For their extraordinary contributions to human knowledge, 52 people associated with Cornell have won the Nobel Prize over the years\u2014an august roster that includes alumni, former faculty, and several current professors. The\u00a0Big Red laureates<\/a>\u00a0have primarily won in the categories of physics, chemistry, and physiology\/medicine, but also in literature and economics; two have been honored with the Peace Prize.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of those peace Nobelists is an alum\u2014described below\u2014while the other is famed agronomist Norman Borlaug, known as the father of the Green Revolution. Like Borlaug, a number of Cornell-affiliated Nobel laureates have served as A.D. White Professors-at-Large<\/a>\u2014such as renowned poet Octavio Paz and theoretical physicist Kip Thorne. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Here, in no particular order, is a sampling of the Cornellian laureates (including one brand-new winner, and two who were depicted in the movie Oppenheimer<\/em>), focusing on alumni and full-time faculty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Physics (2024)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A professor emeritus at Princeton, Hopfield and another researcher shared the prize for their work in training artificial neural networks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As the Nobel organization put it, they \u201chave used tools from physics to develop methods that are the foundation of today\u2019s powerful machine learning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hopfield in particular was cited for inventing his eponymous network<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Based on principles of physics, it \u201ccan store and reconstruct images and other types of patterns in data.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hopfield’s long career has included work at Bell Labs and Caltech, as well as a total of more than a quarter-century on the faculty at Princeton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Among his many awards and honors are a MacArthur \u201cgenius\u201d grant, the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics, and the World Cultural Council\u2019s Albert Einstein World Award of Science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Economics (2023)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In October 2023, Goldin became the first woman ever to win a solo Nobel<\/a> in economic sciences (and the third to win in the category overall). <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Arts & Sciences alum<\/a> was lauded for providing \u201cthe first comprehensive account of women\u2019s earnings and labor market participation through the centuries,\u201d according to the Nobel organization.<\/p>\n<\/div> Through her extensive analysis of data spanning two centuries, Goldin demonstrated that women are sorely underrepresented in the global labor market\u2014and those who do work earn less than men. <\/p>\n\n\n\n While the gender gap in earnings has historically been chalked up to differences in education and occupations, Goldin\u2019s research shows that most pay inequalities are now occurring between men and women in the same fields\u2014and that it mostly occurs within a year or two of a woman giving birth to her first child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe see a residue of history around us,\u201d she told<\/a> the New York Times<\/em>. \u201cWe\u2019re never going to have gender equality until we also have couple equity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first woman offered tenure in economics at Harvard, Goldin holds a doctorate in the field from the University of Chicago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Literature (1938)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Buck is best known for her fiction depicting the extreme hardships of early-20th-century Chinese villagers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She\u2019s one of only 17 women to have won the Nobel in literature; the others include a fellow Cornellian (see below). <\/p>\n\n\n\n The child of American missionaries, Buck spent the first half of her life in China\u2014except for college (at a small women\u2019s school in Virginia) and grad school on the Hill, where she earned a master\u2019s in English literature. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n She won the Pulitzer Prize in 1932 for her novel The Good Earth<\/em> and is credited as one of the first writers to expose the American public to Asian life and culture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n While many of Buck\u2019s works are no longer widely read, The Good Earth<\/em> remains a staple of high school English classes, and Oprah Winfrey chose it for her book club in 2004.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Physics (1967)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The renowned scientist and humanitarian was one of the most celebrated faculty members in Cornell history. <\/p>\n\n\n\n On the Hill, a West Campus residence<\/a> bears his name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After arriving as a refugee from Nazi Germany in 1935, he took the physics department to new heights with groundbreaking research on nuclear reactions\u2014including his Nobel-winning discoveries regarding energy production in stars. <\/p>\n<\/div> He was a leader of the Manhattan Project during World War II, helping to develop the first atomic bomb. He figures prominently in Christopher Nolan\u2019s 2023 hit film Oppenheimer,<\/em> in which he\u2019s played by Gustaf Skarsg\u00e5rd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bethe went on to become an eloquent voice in the debate over nuclear arms control and advised several U.S. presidents on national security policy regarding nuclear weapons and power. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Physiology\/Medicine (1983)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Through her pioneering research on the hereditary characteristics of corn, McClintock proved that some genes could change position on a chromosome\u2014which, in turn, can activate or deactivate other nearby genes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n By observing that genes could \u201ctranspose\u201d as well as mutate, McClintock posited that physical traits could be switched on and off depending on certain conditions. She spent decades defending her findings, which flew in the face of popular theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite the skepticism of both colleagues and her family\u2014who, according to her Nobel bio, preferred that she marry rather than go into academia\u2014McClintock devoted her life to research. She received countless honors, including a Guggenheim fellowship; in 1944, she became the third woman elected to the National Academy of Sciences. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n On the Hill, a North Campus residence hall<\/a> bears her name, as does a life sciences lecture series in CALS. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Chemistry (1981)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Hoffmann<\/a> is one of a handful of Nobelists currently on the Cornell faculty (where he has served since 1965).