2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded jointly to Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael W. Young for their discoveries of molecular mechanisms controlling the circadian rhythm.
Jeffrey C. Hall was born 1945 in New York, USA. He received his doctoral degree in 1971 at the University of Washington in Seattle and was a postdoctoral fellow at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena from 1971 to 1973. He joined the faculty at Brandeis University in Waltham in 1974. In 2002, he became associated with University of Maine.
Michael Rosbash was born in 1944 in Kansas City, USA. He received his doctoral degree in 1970 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. During the following three years, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. Since 1974, he has been on faculty at Brandeis University in Waltham, USA.
Michael W. Young was born in 1949 in Miami, USA. He received his doctoral degree at the University of Texas in Austin in 1975. Between 1975 and 1977, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University in Palo Alto. From 1978, he has been on faculty at the Rockefeller University in New York.
Previous Winners: Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2016
Yoshinori Ohsumi
“for his discoveries of mechanisms for autophagy”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2015
William C. Campbell and Satoshi Ōmura
“for their discoveries concerning a novel therapy against infections caused by roundworm parasites”
Youyou Tu
“for her discoveries concerning a novel therapy against Malaria”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2014
John O’Keefe, May-Britt Moser and Edvard I. Moser
“for their discoveries of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2013
James E. Rothman, Randy W. Schekman and Thomas C. Südhof
“for their discoveries of machinery regulating vesicle traffic, a major transport system in our cells”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2012
Sir John B. Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka
“for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2011
Bruce A. Beutler and Jules A. Hoffmann
“for their discoveries concerning the activation of innate immunity”
Ralph M. Steinman
“for his discovery of the dendritic cell and its role in adaptive immunity”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2010
Robert G. Edwards
“for the development of in vitro fertilization”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2009
Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak
“for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2008
Harald zur Hausen
“for his discovery of human papilloma viruses causing cervical cancer”
Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier
“for their discovery of human immunodeficiency virus”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2007
Mario R. Capecchi, Sir Martin J. Evans and Oliver Smithies
“for their discoveries of principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem cells”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2006
Andrew Z. Fire and Craig C. Mello
“for their discovery of RNA interference – gene silencing by double-stranded RNA”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2005
Barry J. Marshall and J. Robin Warren
“for their discovery of the bacterium Helicobacter pylori and its role in gastritis and peptic ulcer disease”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2004
Richard Axel and Linda B. Buck
“for their discoveries of odorant receptors and the organization of the olfactory system”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2003
Paul C. Lauterbur and Sir Peter Mansfield
“for their discoveries concerning magnetic resonance imaging”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2002
Sydney Brenner, H. Robert Horvitz and John E. Sulston
“for their discoveries concerning genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death'”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2001
Leland H. Hartwell, Tim Hunt and Sir Paul M. Nurse
“for their discoveries of key regulators of the cell cycle”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2000
Arvid Carlsson, Paul Greengard and Eric R. Kandel
“for their discoveries concerning signal transduction in the nervous system”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1999
Günter Blobel
“for the discovery that proteins have intrinsic signals that govern their transport and localization in the cell”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1998
Robert F. Furchgott, Louis J. Ignarro and Ferid Murad
“for their discoveries concerning nitric oxide as a signalling molecule in the cardiovascular system”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1997
Stanley B. Prusiner
“for his discovery of Prions – a new biological principle of infection”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1996
