For more than a century, the Nobel Prize has been the most prestigious award for scientific achievements.
Swedish entrepreneur Alfred Nobel (1833–1896) bequeathed 94% of his capital to be invested in secure securities to create a fund, the interest from which would be distributed as prizes for scientific discoveries in the fields of physics, chemistry, and medicine that would be of the greatest benefit to humanity, as well as in literature (prose) and the struggle for peace on the planet. The prize in economics was established in memory of Alfred Nobel by the Bank of Sweden.
The first Nobel Prizes were awarded in 1901. Today, there are already about a thousand individuals and organizations on the list of Nobel laureates.
Each laureate is officially associated with the country of which they were a citizen at the time the prize was awarded. At the same time, there are quite a few Nobel Prize winners who received it while living and working outside their homeland. For example, two-time Nobel laureate Maria Skłodowska-Curie lived in Poland, which was then part of the Russian Empire, until the age of 24. She received the prize as a citizen of France. Therefore, both France and Poland are proud of her.
Our young country does not yet have any laureates of its own (webmaster: the first award was received for 2022. see box), but among the award-winning citizens of other countries are people who come from our land. Here is some brief information about them.
Nobel laureates of Ukraine:
The 2022 Peace Prize is awarded to human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski from Belarus, the rf human rights organisation Memorial and the Ukrainian human rights organisation Center for Civil Liberties.
The Peace Prize laureates represent civil society in their home countries. They have for many years promoted the right to criticise power and protect the fundamental rights of citizens. They have made an outstanding effort to document war crimes, human right abuses and the abuse of power. Together they demonstrate the significance of civil society for peace and democracy.
The Center for Civil Liberties is a Ukrainian human rights organization founded in 2007.
Nobel laureates from France:
Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov (1845–1916) – Prize in Physiology and Medicine, 1908. Born in the village of Ivanivka in the Kharkiv region. His mother was the daughter of writer L. Nevakhovich, and his father came from the Wallachian boyar family of Spatar (or “spadа are,” “he who has a sword”).
He studied at the Kharkiv Gymnasium. He published his first scientific research in Germany at the age of 18. In 1870–1882, he was a professor at Odessa University. He left to work in Italy, and after returning to Ukraine, he set up a scientific laboratory in his own apartment. In 1888, Mechnikov moved to Paris at Pasteur's invitation, where he worked at his institute for 28 years. An urn with his ashes is kept at the Pasteur Institute.
I. Mechnikov's extremely high scientific reputation is respected throughout the world to this day.
Georges Charpak (Grigory Kharpak, 1924–2010) – Nobel Prize in Physics, 1992. Born in the town of Dubrovitsa (Poland, now Rivne region). His parents were M. Harpak and H. Shapiro, and their family spoke Yiddish. The boy's parents' families had long lived in Sarny, not far from Dubrovitsa, where he spent his early years. He studied Polish at the gymnasium. In the 1930s, the family moved to Warsaw, then to France. During World War II, 19-year-old Georges joined the Resistance, was imprisoned in 1943, and sent to the Nazi concentration camp at Dachau in 1944. In 1954, he became a doctor of physics, professor, and academician of the French Academy of Sciences. He died in Paris.
Nobel Prize winners from the USSR:
Igor Tamm (1895–1971) – Nobel Prize in Physics, 1958. His family was from Yelisavetgrad, and his grandfather, Theodore Tamm, was either German or Swedish. Igor Tamm was born in Vladivostok, where his father worked on the Trans-Siberian Railway. From the age of 3, he lived in Yelisavetgrad, where he finished school and gymnasium. He studied in Edinburgh and Moscow. From 1918, he taught at Tavria University in Simferopol, and in 1921–1922 at Odessa Polytechnic. From 1922, he worked at Moscow University as a professor and academician. Together with his student A. Sakharov, he supervised the development of the hydrogen bomb.
Lev Landau (1908–1968) – Nobel Prize in Physics, 1962. Theoretical physicist. Born in Azerbaijan, his parents were from Belarus. Educated at Leningrad University. From 1932 to 1937, he headed the theoretical department of the Ukrainian Physics and Technology Institute (UPTI) in Kharkiv, and from 1938 in Moscow, at P. Kapitsa's Institute for Physical Problems. He was arrested in 1938 and owes his release to P. Kapitsa and N. Bor. He was rehabilitated 22 years after his death.
Petro Kapitsa (1894–1984) – Nobel Prize in Physics, 1978. His father was from Bessarabia, from the Moldovan nobility Kapitsa-Milevsky, and his mother was from the Ukrainian Volhynian nobility Stebnitsky. He studied at the Petrograd Polytechnic Institute. He worked in Great Britain and at the USSR Academy of Sciences. In 1966, he was one of those who signed a letter against Stalin's rehabilitation.
Boris Pasternak (1890–1960), Nobel Prize in Literature, 1958. His father was an artist and his mother was a pianist. His parents and grandparents were born and lived in Odessa. He received the prize for his novel Doctor Zhivago, which the Soviet authorities considered anti-Soviet.
Nobel laureates from Israel:
Shmuel Agnon (1888–1970) – Nobel Prize in Literature, 1966. Born in Buchach, Galicia. Worked in Lviv and Germany. He was published in Buchach, Lviv, and abroad. His works show the mutual influence of Ukrainian and Jewish cultures.
Menachem Begin (1913–1992) – Peace Prize, 1978. A native of the Brest region. His life was devoted to the creation of the Jewish state of Israel (1948). In 1978, he initiated the Camp David peace agreement. In the 1940s, he was a prisoner of the Gulag.
The following individuals became Nobel laureates from the United States:
Isidor Rabi (1898–1988) – Nobel Prize in Physics, 1944. Born in the town of Rimanów, Lemko region, Western Galicia. Worked in Europe, was friends with N. Bohr, O. Stern, and W. Pauli. He worked for the US defense department but refused to participate in the Manhattan Project to create an atomic bomb.
Selman Waksman (1888–1973) – Prize in Physiology and Medicine, 1952. Born in Novi Pryluky, Vinnytsia region. His invention was streptomycin, an enemy of tuberculosis. Waksman is one of the most famous people in the world, one of humanity's greatest benefactors, and the pride of the US and Ukraine.
Simon (Semen) Kuznets (1901–1985) – Nobel Prize in Economics, 1971. Born in Pinsk, Brest Region. He studied in Rivne and Kharkiv, where he published his first scientific works. He taught the world to calculate GDP – gross domestic product, for which he received the prize.
Herbert Brown (Brovarnik) (1912–2004) – Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1979. His parents were born and lived in Zhytomyr. He was born in London, where his family emigrated in 1908. His son also became a chemist.
Roald Hoffman (1937) – Chemistry Prize, 1981. Hoffman is from Zolochiv, Lviv region. He says this about his homeland: “Ukraine is the promised land of my heart!” (For more about him, see KP No. 29 for 2017.)
Eric Kandel (1929) – Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 2000. His mother is from Kolomyia, and his father is from Lviv Oblast. His books, such as In Search of Memory, can be found on the shelves of our stores.
Nobel laureate from Belarus:
Sviatlana Alexievich (1948) – Nobel Prize in Literature, 2015.
She was born in Stanislav (Ivano-Frankivsk), spent her childhood in Vinnytsia, and her mother is Ukrainian.
Let us be proud of our compatriots, who are recognized by the world for their achievements. She was born in Stanislav (Ivano-Frankivsk), spent her childhood in Vinnytsia region, and her mother is Ukrainian.
Let us be proud of our compatriots who have joined the scientific elite of the world!