List of Asian Nobel laureates

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The Nobel Prize is an annual, international prize first awarded in 1901 for achievements in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace. An associated prize in Economics has been awarded since 1969.[1] Nobel Prizes have been awarded to over 800 individuals.[2]

Asians have been the recipients of all six award categories: Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, Peace, and Economics. The first Asian recipient, Rabindranath Tagore, was awarded the Literature Prize in 1913. In 1930, C. V. Raman became the first Asian recipient of a Nobel Prize in one of the sciences. The most Nobel Prizes awarded to Asians in a single year was in 2014, when five Asians became laureates. The most recent Asian laureates, Japanese scientist Syukuro Manabe and the Filipino journalist Maria Ressa was awarded their prizes in 2021.

To date (2023), there have been sixty Asian winners of the Nobel Prize, including twenty-nine Japanese, twelve Israeli, nine Indian (not including non-Indian Laureates born in India) and eight Chinese (not including non-Chinese Laureates born in China). The list does not include Russians.

## Physics

[edit]

As of 2021, there are 21 Asians or Asian Americans who have won the Nobel Prize in Physics. Japanese comprise the majority, with 12 laureates.

Year | Image | Laureate | Country at the time of the award | Category | Comment

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1930  |  | Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman |  British India | Physics | First Asian and Indian Nobel laureate in Science
1949  |  | Hideki Yukawa |  Japan | Physics | First Japanese Nobel laureate
1957  |  | Chen Ning Yang |  China | Physics | First Chinese Nobel laureate
1957  |  | Tsung-Dao Lee |  China | Physics | First Chinese Nobel laureate
1965  |  | Shin'ichiro Tomonaga |  Japan | Physics |
1973  |  | Leo Esaki |  Japan | Physics |
1976  |  | Samuel C. C. Ting |  United States | Physics | Dual-citizen of  United States and  Republic of China
1979  |  | Abdus Salam |  Pakistan | Physics | First Pakistani Nobel laureate
1983  |  | Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar |  United States | Physics | Born in  India
1997  |  | Steven Chu |  United States | Physics | Born in United States
1998  |  | Daniel C. Tsui |  United States | Physics | Born in China
2002  |  | Masatoshi Koshiba |  Japan | Physics |
2008  |  | Yoichiro Nambu |  United States | Physics | Born in  Japan
2008  |  | Makoto Kobayashi |  Japan | Physics |
2008  |  | Toshihide Maskawa |  Japan | Physics |
2009  |  | Charles K. Kao |  United Kingdom and  United States,  | Physics | First Hong Kong citizenship Nobel laureate
2014  |  | Isamu Akasaki |  Japan | Physics |
2014  |  | Hiroshi Amano |  Japan | Physics |
2014  |  | Shuji Nakamura |  United States | Physics | Born in  Japan
2015  |  | Takaaki Kajita |  Japan | Physics
2021  |  | Syukuro Manabe |  United States | Physics | Born in  Japan

## Chemistry

[edit]

As of 2019, there are 19 Asians or Asian Americans who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, with the Japanese comprising the most with 8 laureates.

Year | Image | Laureate | Country at the time of the award | Category | Comment

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1981  |  | Kenichi Fukui |  Japan | Chemistry | First Asian and Japanese Nobel laureate in Chemistry
1986  |  | Yuan T. Lee |  Taiwan and  United States | Chemistry | First Taiwanese Nobel laureate
1987  |  | Charles J. Pedersen |  United States | Chemistry | Japanese mother; born in Korea
2000  |  | Hideki Shirakawa |  Japan | Chemistry |
2001  |  | Ryōji Noyori |  Japan | Chemistry |
2002  |  | Koichi Tanaka |  Japan | Chemistry |
2004  |  | Aaron Ciechanover |  Israel | Chemistry |
2004  |  | Avram Hershko |  Israel | Chemistry |
2008  |  | Osamu Shimomura |  Japan | Chemistry |
2008  |  | Roger Y. Tsien |  United States | Chemistry | Born in United States
2009  |  | Venki Ramakrishnan |  United Kingdom and  United States | Chemistry | Born in India
2009  |  | Ada Yonath |  Israel | Chemistry |
2010  |  | Ei-ichi Negishi |  Japan | Chemistry |
2010  |  | Akira Suzuki |  Japan | Chemistry |
2011  |  | Dan Shechtman |  Israel | Chemistry |
2013  |  | Arieh Warshel |  Israel and  United States | Chemistry |
2013  |  | Michael Levitt |  Israel,  United Kingdom and  United States | Chemistry |
2015  |  | Aziz Sancar |  Turkey and  United States | Chemistry | First Turkish Nobel laureate in science
2019  |  | Akira Yoshino |  Japan | Chemistry |

## Physiology or Medicine

[edit]

As of 2018, there are 7 Asians who won Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, with the Japanese comprising the most with 5 laureates.

