Nobel Prize in Physics
Jewish recipients of the Nobel Prize in Physics documented in the ThankJews directory. Jews are about 25% of all recipients — while making up roughly 0.2% of the world's population.
57 documented recipients
Albert Michelson1907
Precision optical instruments and interferometry; first accurate measurements of the speed of light
Source: Jinfo.org / Nobel Prize Physics 1907
Gabriel Lippmann1908
Invented interference method of color photography; Nobel Physics 1908
Source: Nobelprize.org
Albert Einstein1905
Theory of Relativity
Source: Nobel Prize Physics 1921
Niels Bohr1913
Atomic Structure
Source: Nobel Prize Physics 1922
James Franck1882
Nobel-winning physicist who later made key contributions to the study of photosynthesis
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Biomedical Science
Otto Stern1888
Physicist; the Stern-Gerlach experiment and molecular beam method, Nobel Prize 1943
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Physics
Isidor Rabi1944
Resonance method for recording the magnetic properties of atomic nuclei (NMR)
Source: Jinfo.org / Nobel Prize Physics 1944
Wolfgang Pauli1945
Discovery of the exclusion principle governing electron behavior
Source: Jinfo.org / Nobel Prize Physics 1945
Felix Bloch1905
Physicist, co-developer of nuclear magnetic resonance; Nobel Prize in Physics 1952
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Chemistry
Max Born1954
Statistical interpretation of the quantum-mechanical wave function
Source: Jinfo.org / Nobel Prize Physics 1954
Ilya Frank1908
Physicist; theory of Cherenkov radiation, Nobel Prize 1958
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Physics
Emilio Segrè1905
Physicist; discovered the antiproton, Nobel Prize 1959
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Physics
Donald Glaser1926
Physicist; invented the bubble chamber, Nobel Prize 1960
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Physics
Robert Hofstadter1915
Physicist; electron scattering revealing nucleon structure, Nobel Prize 1961
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Physics
Lev Landau1908
Theoretical physicist; superfluidity theory, condensed matter, Nobel Prize 1962
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Physics
Eugene Wigner1902
Mathematical physics; group theory in quantum mechanics (Nobel)
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Mathematics
Richard Feynman1948
Quantum Electrodynamics
Source: Nobel Prize Physics 1965
Julian Schwinger1918
Physicist; co-founder of quantum electrodynamics (QED), Nobel Prize 1965
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Physics
Hans Bethe1945
Manhattan Project Theoretical Division Head
Source: Nobel Prize Physics 1967
Murray Gell-Mann1969
Classification of elementary particles and their interactions (quark theory)
Source: Jinfo.org / Nobel Prize Physics 1969
Dennis Gabor1947
Holography
Source: Nobel Prize Physics 1971
Leon Cooper1930
Physicist; co-author of BCS theory of superconductivity (Cooper pairs), Nobel Prize 1972
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Physics
Brian Josephson1940
Physicist; predicted the Josephson effect in superconductors, Nobel Prize 1973
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Physics
James Rainwater1975
Nobel laureate in physics (1975) for the structure of atomic nuclei
Source: Jinfo.org — Jewish Nobel Prize winners in Physics
Ben Mottelson1975
Nobel laureate in physics (1975) for nuclear structure; Atoms for Peace Award (1969)
Source: Jinfo.org — Jewish Nobel Prize winners in Physics
Burton Richter1931
Physicist; discovered the J/psi particle (charm quark), Nobel Prize 1976
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Physics
Arno Penzias1933
Physicist; discovered the cosmic microwave background, Nobel Prize 1978
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Physics
Sheldon Glashow1932
Physicist; electroweak unification theory, Nobel Prize 1979
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Physics
Steven Weinberg1979
Unified theory of the electromagnetic and weak forces (electroweak unification)
Source: Jinfo.org / Nobel Prize Physics 1979
Arthur Schawlow1921
Physicist; laser spectroscopy, Nobel Prize 1981
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Physics
Leon Lederman1922
Physicist; discovered the muon neutrino, Nobel Prize 1988
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Physics
Melvin Schwartz1932
Physicist; discovered the muon neutrino, Nobel Prize 1988
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Physics
Jack Steinberger1921
Physicist; discovered the muon neutrino, Nobel Prize 1988
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Physics
Jerome Friedman1930
Physicist; deep inelastic scattering revealing quarks, Nobel Prize 1990
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Physics
Georges Charpak1924
Physicist; invented the multiwire proportional chamber particle detector, Nobel Prize 1992
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Physics
Martin Perl1927
Physicist; discovered the tau lepton, Nobel Prize 1995
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Physics
Frederick Reines1918
Physicist; first experimental detection of the neutrino, Nobel Prize 1995
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Physics
David Lee1931
Physicist; discovered superfluidity in helium-3, Nobel Prize 1996
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Physics
Douglas Osheroff1945
Physicist; discovered superfluidity in helium-3, Nobel Prize 1996
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Physics
Claude Cohen-Tannoudji1997
Methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light
Source: Jinfo.org / Nobel Prize Physics 1997
Zhores Alferov1930
Physicist; semiconductor heterostructures for optoelectronics, Nobel Prize 2000
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Physics
Vitaly Ginzburg1916
Physicist; Ginzburg-Landau theory of superconductivity, Nobel Prize 2003
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Physics
Alexei Abrikosov1928
Physicist; theory of vortices in type-II superconductors, Nobel Prize 2003
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Physics
David Gross1941
Physicist; discovered asymptotic freedom in QCD, Nobel Prize 2004
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Physics
H. David Politzer1949
Physicist; discovered asymptotic freedom in QCD, Nobel Prize 2004
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Physics
Roy Glauber1925
Physicist; quantum theory of optical coherence, Nobel Prize 2005
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Physics
Saul Perlmutter2011
Discovery of the accelerating expansion of the universe via distant supernovae
Source: Jinfo.org / Nobel Prize Physics 2011
Adam Riess1969
Astrophysicist; discovered the accelerating universe, Nobel Prize 2011
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Physics
Serge Haroche1944
Physicist; measuring and manipulating individual quantum systems, Nobel Prize 2012
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Physics
François Englert2013
Theory of the mechanism giving elementary particles mass (Higgs mechanism)
Source: Jinfo.org / Nobel Prize Physics 2013
Michael Kosterlitz2016
Nobel laureate in physics (2016) for topological phase transitions (the KT transition)
Source: Jinfo.org — Jewish Nobel Prize winners in Physics
Barry Barish1936
Physicist; leadership of LIGO detection of gravitational waves, Nobel Prize 2017
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Physics
Rainer Weiss2017
Decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves
Source: Jinfo.org / Nobel Prize Physics 2017
Arthur Ashkin1922
Physicist; invented optical tweezers, Nobel Prize 2018
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Physics
Andrea Ghez1965
Astronomer; evidence for the supermassive black hole at the galactic center, Nobel Prize 2020
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Physics
Roger Penrose1931
Mathematical physicist; black hole singularity theorems, Nobel Prize 2020
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Physics
Michel Devoret1953
Physicist; quantum electronics and superconducting qubits
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Physics