prize amount for 2023 was set at SEK 11.0 million per full prize.3

Ralph Steinman died three days before the 2011 announcement. The Nobel Foundation Board decided he remains a laureate because the Nobel Assembly announced the prize without knowing of his death.10

Gerhard Domagk (Physiology or Medicine 1939) was forbidden by Adolf Hitler from accepting his prize. He later received the diploma and medal but not the prize money.10,19

Since 1974 the statutes say a prize cannot be awarded posthumously unless death has occurred after the announcement.10

Sources

  1. Nobel Prize Outreach, Prize announcement dates (2026)
  2. Nobel Prize Outreach, Nomination and selection of Nobel Prize laureates
  3. Nobel Prize Outreach, The Nobel Prize amounts (2023)
  4. Nobel Prize Outreach, Nomination archive
  5. Nobel Prize Outreach, All Nobel Prizes
  6. Nobel Prize Outreach, All Nobel Prizes 2025 (October 2025)
  7. Nobel Prize Outreach, All Nobel Prizes 2024 (October 2024)
  8. Nobel Prize Outreach, All Nobel Prizes 2023 (October 2023)
  9. Associated Press (via KSAT), A list of this year's Nobel Prize winners (12 October 2026)
  10. Nobel Prize Outreach, Nobel Prize facts (27 October 2026)
  11. Al Jazeera (with AFP, Reuters, AP), Nobel medicine prize honours US and German scientists for optogenetics work (October 2026)
  12. Nobel Prize Outreach, All Nobel Prizes 2022 (2022)
  13. Nobel Prize Outreach, All Nobel Prizes 2021 (2021)
  14. Nobel Prize Outreach, All Nobel Prizes 2020 (2020)
  15. Nobel Prize Outreach, All Nobel Prizes 2019 (2019)
  16. Nobel Prize Outreach, All Nobel Prizes 2018 (2018)
  17. Nobel Prize Outreach, All Nobel Prizes 2017 (2017)
  18. Nobel Prize Outreach, The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2016, summary (2016)
  19. Nobel Prize Outreach, The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1939, summary (1939)