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Harvard University

Nobels at Harvard

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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.

Read more about his work

I am standing here because I have students. My students are my muses.”

Claudia Goldin

2023 Nobel Memorial Prize laureate in Economic Sciences

Claudia Goldin standing outside

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.

A man receives a Nobel Prize in a ceremony

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.

Learn more about life after a Nobel Prize

Getting the call

What is it like to get the news that you’ve received a Nobel Prize? These faculty members know first hand.