Nobel Laureates Affiliated with Cornell University

Forty-four Nobel Prize winners have been affiliated with Cornell University as alumni or faculty members.

Current Faculty Members

  • Roald Hoffmann, the Frank H.T. Rhodes Professor in Humane Letters, 1981 Prize in Chemistry
  • David M. Lee, professor emeritus of physics, 1996 Prize in Physics

Alumni

  • George W. Beadle, '31 Ph.D. Genetics, 1958 Prize in Physiology or Medicine (also was professor of agriculture)
  • Eric Betzig, M.S. ’85, Ph.D. ’88, 2014 Prize in Chemistry
  • Pearl Buck, '25 M.A., 1938 Prize in Literature
  • Robert F. Engle III, '66 M.S., '69 Ph.D., 2003 Prize in Economics
  • Robert W. Fogel, '48 A.B. Economics, 1993 Prize in Economics
  • Sheldon Glashow, '54 B.S. Physics, 1979 Prize in Physics
  • Barbara McClintock, '23 B.S. Botany, '25 M.A., '27 Ph.D. Plant Genetics, 1983 Prize in Physiology or Medicine
  • William Moerner, M.S. ’78, Ph.D. ’82, 2014 Prize in Chemistry
  • Toni Morrison, '55 M.A. English, 1993 Prize in Literature
  • John R. Mott, '88 B.S. Philosophy, 1946 Peace Prize
  • Hermann J. Muller, graduate study 1911-12, 1946 Prize for Physiology or Medicine
  • Douglas Osheroff, '73 Ph.D., 1996 Prize in Physics
  • Isidor Isaac Rabi, '19 B.S. Chemistry and graduate study, 1944 Prize in Physics
  • Jack Szostak, Ph.D. '77 Biochemistry, 2009 Prize in Physiology or Medicine
  • Steven Weinberg, '54 B.S. Physics, 1979 Prize in Physics

Former Cornell Faculty Members

  • Hannes Alfven, Distinguished Professor in Engineering, 1970 Prize in Physics
  • Hans Bethe, the John Wendell Anderson Professor of Physics (1935-2005), 1967 Prize in Physics
  • Norman E. Borlaug, A.D. White Professor-at-Large (1982-88), 1970 Peace Prize
  • Peter J.W. Debye, Professor and Chairman (1940-50) of Chemistry, 1936 Prize in Chemistry
  • Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, A.D. White Professor-at-Large (1977-83) and Bethe Lecturer in Physics (1989-90), 1991 Prize in Physics
  • Vincent du Vigneaud, Professor at Cornell Medical College, 1955 Prize in Chemistry
  • Manfried Eigen, A.D. White Professor-at-Large, 1967 Prize in Chemistry
  • François Englert, assistant professor (1960-61) and research associate (1959-60), 2013 Prize in Physics
  • Richard Ernst, A.D. White Professor-at-Large (1998), 1991 Prize in Chemistry
  • Richard P. Feynman, Physics faculty (1945-50), 1965 Prize in Physics
  • Paul J. Flory, Chemistry faculty (1948-57), 1974 Prize in Chemistry
  • Robert F. Furchgott, Cornell Medical College (1941-1949: research associate in medicine, instructor in physiology and biophysics, assistant professor of biochemistry in medicine), 1998 Prize in Physiology or Medicine
  • Herbert S. Gasser, Cornell Medical College (1931-34), 1944 Prize in Physiology or Medicine
  • Paul Greengard, A.D. White Professor-at-Large (1981-87), 2000 Prize in Physiology or Medicine
  • Haldan Hartline, Associate Professor, Cornell Medical College (1940-41), 1967 Prize in Physiology or Medicine
  • Robert W. Holley, '47 Ph.D., Professor and Department Chair in Biochemistry (1948-64), 1968 Prize in Physiology or Medicine
  • H. Gobind Khorana, A.D. White Professor-at-Large (1974-80), 1968 Prize in Physiology or Medicine
  • Fritz Lipmann, Research Associate, Cornell Medical College (1939-1941), 1953 Prize in Physiology or Medicine
  • Peter B. Medawar, A.D. White Professor-at-Large, 1960 Prize in Physiology or Medicine
  • Octavio Paz, A.D. White Professor-at-Large (1972-74), 1990 Prize in Literature
  • Robert C. Richardson, the Floyd R. Newman Professor of Physics, 1996 Prize in Physics
  • J. Robert Schrieffer, A.D. White Professor-at-Large (1969-75), 1972 Prize in Physics
  • Amartya K. Sen, A.D. White Professor-at-Large (1978-84), 1998 Prize in Economics
  • Wole Soyinka, Senior Fellow, Society for the Humanities (1985), 1986 Prize in Literature
  • James B. Sumner, Professor (1929-55) and Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry/Nutrition, 1946 Prize in Chemistry
  • Henry Taube, Assistant Professor (1944-46), 1983 Prize in Chemistry
  • Kenneth Wilson, Professor of Physics and Nuclear Studies, Director of the Cornell Theory Center (1963-1988), 1982 Prize in Physics
Updated: Oct. 16, 2014, Compiled by Cornell Chronicle

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