Nobel Prizes (Awards) 2025
Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor, entrepreneur, and businessman, died in 1896, leaving a will that directed his fortune to reward “those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind.” The prizes were to honor achievements in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and peace, areas closely connected to his life and work.
After his death, it took several years to implement his wishes, and the first Nobel Prizes were awarded in 1901. In 1969, an additional award, the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, was introduced to mark the 300th anniversary of Sweden’s central bank. Each October, Nobel Prize winners (laureates) in these fields are announced.
Nobel Prize (award) in Physiology or Medicine 2025
The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden has decided to award the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi “for their discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance.”
They identified the immune system’s security guards, regulatory T cells, thus laying the foundation for a new field of research. The discoveries have also led to the development of potential medical treatments that are now being evaluated in clinical trials. The hope is to be able to treat or cure autoimmune diseases, provide more effective cancer treatments and prevent serious complications after stem cell transplants.
Nobel Prize in Physics 2025
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2025 was awarded jointly to John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis "for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit."
Quantum mechanics allows a particle to move straight through a barrier, using a process called tunnelling. As soon as large numbers of particles are involved, quantum mechanical effects usually become insignificant. The laureates’ experiments demonstrated that quantum mechanical properties can be made concrete on a macroscopic scale.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2025
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2025 was awarded jointly to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar M. Yaghi "for the development of metal-organic frameworks".
Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are porous materials that can be designed and used for a wide range of purposes. The laureates developed methods to create MOFs with specific structures and properties. Their discoveries have led to new ways of storing gases, separating chemicals, and catalysing reactions, with potential applications in energy, environmental protection, and medicine.
Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar Yaghi are awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2025. They have developed a new form of molecular architecture. In their constructions, metal ions function as cornerstones that are linked by long organic (carbon-based) molecules. Together, the metal ions and molecules are organised to form crystals that contain large cavities. These porous materials are called metal–organic frameworks (MOF). By varying the building blocks used in the MOFs, chemists can design them to capture and store specific substances. MOFs can also drive chemical reactions or conduct electricity.
Nobel Prize in Literature 2025
The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2025 is awarded to the Hungarian author László Krasznahorkai, “for his compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art.”
László Krasznahorkai is a great epic writer in the Central European tradition that extends through Kafka to Thomas Bernhard, and is characterised by absurdism and grotesque excess. But there are more strings to his bow, and he soon looks to the East in adopting a more contemplative, finely calibrated tone.
Nobel Peace Prize 2025
The Nobel Peace Prize for 2025 goes to a brave and committed champion of peace – to a woman who keeps the flame of democracy burning amid a growing darkness. As the leader of the democracy movement in Venezuela, Maria Corina Machado is one of the most extraordinary examples of civilian courage in Latin America in recent times.
Ms Machado is receiving the Nobel Peace Prize first and foremost for her efforts to advance democracy in Venezuela. But democracy is also in retreat internationally. Democracy – understood as the right to freely express one’s opinion, to cast one’s vote and to be represented in elective government – is the foundation of peace both within countries and between countries.
Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences 2025
The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2025 was awarded "for having explained innovation-driven economic growth" with one half to Joel Mokyr "for having identified the prerequisites for sustained growth through technological progress" and the other half jointly to Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt "for the theory of sustained growth through creative destruction".