Peter C. Doherty and Rolf M. Zinkernagel
“for their discoveries concerning the specificity of the cell mediated immune defence”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1995
Edward B. Lewis, Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard and Eric F. Wieschaus
“for their discoveries concerning the genetic control of early embryonic development”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1994
Alfred G. Gilman and Martin Rodbell
“for their discovery of G-proteins and the role of these proteins in signal transduction in cells”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1993
Richard J. Roberts and Phillip A. Sharp
“for their discoveries of split genes”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1992
Edmond H. Fischer and Edwin G. Krebs
“for their discoveries concerning reversible protein phosphorylation as a biological regulatory mechanism”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1991
Erwin Neher and Bert Sakmann
“for their discoveries concerning the function of single ion channels in cells”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1990
Joseph E. Murray and E. Donnall Thomas
“for their discoveries concerning organ and cell transplantation in the treatment of human disease”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1989
J. Michael Bishop and Harold E. Varmus
“for their discovery of the cellular origin of retroviral oncogenes”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1988
Sir James W. Black, Gertrude B. Elion and George H. Hitchings
“for their discoveries of important principles for drug treatment”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1987
Susumu Tonegawa
“for his discovery of the genetic principle for generation of antibody diversity”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1986
Stanley Cohen and Rita Levi-Montalcini
“for their discoveries of growth factors”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1985
Michael S. Brown and Joseph L. Goldstein
“for their discoveries concerning the regulation of cholesterol metabolism”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1984
Niels K. Jerne, Georges J.F. Köhler and César Milstein
“for theories concerning the specificity in development and control of the immune system and the discovery of the principle for production of monoclonal antibodies”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1983
Barbara McClintock
“for her discovery of mobile genetic elements”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1982
Sune K. Bergström, Bengt I. Samuelsson and John R. Vane
“for their discoveries concerning prostaglandins and related biologically active substances”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1981
Roger W. Sperry
“for his discoveries concerning the functional specialization of the cerebral hemispheres”
David H. Hubel and Torsten N. Wiesel
“for their discoveries concerning information processing in the visual system”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1980
Baruj Benacerraf, Jean Dausset and George D. Snell
“for their discoveries concerning genetically determined structures on the cell surface that regulate immunological reactions”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1979
Allan M. Cormack and Godfrey N. Hounsfield
“for the development of computer assisted tomography”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1978
Werner Arber, Daniel Nathans and Hamilton O. Smith
“for the discovery of restriction enzymes and their application to problems of molecular genetics”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1977
Roger Guillemin and Andrew V. Schally
“for their discoveries concerning the peptide hormone production of the brain”
Rosalyn Yalow
“for the development of radioimmunoassays of peptide hormones”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1976
Baruch S. Blumberg and D. Carleton Gajdusek
“for their discoveries concerning new mechanisms for the origin and dissemination of infectious diseases”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1975
David Baltimore, Renato Dulbecco and Howard Martin Temin
“for their discoveries concerning the interaction between tumour viruses and the genetic material of the cell”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1974
Albert Claude, Christian de Duve and George E. Palade
“for their discoveries concerning the structural and functional organization of the cell”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1973
Karl von Frisch, Konrad Lorenz and Nikolaas Tinbergen
“for their discoveries concerning organization and elicitation of individual and social behaviour patterns”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1972
Gerald M. Edelman and Rodney R. Porter
“for their discoveries concerning the chemical structure of antibodies”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1971
Earl W. Sutherland, Jr.
