NOBEL LAUREATES IN

CHEMISTRY

by
Prof. Pahup Singh
Department of Chemistry
University of Rajasthan
Jaipur-302004
 Decline of Science in India
• Some of the factors responsible for decline are as
follows:-

1.Proliferation of schools/colleges without sufficient

teachers and proper laboratory facilities.
2.Frequent changes in syllabi without having qualified
teachers.
3.Abolishing the basic courses of science subjects in the
name of updating the course.
4.Quota systems operating in the school/college
admissions, rather than merit.
5.Starting of new departments like those of microbiology,
biotechnology, etc. without even basic facilities and
subject facilities.
6.Making Ph.D. an essential qualification for
promotion, even for those who do not have
background/aptitude for research.
7.Giving more weightage to extra-curricular activities
over scientific achievements for promotion.
8.Publishing fake data, due to lack of monitoring of
such corrupt practices.
9.Poor or at times absence of review and monitoring of
research reports/achievements of a project.
10. Delay in release of funds by implementing
agencies.
11.RA’s, SRF’s and JRF’s getting their fellowships
after a delay of 9-10 months.
12.No job opportunities due to ban on fresh
recruitments. In the absence of fresh recruitments,
young researchers frequently change their area of
work.

13.Appointing staff according to the funds available. No

uniform payment structures for contract teachers.

14.The ‘10 to 5’ working hours; a typical office culture

prevailing in many research institutions.
CHEMISTRY : A DISCIPLINE IN DECLINE
The declining perception of the usefulness of
Chemistry is best illustrated by the steady
closure of Chemistry Departments in the United
Kingdom (U.K.). A recent estimate suggests
that less than half of all U.K. Universities offer
undergraduate degrees in Chemistry (D. Clery,
Science, 2005,307,668). Public discussion of
the declining fortunes of Chemistry has been
catalyzed by the decision of the University of
Exeter to close its Chemistry Department.
The costs of teaching undergraduate Chemistry
and Physics have been escalated, with
laboratory courses becoming a major drain on
resources. Even as students are drawn away to
more attractive courses, Chemistry and Physics
Departments must wrestle with declining
strength and falling budgets……..

P. Balaram
Director, IISc
In Current Science 25 March 2005
Editorial
• The present generation is facing a tough time
surrounded by bewildered, myopic politicians,
aspirant mediocre scientists and science
managers. We will soon see the fruits of this
gross negligence of science. Our Green
Revolution is fading and the leadership has
systematically destroyed the breeding ground
of intellectuals. Decline of science is inevitable.

N.D. Sharma
In Current Science May 10, 2004
NOBEL LAUREATES IN CHEMISTRY
• Nobel prizes are awarded since 1901 in the
fields of:
1. Chemistry
2. Physics
3. Medicine/Physiology
4. Literature
5. World peace
From 1969 Economic Science has also included
in the list.
• Award Money = 1Million Swedish Croners
Rs= 6,00,000,00/-
(Rs= Above six crore)

• Date of Award = December 10, each year

• Venue = Stockholm (Sweden)
 HOW ALFRED NOBEL ACCUMULATED
WEALTH FROM NITROGLYCERINE ?

ALFRED BERNHARD NOBEL (1833-1896)

• Alfred Nobel was born on 21st Oct. 1833 at

Stockholm in Sweden. He was sickly child and
brought up in extreme poverty conditions. In
1842 his family migrated to St. Petersberg in
Russia.
• Where he had private tutors. Later on he
worked with Prof. Nikolai Zinin, a Russian
Organic Chemist at Univ. of St. Petersberg on
nitroglycerine. Alfred Nobel patented
nitroglycerine as explosive in 1863. He
established a factory for manufacture of
nitroglycerine there.

• Unfortunately there was an explosion in this

factory in 1864 killing four people including his
younger brother Alfred Emil.
• He was not disappointed with this explosion
and later on he discovered that nitroglycerine
when absorbed in sawdust or even earth would
not explode until detonated. The mixture of
sawdust or nitroglycerine is called dynamite.
Due to the huge demand and sale of dynamite
world over he became one of the richest man of
the world.
• In 1895 he decided to leave his entire fortune
for humanist cause and established a trust and
from the interest of that fund these awards are
funded. He was a bachelor and had a very
complex personality. He died on 10th December
1896 due to brain heamorrhage.
NOBEL LAUREATES: FAMILIAL
FATHER, MOTHER, DAUGHTER & SON-IN-LAW

• Pierre Curie 1903 Physics (Father)

• Madame Marie Curie 1903 Physics
1911 Chemistry (Mother)
• Irene Joliot Curie 1935 Chemistry (Daughter)
• Frederic Joliot Curie 1935 Chemistry (Son-in-law)
 HUSBAND AND WIFE

• Pierre Curie & 1903 Physics

Madame Marie Curie (jointly)

• Frederic Joliot Curie & 1935 Chemistry

Irene Joliot Curie (jointly)

