Harvard University
Nobels at Harvard
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Gary Ruvkun, professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School and an investigator at the Massachusetts General Hospital, has received the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of microRNAs, a class of tiny RNA molecules that regulate the activities of target genes in plants and animals, including humans.
A prized community
I am standing here because I have students. My students are my muses.”Claudia Goldin
2023 Nobel Memorial Prize laureate in Economic Sciences
Journalist Maria Ressa was a fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School when she received the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts “to safeguard freedom of expression.”
Economist and philosopher Amartya Sen, one of the founding fathers of modern social choice theory, was awarded a Nobel in 1998 for his work on poverty and famine.
In 2022, Harvard alum Carolyn Bertozzi was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the development of click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry.
Roy Glauber, a pioneering theoretical physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2005, was one of the last living scientists to have been present for the dawn of the atomic age.
After the win, the work continues
For many Nobel Prize recipients, from Harvard and beyond, the award helps them further their research and continue to explore their passions.
Planting the seeds of change
Journalist Tawakkol Karman, who is one of the youngest recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize as well as the first Arab woman to receive the honor, spoke at Harvard in 2012.
Addressing the wealth gap
The alarming wealth and income gap in the U.S. is a topic Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz wrote about a decade ago and continues to speak and write about today.
Countering fear with empathy
After successfully fighting for a right to education in India, Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi visited Harvard to spread his ideas on a globalization of compassion.
Getting the call
What is it like to get the news that you’ve received a Nobel Prize? These faculty members know first hand.
“My heart started racing, I was overwhelmed.”
“I’m incredibly happy. I have millions of emails and phone calls.”
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