“for his discoveries concerning the mechanisms of the action of hormones”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1970
Sir Bernard Katz, Ulf von Euler and Julius Axelrod
“for their discoveries concerning the humoral transmittors in the nerve terminals and the mechanism for their storage, release and inactivation”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1969
Max Delbrück, Alfred D. Hershey and Salvador E. Luria
“for their discoveries concerning the replication mechanism and the genetic structure of viruses”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1968
Robert W. Holley, Har Gobind Khorana and Marshall W. Nirenberg
“for their interpretation of the genetic code and its function in protein synthesis”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1967
Ragnar Granit, Haldan Keffer Hartline and George Wald
“for their discoveries concerning the primary physiological and chemical visual processes in the eye”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1966
Peyton Rous
“for his discovery of tumour-inducing viruses”
Charles Brenton Huggins
“for his discoveries concerning hormonal treatment of prostatic cancer”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1965
François Jacob, André Lwoff and Jacques Monod
“for their discoveries concerning genetic control of enzyme and virus synthesis”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1964
Konrad Bloch and Feodor Lynen
“for their discoveries concerning the mechanism and regulation of the cholesterol and fatty acid metabolism”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1963
Sir John Carew Eccles, Alan Lloyd Hodgkin and Andrew Fielding Huxley
“for their discoveries concerning the ionic mechanisms involved in excitation and inhibition in the peripheral and central portions of the nerve cell membrane”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1962
Francis Harry Compton Crick, James Dewey Watson and Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins
“for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1961
Georg von Békésy
“for his discoveries of the physical mechanism of stimulation within the cochlea”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1960
Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet and Peter Brian Medawar
“for discovery of acquired immunological tolerance”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1959
Severo Ochoa and Arthur Kornberg
“for their discovery of the mechanisms in the biological synthesis of ribonucleic acid and deoxyribonucleic acid”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1958
George Wells Beadle and Edward Lawrie Tatum
“for their discovery that genes act by regulating definite chemical events”
Joshua Lederberg
“for his discoveries concerning genetic recombination and the organization of the genetic material of bacteria”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1957
Daniel Bovet
“for his discoveries relating to synthetic compounds that inhibit the action of certain body substances, and especially their action on the vascular system and the skeletal muscles”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1956
André Frédéric Cournand, Werner Forssmann and Dickinson W. Richards
“for their discoveries concerning heart catheterization and pathological changes in the circulatory system”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1955
Axel Hugo Theodor Theorell
“for his discoveries concerning the nature and mode of action of oxidation enzymes”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1954
John Franklin Enders, Thomas Huckle Weller and Frederick Chapman Robbins
“for their discovery of the ability of poliomyelitis viruses to grow in cultures of various types of tissue”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1953
Hans Adolf Krebs
“for his discovery of the citric acid cycle”
Fritz Albert Lipmann
“for his discovery of co-enzyme A and its importance for intermediary metabolism”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1952
Selman Abraham Waksman
“for his discovery of streptomycin, the first antibiotic effective against tuberculosis”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1951
Max Theiler
“for his discoveries concerning yellow fever and how to combat it”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1950
Edward Calvin Kendall, Tadeus Reichstein and Philip Showalter Hench
“for their discoveries relating to the hormones of the adrenal cortex, their structure and biological effects”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1949
Walter Rudolf Hess
“for his discovery of the functional organization of the interbrain as a coordinator of the activities of the internal organs”
Antonio Caetano de Abreu Freire Egas Moniz
“for his discovery of the therapeutic value of leucotomy in certain psychoses”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1948
Paul Hermann Müller
“for his discovery of the high efficiency of DDT as a contact poison against several arthropods”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1947
Carl Ferdinand Cori and Gerty Theresa Cori, née Radnitz
“for their discovery of the course of the catalytic conversion of glycogen”
Bernardo Alberto Houssay
“for his discovery of the part played by the hormone of the anterior pituitary lobe in the metabolism of sugar”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1946
Hermann Joseph Muller
“for the discovery of the production of mutations by means of X-ray irradiation”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1945
Sir Alexander Fleming, Ernst Boris Chain and Sir Howard Walter Florey
“for the discovery of penicillin and its curative effect in various infectious diseases”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1944
Joseph Erlanger and Herbert Spencer Gasser
“for their discoveries relating to the highly differentiated functions of single nerve fibres”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1943
Henrik Carl Peter Dam
“for his discovery of vitamin K”
Edward Adelbert Doisy
“for his discovery of the chemical nature of vitamin K”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1942
No Nobel Prize was awarded this year. The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section.
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1941
No Nobel Prize was awarded this year. The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section.
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1940
No Nobel Prize was awarded this year. The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section.
