| 2010 | Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov | "for groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene" |
| 2009 | Charles K. Kao | "for groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication" |
| 2009 | Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith | "for the invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit – the CCD sensor" |
| 2008 | Makoto Kobayashi and Toshihide Maskawa | "for the discovery of the origin of the broken symmetry which predicts the existence of at least three families of quarks in nature" |
| 2008 | Yoichiro Nambu | "for the discovery of the mechanism of spontaneous broken symmetry in subatomic physics" |
| 2007 | Albert Fert and
Peter Grünberg | "for the discovery of Giant Magnetoresistance" |
| 2006 | John C. Mather and George F. Smoot | "for their discovery of the blackbody form and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation" |
| 2005 | Roy J. Glauber | "for his contribution to the quantum theory of optical coherence" |
| 2005 | John L. Hall and
Theodor W. Hänsch | "for their contributions to the development of laser-based precision spectroscopy, including the optical frequency comb technique" |
| 2004 | David J. Gross,
H. David Politzer, and Frank Wilczek | "for the discovery of asymptotic freedom in the theory of the strong interaction" |
| 2003 | Alexei A. Abrikosov,
Vitaly L. Ginzburg, and
Anthony J. Leggett | "for pioneering contributions to the theory of superconductors and superfluids" |
| 2002 | Raymond Davis Jr. and Masatoshi Koshiba | "for pioneering contributions to astrophysics, in particular for the detection of cosmic neutrinos" |
| 2002 | Riccardo Giacconi | "for pioneering contributions to astrophysics, which have led to the discovery of cosmic X-ray sources" |
| 2001 | Eric A. Cornell,
Wolfgang Ketterle and
Carl E. Wieman | "for the achievement of Bose-Einstein condensation in dilute gases of alkali atoms, and for early fundamental studies of the properties of the condensates" |
| 2000 | Zhores I. Alferov and Herbert Kroemer | "for basic work on information and communication technology" "for developing semiconductor heterostructures used in high-speed- and opto-electronics" |
| 2000 | Jack S. Kilby | "for his part in the invention of the integrated circuit" |
| 1999 | Gerardus 't Hooft and Martinus J.G. Veltman | "for elucidating the quantum structure of electroweak interactions in physics" |
| 1998 | Robert B. Laughlin,
Horst L. Störmer, and Daniel C. Tsui | "for their discovery of a new form of quantum fluid with fractionally charged excitations" |
| 1997 | Steven Chu,
Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, and William D. Phillips | "for development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light" |
| 1996 | David M. Lee,
Douglas D. Osheroff, and Robert C. Richardson | "for their discovery of superfluidity in helium-3" |
| 1995 | Martin L. Perl and Frederick Reines | "for pioneering experimental contributions to lepton physics" "for the discovery of the tau lepton" "for the detection of the neutrino" |
| 1994 | Bertram N. Brockhouse and Clifford G. Shull | "for pioneering contributions to the development of neutron scattering techniques for studies of condensed matter" "for the development of neutron spectroscopy" "for the development of the neutron diffraction technique" |
| 1993 | Russell A. Hulse and Joseph H. Taylor Jr. | "for the discovery of a new type of pulsar, a discovery that has opened up new possibilities for the study of gravitation" |
| 1992 | Georges Charpak | "for his invention and development of particle detectors, in particular the multiwire proportional chamber" |
| 1991 | Pierre-Gilles de Gennes | "for discovering that methods developed for studying order phenomena in simple systems can be generalized to more complex forms of matter, in particular to liquid crystals and polymers" |
| 1990 | Jerome I. Friedman,
Henry W. Kendall and Richard E. Taylor | "for their pioneering investigations concerning deep inelastic scattering of electrons on protons and bound neutrons, which have been of essential importance for the development of the quark model in particle physics" |
| 1989 | Norman F. Ramsey,
Hans G. Dehmelt, and Wolfgang Paul | "for the invention of the separated oscillatory fields method and its use in the hydrogen maser and other atomic clocks" "for the development of the ion trap technique" |
| 1988 | Leon M. Lederman,
Melvin Schwartz, and
Jack Steinberger | "for the neutrino beam method and the demonstration of the doublet structure of the leptons through the discovery of the muon neutrino" |