<\/p>\n\n\n\n He\u2019s not just a prize-winning researcher who has <\/strong>advanced understanding of chemical reactions, but a longtime examiner of the intersections of art, science, philosophy, and literature. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In several of his works, Hoffmann explores how science intertwines with our everyday existence and fundamental beliefs. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n His books include Old Wine, New Flasks: Reflections on Science and Jewish Tradition<\/em>. He\u2019s also a poet\u2014publishing his fifth collection, Constants of the Motion<\/em>, in 2020. <\/p>\n\n\n\n After his father perished in a Nazi labor camp, Hoffmann and his mother hid in a schoolhouse attic in Ukraine for more than a year. They eventually settled in Brooklyn, and he went on to study chemical physics at Columbia and Harvard. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Literature (1993)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Morrison\u2019s novels\u2014iconic works like The Bluest Eye<\/em>, Song of Solomon<\/em>, and Beloved<\/em>\u2014explore the history and lives of Black Americans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMorrison\u2019s works often depict difficult circumstances and the dark side of humanity,\u201d noted her Nobel nominators, \u201cbut still convey integrity and redemption.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Morrison also garnered many other major honors, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom and induction into the National Women\u2019s Hall of Fame. Like McClintock, she\u2019s the namesake of a North Campus residence<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Morrison frequently returned to the Hill, including serving as an A.D. White Professor from 1997\u20132003. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cCornell was the first place in my life where I was treated as a human being,\u201d she once wrote to her thesis advisor. \u201cI was welcomed there into the human<\/em> race and, good or ill, I have been there ever since. Now, that<\/em>, I think, was progress.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Peace Prize (1946)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The only Big Red alum to win the Peace Prize, Mott devoted much of his life to spreading religious gospel, particularly as the longtime national head of the YMCA. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Nobel recognized \u201chis contribution to the creation of a peace-promoting religious brotherhood across natural boundaries,\u201d according to his nominators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mott\u2019s long relationship with the YMCA began as a student on the Hill, where he served as president of the group\u2019s Cornell chapter. <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n After graduation, he worked internationally with the YMCA for decades, and received a <\/strong>Distinguished Service Medal for service as a general secretary in the National War Work Council during World War I.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Chemistry (2014)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Through his research on fluorescence\u2014the process in which light exposure causes substances to become illuminated\u2014Betzig helped make it possible to observe activity inside living cells with a traditional microscope. <\/p>\n\n\n\n By harnessing the ability to turn fluorescence on and off in certain molecules, he helped develop a method, called single-molecule microscopy, that yields detailed images of the nano-sized world previously unachievable by optical microscopes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n<\/div> Betzig worked for AT&T Bell Labs after earning his doctorate. He left academia in the \u201990s for the private sector, but returned to help conduct the research that led to his Nobel. He\u2019s now a professor of physics and cellular and molecular biology<\/a> at the University of California, Berkeley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Physics (1944)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Through his discovery of nuclear magnetic resonance, Rabi paved the way for countless other scientific breakthroughs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They include magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the atomic clock, and the laser.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n He also worked on the Manhattan Project and was present at the inaugural test of the atomic bomb in 1945. (In Oppenheimer<\/em>, Rabi is portrayed by David Krumholtz.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to a bio of Rabi from the National Parks Service, he often said: \u201cMy mother made me a scientist without ever intending to. Every other Jewish mother in Brooklyn would ask her child after school, \u2018So? Did you learn anything today?\u2019 But not my mother. \u2018Izzy,\u2019 she would say, \u2018did you ask a good question today?\u2019 That difference\u2014asking good questions\u2014made me become a scientist.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Economics (1993)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In the early 1960s, Fogel made a name for himself with a then-provocative report that railroads had a far smaller impact on the U.S. economy than previously believed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He stoked even more controversy <\/strong>with his 1974 book, Time on the Cross<\/em>, which analyzed slavery\u2019s role in the nation\u2019s economic development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fogel was known in the economics community as an interdisciplinarian who incorporated data from diverse sources into his research. <\/p>\n<\/div> As a New York Times <\/em>obituary observed of the University of Chicago faculty member: \u201cProfessor Fogel, a rumpled former New Yorker by turns amiable and combative, was widely known for work that aroused objections if not open hostility in academic circles, chiefly through his pioneering use of cliometrics, which applies economic theory and statistical methods to the study of history.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Physiology or Medicine (1968)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A biochemistry professor on the Hill, Holley was the first person to successfully isolate tRNA\u2014the link between DNA and protein synthesis\u2014and map its structure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As part of his graduate studies, Holley <\/strong>spent two years studying at Weill Cornell Medicine (as it\u2019s now known), where he participated in the first chemical synthesis of penicillin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n After earning his doctorate, he joined the Cornell faculty in organic chemistry, both at the Geneva Agricultural Experiment Station and in Ithaca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A facility on the Ithaca campus\u2014the USDA\u2019s Robert W. Holley Center for Agriculture & Health<\/a>\u2014is named in his honor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Holley was married to a fellow alum, Arts & Sciences grad Ann Dworkin Holley \u201946, BA \u201945, MA \u201947.