Year | Image | Laureate | Country at the time of the award | Category | Comment

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1968  |  | Har Gobind Khorana |  United States | Physiology or Medicine | First Asian and Indian Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine. Born in India
1987  |  | Susumu Tonegawa |  Japan | Physiology or Medicine | First Japanese Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine
2012  |  | Shinya Yamanaka |  Japan | Physiology or Medicine | First Nobel Medicine Laureate to achieve rewarded results in Asia
2015  |  | Satoshi Ōmura |  Japan | Physiology or Medicine |
2015  |  | Tu Youyou |  China | Physiology or Medicine | First Chinese woman Nobel laureate
2016  |  | Yoshinori Ohsumi |  Japan | Physiology or Medicine |
2018  |  | Tasuku Honjo |  Japan | Physiology or Medicine |

## Literature

[edit]

As of 2018, there are 8 Asians who won Nobel Prize in Literature, with the Japanese comprising the most with 3 laureates.

Year | Image | Laureate | Country at the time of the award | Category | Comment

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1913  |  | Rabindranath Tagore |  British India | Literature | First Asian and Indian Nobel laureate
1968  |  | Yasunari Kawabata |  Japan | Literature |
1994  |  | Kenzaburō Ōe |  Japan | Literature |
2000  |  | Gao Xingjian |  France | Literature | Born in China
2001  |  | V. S. Naipaul |  United Kingdom | Literature | Indian origin. Born in Trinidad and Tobago.
2006  |  | Orhan Pamuk |  Turkey | Literature | First Turkish Nobel laureate
2012  |  | Mo Yan |  China | Literature |
2017  |  | Kazuo Ishiguro |  United Kingdom | Literature | Born in  Japan

## Peace

[edit]

As of 2023, there are 22 Asians who won Nobel Prize in Peace, with the Israeli and Indian comprising the most with 3 laureates.

Year | Image | Laureate | Country at the time of the award | Category | Comment

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1973  |  | Lê Đức Thọ
(declined award) |  North Vietnam | Peace | First Asian and Vietnamese Nobel laureate in Peace
1974  |  | Eisaku Satō |  Japan | Peace |
1978  |  | Menachem Begin |  Israel | Peace |
1979  |  | Mother Teresa |  India | Peace | First Asian woman Nobel laureate
1989  |  | Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama |  India, China, and  Tibet | Peace | First Tibetan Nobel laureate
1991  |  | Aung San Suu Kyi |  Burma | Peace | First Myanmar Nobel laureate
1994  |  | Yasser Arafat |  Palestine | Peace | First Palestinian Arab in Nobel laureate
1994  |  | Shimon Peres |  Israel | Peace |
1994  |  | Yitzhak Rabin |  Israel | Peace |
1996  |  | Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo |  Timor-Leste | Peace | First Timorese Nobel laureate
1996  |  | José Ramos-Horta |  Timor-Leste | Peace | First Timorese Nobel laureate
2000  |  | Kim Dae-jung |  South Korea | Peace | First Korean Nobel laureate
2003  |  | Shirin Ebadi |  Iran | Peace | First Iranian Nobel laureate
2006  |  | Muhammad Yunus |  Bangladesh | Peace | First Bangladeshi Nobel laureate in Peace
2010  |  | Liu Xiaobo |  China | Peace | First Asian Nobel laureate in prison
2011  |  | Tawakkul Karman |  Yemen | Peace | First Arab Woman and First Yemeni Nobel laureate
2014  |  | Kailash Satyarthi |  India | Peace |
2014  |  | Malala Yousafzai |  Pakistan | Peace | First Pakistani Woman Nobel laureate and youngest Nobel laureate
2018  |  | Nadia Murad |  Iraq | Peace | First Iraqi Nobel laureate
2021  |  | Maria Ressa |  Philippines | Peace | First Filipino Nobel laureate
2023  |  | Narges Mohammadi |  Iran | Peace | Second Iranian Nobel laureate and awarded while in prison

## Economics

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As of 2019, four Asians have won the Nobel Prize in Economics.

Year | Image | Laureate | Country at the time of the award | Category | Comment

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1998  |  | Amartya Sen |  India | Economics | First Asian and Indian Nobel laureate in Economics.
2002  |  | Daniel Kahneman |  Israel and  United States | Economics |
2005  |  | Robert Aumann |  Israel and  United States | Economics |
2019  |  | Abhijit Banerjee |  United States | Economics | Born in India[3]

## Non-Asian born Laureates of Asian descent

[edit]

Main article: List of Chinese Nobel laureates § Laureates of Han Chinese linkage

## Non-Asian Laureates born in Asia

[edit]

Main article: List of Chinese Nobel laureates § Non-Chinese Laureates born in China

Main article: List of Japanese Nobel laureates § Laureates with Japanese linkage

Main article: List of Indian Nobel laureates § Others

## See also

[edit]

* List of Filipino Nobel laureates and nominees
* List of Nobel laureates by South Asian country

## References

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1. ^ "Nobel Prize" (2007), in Encyclopædia Britannica, accessed 14 November 2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online:

> An additional award, the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, was established in 1968 by the Bank of Sweden and was first awarded in 1969

2. ^ "All Nobel Laureates". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 2010-03-01.
3. ^ Hannon, Dominic Chopping and Paul. "Nobel Prize in Economics Awarded for Work Alleviating Poverty". WSJ. Retrieved 14 October 2019.

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