Since 1901, the Nobel Prize has been awarded annually to brilliant minds worldwide for their achievements in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and peace. Many of those brilliant minds who are working to make the U.S. and countries abroad more advanced are employed by our federal laboratory system.
Argonne National Laboratory
2003, The Nobel Prize in Physics
Alexei A. Abrikosov of Argonne National Laboratory received the 2003 Nobel Prize in Physics "for pioneering contributions to the theory of superconductors and superfluids." He shares the prize with Vitaly L. Ginzburg of the P.N. Lebedev Physical Institute in Moscow and Anthony J. Leggett of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
To read Alexei Abrikosov’s full biography, visit the Nobel Prize website at http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2003/abrikosov-autobio.html#.
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
2011, The Nobel Prize in Physics
Saul Perlmutter, an astrophysicist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a professor of physics at the University of California at Berkeley, won the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics “for the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the universe through observations of distant supernovae.”
To read Saul Perlmutter’s full biography, visit the Nobel Prize website at http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2011/perlmutter.html.
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
2006, The Nobel Prize in Physics
Dr. John C. Mather, a senior astrophysicist in the Observational Cosmology Laboratory at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, received the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics “for the discovery of the blackbody form and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation.” He shares this award with George F. Smoot of Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory.
To read John Mather’s full biography, visit the Nobel Prize website at http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2006/mather-autobio.html.
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
2006, The Nobel Prize in Physics
George F. Smoot led a Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory research team that was able to image the infant universe, revealing a pattern of minuscule temperature variations that evolved into the universe we see today. He shares the award with John C. Mather of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center "for their discovery of the blackbody form and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation."
To read George Smoot’s full biography, visit the Nobel Prize website at http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2006/smoot.html.
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
1994, The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Martin Rodbell of the National Institutes of Health received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for the discovery of G-proteins and the role of these proteins in signal transduction in cells.” He shares this prize with another scientist, Alfred Gilman.
To read Martin Rodbell’s full biography, visit the Nobel Prize website at http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1994/rodbell-autobio.html.
National Institute of Standards and Technology
1997, The Nobel Prize in Physics
William D. Phillips, a National Institute of Standards and Technology Fellow, was awarded the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics "for development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light." He shares the award with Steven Chu and Claude Cohen-Tannoudji
To read William Phillips’ full biography, visit the Nobel Prize website at http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1997/phillips-autobio.html
National Institute of Standards and Technology
2005, The Nobel Prize in Physics
John (Jan) L. Hall, a JILA Fellow and long-time member of the Quantum Physics Division of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, won the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics “for … contributions to the development of laser-based precision spectroscopy, including the optical frequency comb technique." He shares the award with Roy J. Glauber and Theodore W. Hänsch.
To view John Hall’s full biography, visit the Nobel Prize website at http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2005/hall-bio.html
National Institute of Standards and Technology
2001, The Nobel Prize in Physics
Eric A. Cornell of the National Institute of Standards and Technology won the 2001 Nobel Prize in physics "for the achievement of Bose-Einstein condensation in dilute gases of alkali atoms, and for early fundamental studies of the properties of the condensates". He shares the prize with Carl E. Wieman of the University of Colorado at Boulder; and Wolfgang Ketterle, a German citizen residing in the United States and a professor of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.
To read Eric Cornell’s full biography, visit the Nobel Prize website at http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2001/cornell.html.
National Institutes of Health
1972, The Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Christian Anfinsen, former chief of the National Institutes of Health’s Laboratory of Cell Physiology, won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1972 "for his work on ribonuclease, especially concerning the connection between the amino acid sequence and the biologically active conformation." He shares the prize with Stanford Moore and William H. Stein "for their contribution to the understanding of the connection between chemical structure and catalytic activity of the active centre of the ribonuclease molecule."
To read Christian Anfinsen’s full biography, visit the Nobel Prize website at http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1972/anfinsen-bio.html.
National Institutes of Health
1968, The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Marshall Nirenberg, a former post-doctorate fellow at the National Institutes of Health, won the 1968 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly with Robert W. Holley and Har Gobind Khorana "for their interpretation of the genetic code and its function in protein synthesis."
To read Marshall Nirenberg’s full biography, visit the Nobel Prize website at http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1968/nirenberg-bio.html.
National Institutes of Mental Health
1970, The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Julius Axelrod, a researcher at the National Institutes of Mental Health, won the 1970 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly with Sir Bernard Katz and Ulf von Euler "for their discoveries concerning the humoral transmittors in the nerve terminals and the mechanism for their storage, release and inactivation."
To read Julius Axelrod’s full biography, visit the Nobel Prize website at http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1970/axelrod-bio.html.
U.S. Naval Research Laboratory
1985, The Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Dr. Jerome Karle, former Chief Scientist at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, won the 1985 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Herbert A. Hauptman "for their outstanding achievements in the development of direct methods for the determination of crystal structures.”
To read Dr. Karle’s full biography, visit the Nobel Prize website at http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1985/karle-autobio.html.
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