THE NOBEL PRIZE IN CHEMISTRY

A 1986 DNA model used by Aziz Sancar, who was awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

About the prize

“The said interest shall be divided into five equal parts, which shall be apportioned as follows: /- - -/ one part to the person who shall have made the most important chemical discovery or improvement...” (Excerpt from the will of Alfred Nobel.)

Chemistry was the most important science for Alfred Nobel’s own work. The development of his inventions as well as the industrial processes he employed were based upon chemical knowledge. Chemistry was the second prize area that Nobel mentioned in his will.

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded by The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden.

See all chemistry laureates or learn about the nomination process.

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WOMEN WHO CHANGED SCIENCE

Explore a new storytelling experience that celebrates and explores the contributions, careers and lives of the 19 women who have been awarded Nobel Prizes for their scientific achievements.

The 2018 Chemistry Laureates

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2018 with one half to Frances H. Arnold ”for the directed evolution of enzymes” and the other half jointly to George P. Smith and Sir Gregory P. Winter ”for the phage display of peptides and antibodies”.

Read the press release

Frances H. Arnold, George P. Smith and Sir Gregory P. Winter

Ill. Niklas Elmehed. © Nobel Media

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Articles in Chemistry

Featured laureates

Ernest Rutherford

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1908 for his investigations into the disintegration of the elements, and the chemistry of radioactive substances.

Marie Curie, née Sklodowska

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1911 in recognition of her services to the advancement of chemistry by the discovery of the elements radium and polonium, by the isolation of radium and the study of the nature and compounds of this remarkable element.

The Nobel Prize in Physics 1903 in recognition of the extraordinary services they have rendered by their joint researches on the radiation phenomena discovered by Professor Henri Becquerel.

Jacques Dubochet

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2017 for developing cryo-electron microscopy for the high-resolution structure determination of biomolecules in solution.

Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1964 for her determinations by X-ray techniques of the structures of important biochemical substances.

Linus Carl Pauling

The Nobel Peace Prize 1962

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1954 for his research into the nature of the chemical bond and its application to the elucidation of the structure of complex substances.