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Physiology or Medicine (1989)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Varmus, who joined the Weill Cornell Medicine faculty in 2015, is a world leader in the study of oncogenes (cancer-causing genes)\u2014notably, the fact that cancer can occur through the transformation of a normal cell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He led the National Institutes of Health for most of the 1990s, then served as president and CEO of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. In 2010, President Barack Obama appointed him to head the National Cancer Institute.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Today, Varmus\u2014the Lewis Thomas University Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine\u2014continues conducting research<\/a> on potential treatment applications of cancer genomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Physics (1982)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Through his research on phase transitions of matter\u2014from solid to liquid to gas, for example\u2014Wilson developed a theoretical understanding of how to measure \u201ctricky moments like when ice melts or an iron bar loses its magnetism,\u201d according to his New York Times <\/em>obituary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He went on to apply his theories to countless other fields, from abstract math to supercomputing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He played a crucial role in the NSF\u2019s establishment of five national scientific supercomputing centers, including one on the Hill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wilson served on the Cornell faculty<\/a> from 1963\u00ad\u201387. As the Times <\/em>also reported, one of the things that drew him to the University was Ithaca\u2019s folk dancing scene. He met his wife\u2014Alison Brown, MS \u201985\u2014while doing a Swedish dance called the hambo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Physics (1965)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Known in scientific circles as the \u201cGreat Explainer,\u201d Feynman was famously grounded in his lectures\u2014committed to presenting ideas in physical forms <\/strong>rather than as abstract theories. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The much-lauded physicist, who taught on the Hill from 1945\u20131950, helped to create graphic representations of interactions between particles, now known as Feynman diagrams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His legendary talks at Caltech<\/a> in the 1960s became the basis of a renowned three-volume series, The Feynman Lectures on Physics<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div> He also delivered a famed lecture series on the Hill<\/a> in 1964.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chemistry (1936)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1912, Debye developed a method to determine the distribution of electric charges within a molecule. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This work became crucial in achieving one of the overarching goals of chemistry: seeing what molecules look like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Debye served on the Cornell faculty from 1940\u201350, coming to the Hill after decades at various universities across Europe, from Switzerland to the Netherlands. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n His Nobel-winning research dealt with using X-rays and electron beams to map molecular structures in gases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Physics (1996)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The trio of experimental physicists shared the Nobel for a discovery regarding helium: they verified that a specific form of the element flows without friction at extremely low temperatures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The late Richardson <\/strong>joined the faculty in 1968 and remained on the Hill for his entire career. Osheroff\u2014now a professor emeritus at Stanford<\/a>\u2014is his former doctoral student. <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"John](\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/10\/JohnHopfield_DA_001_vert-1-945x1024.jpeg\")
John Hopfield, PhD \u201958<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nClaudia Goldin \u201967 <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Pearl Buck,<\/strong> MA 1925<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nHans Bethe<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/09\/Bethe1998_bw-A-819x1024.jpg\")
\n\n\n\nBarbara McClintock 1923, PhD 1927<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Barbara](\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/09\/McClintock_Barbara_1947-A-1024x576.jpg\")
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Roald Hoffmann<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nToni Morrison, MA \u201955<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Toni](\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/09\/Morrison_Toni_0117_13_062-A-1024x576.jpg\")
\n\n\n\n![\"John](\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/09\/Mott_John_R_wikimedia-A.jpg\")
John Mott 1888<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nEric Betzig, PhD \u201988<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Eric](\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/09\/Betzig_Eric_Charter_Day_2015_0356_102-A.jpg\")
\n\n\n\n![\"Isidor](\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/09\/Rabi_Isidor_Isaac_Columbia_University_archives-A-1024x786.jpg\")
Isidor Isaac Rabi 1919<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nRobert Fogel \u201948<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Robert](\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/09\/Fogel_Robert-A-819x1024.jpg\")
\n\n\n\nRobert Holley, PhD \u201947<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/09\/Holley_Robert_wikimedia-A.jpg\")
\n\n\n\n![\"Harold](\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/09\/National_Cancer_Institute_director_Harold_E._Varmus_3_cropped-805x1024.jpg\")
Harold Varmus<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nKenneth Wilson<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Kenneth](\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/09\/Wilson_Kenneth_RMC2015_0068-A-1024x576.jpg\")
\n\n\n\nRichard Feynman<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Richard](\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/09\/Feynman_Richard_wikimedia_1959-A.jpg\")
\n\n\n\n![\"Peter](\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/09\/Debye_Peter_RMC2016_0077-A-819x1024.jpg\")
Peter J.W. Debye<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nDavid Lee, Douglas Osheroff, PhD \u201973 & Robert Richardson<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Five](\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/09\/Group_pic_Nobelists_1996_1258_96_242-A-1024x576.jpg\")