David Card
Economics, 2021 | Faculty
Card shared his prize for work that challenged orthodoxy and dramatically shifted understanding of inequality and the social and economic forces that impact low-wage workers.
David Julius Ph.D. ’84
Physiology or Medicine, 2021 Alum
Julius shared the prize with Ardem Patapoutian “for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch.”
Reinhard Genzel
Physics, 2020 | Faculty
Genzel won the physics prize for the discovery of, at the center of our galaxy, a black hole four million times the mass of our sun.
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Jennifer Doudna
Chemistry, 2020 | Faculty
Doudna shares her Nobel with colleague Emmanuelle Charpentier for the co-development of the genome editing breakthrough CRISPR-Cas9.
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Frances Arnold Ph.D. ’85
Chemistry, 2018 | Alum
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2018 was divided, one half awarded to Arnold for the directed evolution of enzymes, the other half to George P. Smith and Sir Gregory P. Winter.
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Barry Barish ’57, Ph.D. ’62
Physics, 2017 | Alum
For decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves, Barish shared his prize with Rainer Weiss and Kip Thorne.
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Eric Betzig
Chemistry, 2014 | Faculty
Betzig’s development of super-resolution fluorescence microscopy allows scientists to look inside cells and visualize the pathways of individual molecules.
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Randy Schekman
Physiology or Medicine, 2013 Faculty
Schekman discovered how cells export proteins, allowing the production and secretion of drugs by yeast cells and sparking a biotech revolution.
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David J. Wineland B.A. ’65
Physics, 2012 | Alum
Wineland and Serge Haroche jointly received the physics prize for groundbreaking experimental methods that enable measuring and manipulation of individual quantum systems.
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Thomas Sargent ’64
Economics, 2011 | Alum
The 2011 prize was awarded jointly to Sargent and Christopher Sims for their empirical research on cause and effect in the macroeconomy.
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Adam Guy Riess Miller Fellow ’96–99
Physics, 2011 | Alum
Berkeley professor Saul Perlmutter (a fellow Cal alum) led a team that discovered the accelerating expansion of the universe; the prize was awarded jointly to Riess and Brian Schmidt.
Saul Perlmutter Ph.D. ’86
Physics, 2011 | Faculty
Perlmutter led a team that discovered the accelerating expansion of the universe; the prize was awarded jointly to Adam Riess — a fellow Cal alum — and Brian Schmidt.
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Carol Greider Ph.D. ’87
Physiology or Medicine, 2009 Alum
With Elizabeth Blackburn and Jack Szostak, Greider received a Nobel for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase.
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Oliver Williamson
Economics, 2009 | Faculty
Williamson’s research on economic governance opened an analytic window into the “make or buy” decisions that all businesses face.
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Andrew Z. Fire ’78
Physiology or Medicine, 2006 Alum
Fire shared his prize with Craig Mello for their discovery of RNA interference — gene silencing by double-stranded RNA.
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John C. Mather Ph.D. ’74
Physics, 2006 | Alum
Mather and Berkeley professor George Smoot were recognized for their discovery of the blackbody form and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation.
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George Smoot
Physics, 2006 | Faculty
Astrophysicist Smoot shared this prize with Cal alum John Mather for imaging the infant universe.
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Thomas C. Schelling ’44
Economics, 2005 | Alum
Schelling shared his prize with Robert Aumann; they were recognized for enhancing understanding of conflict and cooperation through game-theory analysis.
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David Gross Ph.D. ’66
Physics, 2004 | Alum
Gross, H. David Politzer, and Frank Wilczek received the physics prize for the discovery of asymptotic freedom in the theory of the strong interaction.
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Daniel Kahneman Ph.D. ’61
Economics, 2002 | Alum
Kahneman, who shared the prize with Vernon Smith, contributed an integrated economic analysis with fundamental insights from cognitive psychology that laid the foundation for a new field of research.
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George Akerlof
Economics, 2001 | Faculty
Macroeconomist Akerlof broke with established economic theory in illustrating how markets malfunction when buyers and sellers have access to different information.
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Daniel McFadden
Economics, 2000 | Faculty
McFadden’s econometric methods for studying behavioral patterns in individual decision-making earned him the Nobel Prize.
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Alan Heeger Ph.D. ’61
Chemistry, 2000 | Alum
For the discovery and development of conductive polymers, Heeger shared his prize with Alan MacDiarmid and Hideki Shirakawa.
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Robert Laughlin ’72
Physics, 1998 | Alum
Laughlin shared his prize with Horst L. Störmer and Daniel C. Tsui for their discovery of a new form of quantum fluid with fractionally charged excitations.
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Steven Chu Ph.D. ’76
Physics, 1997 | Alum
The 1997 prize was awarded jointly to Chu, Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, and William D. Phillips for the development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light.
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Robert Curl Ph.D. ’57
Chemistry, 1996 | Alum
Curl, Sir Harold W. Kroto, and Richard E. Smalley were jointly awarded in chemistry for their discovery of fullerenes.
