Fifty-two 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, Emeritus, 1981 Prize in Chemistry
• David M. Lee, professor emeritus of physics, 1996 Prize in Physics
• Harold Varmus, the Lewis Thomas University Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, 1989 Prize in Physiology or Medicine

Alumni

• Arthur Ashkin, '52 Ph.D. Physics, 2018 Prize in Physics
• 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 Economic Sciences
• Robert W. Fogel, '48 A.B. Economics, 1993 Prize in Economic Sciences
• Sheldon Glashow, '54 B.S. Physics, 1979 Prize in Physics
• Claudia Goldin, '67 B.A. Economics, 2023 Prize in Economic Sciences
• John Hopfield, Ph.D. ’58 Physics, 2024 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, Class of 1888, 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
• David J. Thouless, '58 Ph.D., 2016 Prize in Physics
• Steven Weinberg, '54 B.S. Physics, 1979 Prize in Physics

Former Cornell Faculty Members

• James P. Allison, professor of immunology in medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine (2005-06), 2018 Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• 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 Economic Sciences
• 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
• Richard H. Thaler, the Henrietta Johnson Louis Professor of Economics (1978-95), 2017 Prize in Economic Sciences
• Kip Thorne, A.D. White Professor-at-Large (1986-92) and Visiting Senior Research Associate (1977), 2017 Prize in Physics
• Carl Wieman, A. D. White Professor-at-Large (2019-2025), 2001 Prize in Physics
• Kenneth Wilson, Professor of Physics and Nuclear Studies, Director of the Cornell Theory Center (1963-1988), 1982 Prize in Physics

Updated: Oct. 9, 2024, Compiled by Cornell Chronicle