• Gunnar Myrdal (Husband) 1974 Economics

• Alva Myrdal (Wife) 1982 Peace
 FATHER AND SON (jointly or separately)
• William Henry Bragg and 1915 Physics
William Lawrence Bragg (Son)
• (W.L.Bragg won Nobel Prize at the age of 25 years-youngest
Nobel Prize Winner)
• Niels Bohr 1922 Physics
Aage Niels Bohr (Son) 1975 Physics
• J.J. Thompson 1906 Physics
G.P.Thompson (Son) 1937 Physics
• H. Von Euler Chelpin 1929 Chemistry
U. Von Euler (Son) 1970 Physiology
• Karl Manne Siegbahn 1924 Physics
Kai Siegbahn (Son) 1981 Physics
• Arthur Kornberg 1959 Medicine
Roger D. Kornberg (Son) 2006 Chemistry
 BROTHERS
Jan Tinbergen 1969 Economics
Nikolaus Tinbergen 1973 Medicine
Carl F. Cori and 1947 Medicine
Gerty F. Cori
UNCLE AND NEPHEW
C.V. Raman 1930 Physics
S. Chandrasekhar 1983 Physics

BROTHER-IN-LAW
Charles Hard Townes 1964 Physics
Arthur Schawlow 1981 Physics
 TWICE RECIPIENTS OF THE NOBEL PRIZE
Different Subjects
1. Madame Marie Curie 1903 Physics (Radioactivity)
-do- 1911 Chemistry (Discovery of
Radium & Polonium)
2. Linus Pauling 1954 Chemistry
-do- 1962 Peace

Same Subjects

3.John Bardeen 1956 Physics (Semiconductor &Transistor)

-do- 1972 Physics (Superconductivity)

4.Frederic Sanger 1958 Chemistry(Sequence of amino acids in insulin)

-do- 1980 Chemistry (Base-sequence in Nucleic acids)
Nobel Prizes to Indians/India-born/India-settled,
Indian origin
1. Rabindra Nath Tagore 1913 Literature
2. C.V. Raman 1930 Physics
3. H.G. Khorana 1968 Physiology
4. S. Chandrasekar 1983 Physics
5. Mother Terasa 1979 Peace
6. Dalai Lama 1989 Peace
7. Amartya Sen 1998 Economics
8. V.S. Naipaul 2001 Literature
9. Dr. R.K. Pachauri 2007 Peace
(As Chairman IPCC)
 1901
J.H. Van’t Hoff (1852-1911)
Dutch Physical Chemist, student of Kekule at Bonn,
studied at Utrecht, Professor at Amsterdam University,
later on Honorary Professor at University of Berlin.
His researches include:-
• Discovery of the laws of Chemical Dynamics
and Osmotic pressure in solutions-Van’t Hoff
factor.
• Theory of the tetrahedral valency of carbon in
1874 (at the age of 22yrs).
H. Kolbe, one of the most eminent organic
chemist was reacting to a publication of 22 yrs
old Dutch Scientist-” Not long ago, I expressed
the view that the lack of general education and
of thorough training in chemistry was one of the
causes of the deterioration of chemical
research in Germany…………….will anyone to
whom my worries seem exaggerated please
read, if he can, a recent memoir by a Herr Van’t
Hoff on “The arrangements of atoms in space,
a document crammed to the hilt with the out
pourings of a childish fantasy…………..”
 1902
H.E. Fischer (1852-1919)
German chemist, student of Kekule & Von Baeyer,
was Professor of Organic Chemistry at University of
Berlin.
[Lived in a room in the Department. Girls students
were not allowed in the Organic Research Lab-was a
bachelor]
His researches include:-
• In recognition of the extraordinary services he
has rendered by his work on sugar and purine
syntheses.
 1903
S.A. Arrhenius (Stockholm,1859-1927)
• Swedish chemist, best known for his theory of
electrolytic dissociation” [Ph.D. THESIS].
• He received his doctorate at the University of
Uppsala, where his thesis containing the theory
which later won for him Nobel Prize was
awarded the lowest note” which could be
granted without a definite rejection.
 1904
Sir William Ramsay (London, 1852-1916)
He was a student of Bunsen

His researches include:-

• Discovery of the inert gaseous elements in
air and their place in the periodic Table.
 1905
A. Von Baeyer (Munich,1835-1917)
German Chemist, was a student of Bunsen and
Kekule.

His researches include:-

• Famous Baeyer-strain theory.
• Structure of benzene (Centric Formula).
• Work on indigo, uric acid, barbituric acid
and condensation reactions.
 1906
Henri Moisson (Paris,1852-1907)
He was not allowed to work in the Department
laboratories due to explosive nature of fluorine. He
worked in a make shift laboratory in the annexe.

His researches include:-

• Isolation of element fluorine in 1886.
• Development of the electric furnace.
 1907
Eduard Buchner (Munich / Berlin,1852-1917)

He was a student of Baeyer.