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Mario Molina Ph.D. ’72
Chemistry, 1995 | Alum
Mexican-born Molina shared his prize with Paul Crutzen and F. Sherwood Rowland for their work in atmospheric chemistry, particularly concerning the formation and decomposition of ozone.
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John Harsanyi
Economics, 1994 | Faculty
Harsanyi expanded the application of game theory, eventually addressing the prediction of outcomes in games or circumstances in which players lack complete information.
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Douglass North ’42, Ph.D. 1952
Economics, 1993 | Alum
For shedding new light on economic development in Europe and the United States before and in connection with the Industrial Revolution, North shared his prize with Robert Fogel.
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Kary Mullis Ph.D. ’73
Chemistry, 1993 | Alum
This prize recognized contributions to developments of methods within DNA-based chemistry, with one half to Mullis for his invention of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method, the other to Michael Smith.
Thomas Cech Ph.D. ’75
Chemistry, 1989 | Alum
Cech shared his prize with Sidney Altman for their discovery of catalytic properties of RNA.
Yuan T. Lee Ph.D. ’62
Chemistry, 1986 | Faculty
Lee designed experiments that sent streams of intensely packed molecules into each other at supersonic speeds, contributing to today’s powerful lasers.
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Gerard Debreu
Economics, 1983 | Faculty
Economist Debreu’s mathematical models provided the theoretical structure to explain the law of supply and demand.
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Henry Taube Ph.D. ’40
Chemistry, 1983 | Alum
Canadian Taube was honored for his work on the mechanisms of electron transfer reactions, especially in metal complexes.
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Czeslow Milosz
Literature, 1980 | Faculty
Milosz’s poetry was prohibited by the Communist government of his native Poland; this ban ended when he was awarded the Nobel Prize.
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Lawrence Klein ’42
Economics, 1980 | Alum
Klein was recognized for the creation of econometric models and the application to the analysis of economic fluctuations and economic policies.
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Hamilton Smith ’52
Physiology or Medicine, 1978 Alum
Smith, Werner Arberm, and Daniel Nathans earned their shared Nobel for the discovery of restriction enzymes and their application to problems of molecular genetics.
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Luis Alvarez
Physics, 1968 | Faculty
Substituting hydrogen for ether in Donald Glaser’s bubble chamber, Alvarez produced a clearer track of speeding particles.
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Charles Townes
Physics, 1964 | Faculty
Townes’s research into the properties of light while designing radar systems during World War II led to the development of the laser.
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Melvin Calvin
Chemistry, 1961 | Faculty
Calvin revealed the complete path of carbon in photosynthesis to explain how plants convert sunlight to food.
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Donald Glaser
Physics, 1960 | Faculty
Glaser’s invention of the bubble chamber allowed scientists to track the movement of atomic particles.
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Emilio Segrè
Physics, 1959 | Faculty
Segrè and Owen Chamberlain discovered the anti-proton, signaling a major leap in the study of matter and antimatter.
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Owen Chamberlain
Physics, 1959 | Faculty
Chamberlain and Emilio Segrè discovered the anti-proton, signaling a major leap in the study of matter and antimatter.
Willis Lamb ’34, Ph.D. ’38
Physics, 1955 | Alum
Lamb, who shared the prize with Polykarp Kusch, was recognized for his discoveries concerning the fine structure of the hydrogen spectrum.
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Selman Waksman Ph.D. 1918
Physiology or Medicine, 1952 Alum
Waksman was recognized for his discovery of streptomycin, the first antibiotic effective against tuberculosis.
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Glenn Seaborg Ph.D. ’37
Chemistry, 1951 | Faculty
Seaborg continued Edwin McMillan’s studies on the transuranium elements, and in 1942, he discovered plutonium.
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Edwin McMillan
Chemistry, 1951 | Faculty
McMillan discovered the element neptunium in 1940; he shared his Nobel with Glenn Seaborg.
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William Giauque B.S. 1920, Ph.D. 1922
Chemistry, 1949 | Faculty
By reaching below Absolute Zero for the first time in history, Giauque’s work proved one of the most basic laws of nature.
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Wendell Stanley
Chemistry, 1946 | Faculty
Stanley and John Howard Northrop share a chemistry prize; one for isolating a pure enzyme for the first time and the other for isolating a virus, respectively.
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John Howard Northrop
Chemistry, 1946 | Faculty
Northrop and Wendell Stanley share a chemistry prize; one for isolating a pure enzyme for the first time and the other for isolating a virus, respectively.
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Joseph Erlanger 1895
Physiology or Medicine, 1944 Alum
Erlanger shared his prize with Herbert S. Gasser for their discoveries relating to the highly differentiated functions of single nerve fibers.
Ernest Lawrence
Physics, 1939 | Faculty
Lawrence, awarded for his work on the cyclotron, was the first Nobelist at a public university.
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Harold Urey Ph.D. 1923
Chemistry, 1934 | Alum
Urey was recognized for his discovery of heavy hydrogen.
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