Nobel Prize Research
Columbia Physics prides itself in a long and distinguished history in diverse and transformational physics research, credited with more than 10 Nobel Prize winners since 1944.
Fifteen Nobel Laureates in Physics have served on the faculty, with 5 Laureates having graduated from Columbia College, including the 2018 Nobel Laureate in Physics, Arthur Ashkin. Another 11 Nobel Laureates received their Ph.D. in Physics from Columbia. Columbia graduates, along with many scientists who spent their formative years here, have gone on to make extraordinary contributions to science as researchers, teachers, and intellectual leaders.
Of all the Physics Nobel Laureates that were associated with Columbia, 13 received the award for their work in theoretical physics, and 18 for their experimental discoveries; 10 performed their prize-winning research in Pupin. A list can be found below:
- Nobel Prize Date
- 1902
- Name
- H.A. Lorentz
- Association with Columbia
- EKA Lecturer in Mathematical Physics, 1905-1906
- Nobel Prize Date
- 1913
- Name
- W. Wien
- Association with Columbia
- EKA Lecturer in Mathematical Physics, 1913
- Nobel Prize Date
- 1918 (awarded 1919)
- Name
- M. Planck
- Association with Columbia
- EKA Lecturer in Mathematical Physics, 1909
- Nobel Prize Date
- 1923
- Name
- R.A.Millikan
- Association with Columbia
- Columbia Ph.D., 1895 (The first Ph.D. awarded by the Department)
- Nobel Prize Date
- 1938
- Name
- E. Fermi
- Association with Columbia
- Faculty, 1939-1946
- Nobel Prize Date
- 1944
- Name
- I.I. Rabi*
- Association with Columbia
- Columbia Ph.D., 1927 Faculty, 1929-1967 Professor Emeritus, 1967-1988
- Nobel Prize Date
- 1949
- Name
- H. Yukawa
- Association with Columbia
- Faculty, 1949-1953
- Nobel Prize Date
- 1955
- Name
- W.E. Lamb
- Association with Columbia
- Faculty, 1938-1951
- Nobel Prize Date
- 1955
- Name
- P. Kusch*
- Association with Columbia
- Faculty, 1939-1971
- Nobel Prize Date
- 1957
- Name
- T.D. Lee*
- Association with Columbia
- Faculty, 1953-Present
- Nobel Prize Date
- 1963
- Name
- M. Goeppert-Mayer
- Association with Columbia
- Research Staff and Faculty, 1939-1946
- Nobel Prize Date
- 1964
- Name
- C.H. Townes*
- Association with Columbia
- Faculty, 1948-1961
- Nobel Prize Date
- 1965
- Name
- J. Schwinger
- Association with Columbia
- Columbia B.A., 1936 & Columbia Ph.D., 1939
- Nobel Prize Date
- 1967
- Name
- H.A. Bethe
- Association with Columbia
- Visiting Professor, 1948 and 1949
- Nobel Prize Date
- 1969
- Name
- M. Gell-Mann
- Association with Columbia
- Visiting Professor, 1954-1955
- Nobel Prize Date
- 1972
- Name
- L. Cooper
- Association with Columbia
- Columbia B.A., 1951 & Columbia Ph.D., 1954
- Nobel Prize Date
- 1975
- Name
- A. Bohr*
- Association with Columbia
- Research Staff, 1948-1949
- Nobel Prize Date
- 1975
- Name
- J. Rainwater*
- Association with Columbia
- Columbia Ph.D., 1946 & Faculty, 1946-1986
- Nobel Prize Date
- 1976
- Name
- S.C.C. Ting
- Association with Columbia
- Faculty, 1965-1969
- Nobel Prize Date
- 1978
- Name
- A.A. Penzias
- Association with Columbia
- Columbia Ph.D., 1962
- Nobel Prize Date
- 1979
- Name
- S. Weinberg
- Association with Columbia
- Faculty, 1957-1959
- Nobel Prize Date
- 1980
- Name
- V.L. Fitch
- Association with Columbia
- Columbia Ph.D., 1954
- Nobel Prize Date
- 1981
- Name
- A.L. Schawlow
- Association with Columbia
- Research Staff, 1949-1951
- Nobel Prize Date
- 1984
- Name
- C. Rubbia
- Association with Columbia
- Research Staff, 1958-1959
- Nobel Prize Date
- 1988
- Name
- L.M. Lederman*
- Association with Columbia
- Columbia Ph.D., 1951 & Faculty, 1951-1979
- Nobel Prize Date
- 1988
- Name
- M. Schwartz*
- Association with Columbia
- Columbia B.A., 1953, Columbia Ph.D., 1958 & Faculty, 1957-1966, 1991-2000
- Nobel Prize Date
- 1988
- Name
- J. Steinberger*
- Association with Columbia
- Faculty, 1950-1969
- Nobel Prize Date
- 1989
- Name
- N. Ramsey
- Association with Columbia
- Columbia B.A., 1935, Columbia Ph.D., 1937 & Faculty, 1942-1946
- Nobel Prize Date
- 1995
- Name
- M. Perl
- Association with Columbia
- Columbia Ph.D., 1955
- Nobel Prize Date
- 1998
- Name
- H. Stormer
- Association with Columbia
- Faculty, 1998-present
- Nobel Prize Date
- 2018
- Name
- A. Ashkin
- Association with Columbia
- Columbia B.A., 1947
- Nobel Prize Date
- 2022
- Name
- J. Clauser
- Association with Columbia
- Columbia Ph.D., 1969
- Nobel Prize Date
- * Nobel awarded for work done in the Department.
- Name
- Association with Columbia