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1939
Gerhard Domagk
“for the discovery of the antibacterial effects of prontosil”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1938
Corneille Jean François Heymans
“for the discovery of the role played by the sinus and aortic mechanisms in the regulation of respiration”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1937
Albert von Szent-Györgyi Nagyrápolt
“for his discoveries in connection with the biological combustion processes, with special reference to vitamin C and the catalysis of fumaric acid”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1936
Sir Henry Hallett Dale and Otto Loewi
“for their discoveries relating to chemical transmission of nerve impulses”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1935
Hans Spemann
“for his discovery of the organizer effect in embryonic development”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1934
George Hoyt Whipple, George Richards Minot and William Parry Murphy
“for their discoveries concerning liver therapy in cases of anaemia”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1933
Thomas Hunt Morgan
“for his discoveries concerning the role played by the chromosome in heredity”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1932
Sir Charles Scott Sherrington and Edgar Douglas Adrian
“for their discoveries regarding the functions of neurons”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1931
Otto Heinrich Warburg
“for his discovery of the nature and mode of action of the respiratory enzyme”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1930
Karl Landsteiner
“for his discovery of human blood groups”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1929
Christiaan Eijkman
“for his discovery of the antineuritic vitamin”
Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins
“for his discovery of the growth-stimulating vitamins”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1928
Charles Jules Henri Nicolle
“for his work on typhus”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1927
Julius Wagner-Jauregg
“for his discovery of the therapeutic value of malaria inoculation in the treatment of dementia paralytica”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1926
Johannes Andreas Grib Fibiger
“for his discovery of the Spiroptera carcinoma”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1925
No Nobel Prize was awarded this year. The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section.
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1924
Willem Einthoven
“for his discovery of the mechanism of the electrocardiogram”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1923
Frederick Grant Banting and John James Rickard Macleod
“for the discovery of insulin”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1922
Archibald Vivian Hill
“for his discovery relating to the production of heat in the muscle”
Otto Fritz Meyerhof
“for his discovery of the fixed relationship between the consumption of oxygen and the metabolism of lactic acid in the muscle”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1921
No Nobel Prize was awarded this year. The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section.
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1920
Schack August Steenberg Krogh
“for his discovery of the capillary motor regulating mechanism”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1919
Jules Bordet
“for his discoveries relating to immunity”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1918
No Nobel Prize was awarded this year. The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section.
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1917
No Nobel Prize was awarded this year. The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section.
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1916
No Nobel Prize was awarded this year. The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section.
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1915
No Nobel Prize was awarded this year. The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section.
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1914
Robert Bárány
“for his work on the physiology and pathology of the vestibular apparatus”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1913
Charles Robert Richet
“in recognition of his work on anaphylaxis”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1912
Alexis Carrel
“in recognition of his work on vascular suture and the transplantation of blood vessels and organs”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1911
Allvar Gullstrand
“for his work on the dioptrics of the eye”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1910
Albrecht Kossel
“in recognition of the contributions to our knowledge of cell chemistry made through his work on proteins, including the nucleic substances”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1909
Emil Theodor Kocher
“for his work on the physiology, pathology and surgery of the thyroid gland”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1908
Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov and Paul Ehrlich
“in recognition of their work on immunity”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1907
Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran
“in recognition of his work on the role played by protozoa in causing diseases”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1906
Camillo Golgi and Santiago Ramón y Cajal
“in recognition of their work on the structure of the nervous system”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1905
Robert Koch
“for his investigations and discoveries in relation to tuberculosis”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1904
Ivan Petrovich Pavlov
“in recognition of his work on the physiology of digestion, through which knowledge on vital aspects of the subject has been transformed and enlarged”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1903
Niels Ryberg Finsen
“in recognition of his contribution to the treatment of diseases, especially lupus vulgaris, with concentrated light radiation, whereby he has opened a new avenue for medical science”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1902
Ronald Ross
“for his work on malaria, by which he has shown how it enters the organism and thereby has laid the foundation for successful research on this disease and methods of combating it”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1901
Emil Adolf von Behring
“for his work on serum therapy, especially its application against diphtheria, by which he has opened a new road in the domain of medical science and thereby placed in the hands of the physician a victorious weapon against illness and deaths”