| 1987 | J. Georg Bednorz and
K. Alex Müller | "for their important break-through in the discovery of superconductivity in ceramic materials" |
| 1986 | Ernst Ruska | "for his fundamental work in electron optics, and for the design of the first electron microscope" |
| 1986 | Gerd Binnig and
Heinrich Rohrer | "for their design of the scanning tunneling microscope" |
| 1985 | Klaus von Klitzing | "for the discovery of the quantized Hall effect" |
| 1984 | Carlo Rubbia and
Simon van der Meer | "for their decisive contributions to the large project, which led to the discovery of the field particles W and Z, communicators of weak interaction" |
| 1983 | Subramanyan Chandrasekhar | "for his theoretical studies of the physical processes of importance to the structure and evolution of the stars" |
| 1983 | William A. Fowler | "for his theoretical and experimental studies of the nuclear reactions of importance in the formation of the chemical elements in the universe" |
| 1982 | Kenneth G. Wilson | "for his theory for critical phenomena in connection with phase transitions" |
| 1981 | Nicolaas Bloembergen and Arthur L. Schawlow | "for their contribution to the development of laser spectroscopy" |
| 1981 | Kai M. Siegbahn | "for his contribution to the development of high-resolution electron spectroscopy" |
| 1980 | James Cronin and
Val Fitch | "for the discovery of violations of fundamental symmetry principles in the decay of neutral K-mesons" |
| 1979 | Sheldon Glashow,
Abdus Salam, and
Steven Weinberg | "for their contributions to the theory of the unified weak and electromagnetic interaction between elementary particles, including, inter alia, the prediction of the weak neutral current" |
| 1978 | Pyotr Kapitsa | "for his basic inventions and discoveries in the area of low-temperature physics" |
| 1978 | Arno Penzias and
Robert Woodrow Wilson | "for their discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation" |
| 1977 | Philip W. Anderson,
Sir Nevill F. Mott, and
John H. van Vleck | "for their fundamental theoretical investigations of the electronic structure of magnetic and disordered systems" |
| 1976 | Burton Richter and Samuel C.C. Ting | "for their pioneering work in the discovery of a heavy elementary particle of a new kind" |
| 1975 | Aage N. Bohr,
Ben R. Mottelson, and James Rainwater | "for the discovery of the connection between collective motion and particle motion in atomic nuclei and the development of the theory of the structure of the atomic nucleus based on this connection" |
| 1974 | Martin Ryle and
Antony Hewish | "for their pioneering research in radio astrophysics: Ryle for his observations and inventions, in particular of the aperture synthesis technique, and Hewish for his decisive role in the discovery of pulsars" |
| 1973 | Leo Esaki and
Ivar Giaever | "for their experimental discoveries regarding tunneling phenomena in semiconductors and superconductors, respectively" |
| 1973 | Brian D. Josephson | "for his theoretical predictions of the properties of a supercurrent through a tunnel barrier, in particular those phenomena which are generally known as the Josephson effects" |
| 1972 | John Bardeen,
Leon N. Cooper and Robert Schrieffer | "for their jointly developed theory of superconductivity, usually called the BCS-theory" |
| 1971 | Dennis Gabor | "for his invention and development of the holographic method" |
| 1970 | Hannes Alfvén and
Louis Néel | "for fundamental work and discoveries in magneto-hydrodynamics with fruitful applications in different parts of plasma physics" "for fundamental work and discoveries concerning antiferromagnetism and ferrimagnetism which have led to important applications in solid state physics" |
| 1969 | Murray Gell-Mann | "for his contributions and discoveries concerning the classification of elementary particles and their interactions" |
| 1968 | Luis Alvarez | "for his decisive contributions to elementary particle physics, in particular the discovery of a large number of resonance states, made possible through his development of the technique of using hydrogen bubble chamber and data analysis" |
| 1967 | Hans Bethe | "for his contributions to the theory of nuclear reactions, especially his discoveries concerning the energy production in stars" |
| 1966 | Alfred Kastler | "for the discovery and development of optical methods for studying Hertzian resonances in atoms" |
| 1965 | Sin-Itiro Tomonaga,
Julian Schwinger, and Richard P. Feynman | "for their fundamental work in quantum electrodynamics, with deep-ploughing consequences for the physics of elementary particles" |
