For the Greatest Benefit Of Humankind

Establish by Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel, the Nobel Prizes are awarded each year to those whose work is "the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and peace were first awarded in 1901, with an economic award following nearly 70 years later. While some Nobel prize winners' names are forever etched in history, others have been forgotten.

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1. C. V. Raman

A child prodigy, C. V. Raman completed his master's in physics at the age of 17. Raman won the Nobel Prize in 1930, for his discovery of the Raman Effect, which explored the scattering of light. Raman's collaborator, K. S. Krishnan, was not nominated for the prize, and the two men were bitter enemies for the rest of their lives.

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2. Lord Rayleigh

Raman's work on the scattering of light would not have been possible without the contributions of Lord Rayleigh, who literally explained why the sky is blue. However, Rayleigh won the Prize in 1904 for his work with nitrogen and oxygen. He discovered argon as part of his research.

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3. Dorothy Hodgkin

Dorothy Hodgkin was an English crystallographer, someone who studies how atoms are arranged in crystals. Hodgkin used x-rays to aid in her study of crystallography, particularly the structures of penicillin, vitamin B12, and insulin. Hodgkin was awarded the Nobel prize in 1964.

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4. Frederick Sanger

Frederick Sanger is one of the rare laureates to win multiple prizes in the same category, both in medicine. Sanger first won the prize in 1958 for determining the amino acid sequence of insulin, something we will return to later in this article. He won it a second time in 1980 for further work on acid sequences with Paul Berg and Walter Gilbert.

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5. Robert Koch

Robert Koch is regarded as the father of microbiology and anthrax, providing proof for germ theory. Koch was awarded the Nobel in 1905 for his work on tuberculosis. Tuberculosis remains the deadly disease in history, though most of us have the luxury of not worrying about it in the 21st century.

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6. Gerty & Carl Cori

Husband-and-wife duo Carl and Gerty Cori won the prize for medicine in 1947. Their work examined the way that energy is converted for the body's use. Interestingly, many academics discouraged the Coris from working together, with Carl turning down prestigious positions that wouldn't allow him to work with Gerty.

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7. Selma Lagerlöf 

Not only was Selma Lagerlöf the first woman to win a Nobel Prize in literature, she was also the first woman to be granted membership to the exclusive Swedish Academy, the body that decides the prize. Lagerlöf won the Nobel in 1909 for her "lofty idealism, vivid imagination & spiritual perception". A film adaptation of her most famous work, The Saga of Gösta Berling, helped launch the career of Greta Garbo.

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8. Rabindranath Tagore

The first non-white Nobel Laureate, Rabindranath Tagore's devotional poetry is still beloved in India. In addition to writing poetry, plays and philosophy, Tagore was also a composer, painter, and social reformer—talk about a stacked resume! He was awarded the Nobel in 1913 for his "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse."

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9. Emily Greene Balch

Emily Greene Balch was born into a wealthy Boston family, and dedicated her life to uplifting the poor, specifically immigrants and child laborers. Balch was one of the founders of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, which seeks to end war and liberate women. Balch won the Peace Prize in 1946, shared with John Mott.

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10. Fridtjof Nansen

Fridtjof Nansen was the first High Commissioner for Refugees as appointed by the League of Nations. As High Commissioner, he facilitated POW exchanges following WWII, provided famine relief in Russia, and developed the Nansen passport for stateless and displaced peoples. Nansen was awarded the Peace Prize in 1922.

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Now that we've shed some light on a few forgotten winners, let's look at a few that have stood the test of time.

1. Albert Einstein

The most famous scientist to have ever lived, it's impossible to sum up Albert Einstein's impact in just a few words. Einstein won the Prize for physics in 1921 "for his services to theoretical physics". Some of these services included the law of the photoelectric effect, and the world's most famous equation: E = mc².

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2. Niels Bohr

A name familiar to physicists everywhere, Niels Bohr developed the Bohr model of the atom. Bohr proposed that atoms are like our solar system, with electrons orbiting the nucleus like planets orbiting the sun. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1922.

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3. Marie Skłodowska-Curie

Marie Skłodowska-Curie surely needs no introduction, but just in case...This Polish-French chemist is one of few people to have a Nobel Prize in two different fields. She won the prize in physics alongside her husband in 1903, for their work on radiation, and another in chemistry in 1911 for discovering radium and polonium.

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4. Linus Pauling

The only other person to win Nobels in different fields, you may not know Linus Pauling's name, but you definitely know his work. Pauling published significant work on the nature of the chemical bond, winning the Nobel for chemistry in 1954. Pauling later won the Peace Prize in 1962 for opposing nuclear warfare.

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5. Ivan Pavlov

The name Ivan Pavlov should ring a bell for anyone who's taken a Psych 101 class. However, Pavlov won the Nobel not for his contributions to psychology, but for medicine! He was awarded in 1904 for his contributions to the study of digestion, during which he discovered classical conditioning.

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6. Frederick Banting

100 years ago, type 1 diabetes was a death sentence, even for the wealthy. The discovery of insulin in 1921 has given millions of people the gift of life. We have Frederick Banting to thank for it; he was awarded the Nobel in 1923, along with his collaborator John Macleod.

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7. Ernest Hemingway

Few writers have had as much of an impact on American classrooms as Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway's economical style was influenced by his early careers as a journalist, which gave his prose a lean & punchy quality. Hemingway was awarded in 1954 for "his mastery of the art of narrative" and influence on contemporary style.

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8. Toni Morrison

One of the most challenged authors in American libraries today, Toni Morrison is known for incendiary works such as Beloved and The Bluest Eye. Morrison's work highlights the experiences of Black Americans while examining the legacies of collective trauma. Morrison won the Nobel in 1993 won novels which "[gave] life to an essential aspect of American reality.

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9. Malala Yousafzai

An advocate for girls' education, Malala Yousafzai won the Nobel Peace Prize at just 17. Inspired by Martin Luther King Jr. and Benazir Butto, Yousafzai began protesting the closure of girls' schools in Pakistan, which resulted on an attempt on her life by the Taliban. Yousafzai won the Nobel Prize in 2014, along with Kailash Satyarthi.

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10. Mother Teresa

Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu, better known as Saint Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata, India. Mother Teresa worked with "the poorest of the poor", those sick with leprosy, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 and was canonized as a saint in 2017. 

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