| 1964 | Charles H. Townes, Nicolay G. Basov, and Aleksandr M. Prokhorov | "for fundamental work in the field of quantum electronics, which has led to the construction of oscillators and amplifiers based on the maser-laser principle" |
| 1963 | Eugene Wigner | "for his contributions to the theory of the atomic nucleus and the elementary particles, particularly through the discovery and application of fundamental symmetry principles" |
| 1963 | Maria Goeppert-Mayer and J. Hans D. Jensen | "for their discoveries concerning nuclear shell structure" |
| 1962 | Lev Landau | "for his pioneering theories for condensed matter, especially liquid helium" |
| 1961 | Robert Hofstadter | "for his pioneering studies of electron scattering in atomic nuclei and for his thereby achieved discoveries concerning the structure of the nucleons" |
| 1961 | Rudolf Mössbauer | "for his researches concerning the resonance absorption of gamma radiation and his discovery in this connection of the effect which bears his name" |
| 1960 | Donald A. Glaser | "for the invention of the bubble chamber" |
| 1959 | Emilio Segrè and
Owen Chamberlain | "for their discovery of the antiproton" |
| 1958 | Pavel A. Cherenkov,
Il´ja M. Frank, and
Igor Y. Tamm | "for the discovery and the interpretation of the Cherenkov effect" |
| 1957 | Chen Ning Yang and Tsung-Dao Lee | "for their penetrating investigation of the so-called parity laws which has led to important discoveries regarding the elementary particles" |
| 1956 | William B. Shockley,
John Bardeen, and
Walter H. Brattain | "for their researches on semiconductors and their discovery of the transistor effect" |
| 1955 | Willis E. Lamb | "for his discoveries concerning the fine structure of the hydrogen spectrum" |
| 1955 | Polykarp Kusch | "for his precision determination of the magnetic moment of the electron" |
| 1954 | Max Born | "for his fundamental research in quantum mechanics, especially for his statistical interpretation of the wavefunction" |
| 1954 | Walther Bothe | "for the coincidence method and his discoveries made therewith" |
| 1953 | Frits Zernike | "for his demonstration of the phase contrast method, especially for his invention of the phase contrast microscope" |
| 1952 | Felix Bloch and
E. M. Purcell | "for their development of new methods for nuclear magnetic precision measurements and discoveries in connection therewith" |
| 1951 | John Cockcroft and
Ernest T.S. Walton | "for their pioneer work on the transmutation of atomic nuclei by artificially accelerated atomic particles" |
| 1950 | Cecil Powell | "for his development of the photographic method of studying nuclear processes and his discoveries regarding mesons made with this method" |
| 1949 | Hideki Yukawa | "for his prediction of the existence of mesons on the basis of theoretical work on nuclear forces" |
| 1948 | Patrick M.S. Blackett | "for his development of the Wilson cloud chamber method, and his discoveries therewith in the fields of nuclear physics and cosmic radiation" |
| 1947 | Edward V. Appleton | "for his investigations of the physics of the upper atmosphere especially for the discovery of the so-called Appleton layer" |
| 1946 | Percy W. Bridgman | "for the invention of an apparatus to produce extremely high pressures, and for the discoveries he made therewith in the field of high pressure physics" |
| 1945 | Wolfgang Pauli | "for the discovery of the Exclusion Principle, also called the Pauli Principle" |
| 1944 | Isidor Isaac Rabi | "for his resonance method for recording the magnetic properties of atomic nuclei" |
| 1943 | Otto Stern | "for his contribution to the development of the molecular ray method and his discovery of the magnetic moment of the proton" |
| 1942 | The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section |
| 1941 | The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section |
| 1940 | The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section |
| 1939 | Ernest Lawrence | "for the invention and development of the cyclotron and for results obtained with it, especially with regard to artificial radioactive elements" |
| 1938 | Enrico Fermi | "for his demonstrations of the existence of new radioactive elements produced by neutron irradiation, and for his related discovery of nuclear reactions brought about by slow neutrons" |
| 1937 | Clinton Davisson and George Paget Thomson | "for their experimental discovery of the diffraction of electrons by crystals" |
| 1936 | Victor F. Hess | "for his discovery of cosmic radiation" |
| 1936 | Carl D. Anderson | "for his discovery of the positron" |
| 1935 | James Chadwick | "for the discovery of the neutron" |
| 1934 | The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section
|
| 1933 | Erwin Schrödinger and Paul A.M. Dirac | "for the discovery of new productive forms of atomic theory" |
| 1932 | Werner Heisenberg | "for the creation of quantum mechanics, the application of which has, inter alia, led to the discovery of the allotropic forms of hydrogen" |
| 1931 | The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section
|
| 1930 | Venkata Raman | "for his work on the scattering of light and for the discovery of the effect named after him" |
| 1929 | Louis de Broglie | "for his discovery of the wave nature of electrons" |
| 1928 | Owen Willans Richardson | "for his work on the thermionic phenomenon and especially for the discovery of the law named after him" |
| 1927 | Arthur H. Compton | "for his discovery of the effect named after him" |
| 1927 | C.T.R. Wilson | "for his method of making the paths of electrically charged particles visible by condensation of vapour" |
| 1926 | Jean Baptiste Perrin | "for his work on the discontinuous structure of matter, and especially for his discovery of sedimentation equilibrium" |
| 1925 | James Franck and
Gustav Hertz | "for their discovery of the laws governing the impact of an electron upon an atom" |
| 1924 | Manne Siegbahn | "for his discoveries and research in the field of X-ray spectroscopy" |
| 1923 | Robert A. Millikan | "for his work on the elementary charge of electricity and on the photoelectric effect" |
| 1922 | Niels Bohr | "for his services in the investigation of the structure of atoms and of the radiation emanating from them" |
| 1921 | Albert Einstein | "for his services to Theoretical Physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect" |
| 1920 | Charles Edouard Guillaume | "in recognition of the service he has rendered to precision measurements in Physics by his discovery of anomalies in nickel steel alloys" |
| 1919 | Johannes Stark | "for his discovery of the Doppler effect in canal rays and the splitting of spectral lines in electric fields" |
| 1918 | Max Planck | "in recognition of the services he rendered to the advancement of Physics by his discovery of energy quanta" |
| 1917 | Charles Glover Barkla | "for his discovery of the characteristic Röntgen radiation of the elements" |
| 1916 | The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section
|
| 1915 | William Bragg and Lawrence Bragg | "for their services in the analysis of crystal structure by means of X-rays" |
| 1914 | Max von Laue | "for his discovery of the diffraction of X-rays by crystals" |
| 1913 | Heike Kamerlingh Onnes | "for his investigations on the properties of matter at low temperatures which led, inter alia, to the production of liquid helium" |
| 1912 | Gustaf Dalén | "for his invention of automatic regulators for use in conjunction with gas accumulators for illuminating lighthouses and buoys" |
| 1911 | Wilhelm Wien | "for his discoveries regarding the laws governing the radiation of heat" |
| 1910 | Johannes Diderik van der Waals | "for his work on the equation of state for gases and liquids" |
| 1909 | Guglielmo Marconi and Ferdinand Braun | "in recognition of their contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy" |
| 1908 | Gabriel Lippmann | "for his method of reproducing colours photographically based on the phenomenon of interference" |
| 1907 | Albert A. Michelson | "for his optical precision instruments and the spectroscopic and metrological investigations carried out with their aid" |
| 1906 | J.J. Thomson | "in recognition of the great merits of his theoretical and experimental investigations on the conduction of electricity by gases" |
| 1905 | Philipp Lenard | "for his work on cathode rays" |
| 1904 | Lord Rayleigh | "for his investigations of the densities of the most important gases and for his discovery of argon in connection with these studies" |
| 1903 | Henri Becquerel | "in recognition of the extraordinary services he has rendered by his discovery of spontaneous radioactivity" |
| 1903 | Pierre Curie and
Marie Curie,
née Sklodowska
| "in recognition of the extraordinary services they have rendered by their joint researches on the radiation phenomena discovered by Professor Henri Becquerel" |
| 1902 | Hendrik Antoon Lorentz and Pieter Zeeman | "in recognition of the extraordinary service they rendered by their researches into the influence of magnetism upon radiation phenomena"
|
| 1901 | Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen | "in recognition of the extraordinary services he has rendered by the discovery of the remarkable rays subsequently named after him |