His researches include:-

• Biochemical researches and the discovery
of cell-free fermentation.
• Discoverer of Buchner funnel.
• He was killed while serving as a major in
the German Army during First world war.
 1908
Sir Ernest Rutherford
(Manchester,UK,1871-1937)

English Chemist worked under J.J. Thomson at

Cambridge. At the age of 25 yrs he was appointed as
Professor of Physics at Mc Gill University, Montreal
(Canada).
His researches include:-
• Investigation into the disintegration of the
elements.
• The chemistry of radioactive substances.
 1909
Wilhelm Ostwald (Leipzig / Berlin,1853-1932)

His researches include:-

• Work on catalysis.
• Investigations into the fundamental
principles governing chemical equilibria
and rates of reaction.
• Discoverer of Ostwald Viscometer.
 1910
Otto Wallach (Gottingen, W.G.,1847-1931)

He was a student of Kekule.

His researches include:-

• Pioneer work in the field of alicyclic
compounds.
 1911
Madame Marie Curie (Paris, France)
A Polish Chemist, worked in France, Paris.
Her researches include:-
• Discovery of the elements radium (Ra, At
No.88) and polonium (Po, At.No.84).

• The isolation of radium and the study of the

nature and compounds of this remarkable
elements.
 1912
Victor Grignard (Nancy, France,1871-1935)
• Discovery of organomagnesium Halides
(Grignard reagents) in 1900.
Paul Sabatier (Toulouse, France,1854-1941)
• He is best known for his work on
hydrogenation in the presence of finely divided
metals.
 1913
Alfred Werner (Zurich, Switzerland)
(1866-1919)

• Formulated his famous Coordination theory;

• Worked on the linkage of atoms in molecules

which has thrown new light on earlier
investigations and opened up new fields of
research especially in inorganic chemistry.
 1914
Theodore William Richards (Harvard, USA)
(1868-1928)

• He was the first American to receive

Nobel Prize.

• Accurate determination of the atomic

weight of a large number of chemical
elements.
 1915
Richard Willstatter (Munich,1872-1942)
German Chemist and was a successor to
Baeyer at Munich; Being the jew left Germany
in 1939 to Switzerland.
His researches include:-
• for his research on plant pigments,
especially on the structure of chlorophyll,
flavones, anthocyanins, alkaloids and
enzymes.
 1916
Not awarded in any subjects

1917
Not awarded in Chemistry

1918
Fritz Haber ( Berlin,1868-1934)
• Synthesis of ammonia from its elements.
2N + 3H2 2NH3
 1919
Not awarded in Chemistry

1920
Walther Nernst ( Berlin,1864-1941)

• Worked on thermochemistry.
• Famous Nernst equation for electrode and cell
potential.
 1921
Sir Frederic Soddy (Oxford, U.K.,1877-1956)

• for his contributions to knowledge of the

chemistry of radioactive substances and
investigations into the origin and nature of
isotopes.
 1922
Sir F.W. Aston (Cambridge, UK,1877-1945)

• for his discovery by means of Mass

Spectrograph, of isotopes, in a large
number of non-radioactive elements and
for enunciation of the whole-number rule.
 1923
Fritz Pregl (Graz, Austria, 1869-1930)

• for his invention of the method of micro-

analysis of organic substances.

1924
Not awarded in Chemistry
 1925
Richard Adolf Zsigmondy
(Gottingen, W.G.,1865-1929)

• for his demonstration of the heterogenous

nature of colloid solutions by methods
which have since become fundamental in
modern colloid chemistry.
 1926
Theodore Svedberg (Uppsala, Sweden)
• Married four times and has 6 sons and 6
daughters.
• for his work on disperse systems.
1927
Heinrich Otto Wieland (Munich,W.G.,1877-1957)
• for his investigations on the constitution of the
Bile acids and related compounds.
• His daughter married to Feodor Lynen (Nobel
Prize in medicine in 1964) former president of
AvH foundation.
 1928
Adolf Reinhold Windaus (Gottingen)
(1876-1959)

• Constitution of cholesterol and other related

steroids and their connection with vitamins.
• The original cholesterol structure proposed by
Windaus was incorrect. This became evident in
1932 as a result of X-ray diffraction studies
done by the British Physicist J.D. Bernal. By the
end of 1932, English Scientist and Windaus
himself using Bernal’s results were able to
outline the correct structure of cholesterol.
 H H2
CH3 H3C C CH3
CH
CH3 H CH3
CH3
CH H3C
CH3 CH3 H
HO
H

HO

Windaus structure of Cholesterol Absolute Configuration of Cholesterol

Correct structure of Cholesterol after X-ray

 The structure proposed by Windaus in 1928 for
desoxycholic acid was only tentative and was
unspecific as to the location of two carbons.
Serious doubt as to the correctness of the
Windaus structure came as a result of an X-ray
study of ergosterol by J.D. Bernal in 1932.
CH3
CH3

CO2H

HO OH }C H
2 4

Windaus structure for

desoxycholic acid (1928)
 1929
Sir Arthur Harden (Buckinghamshire, U.K.)
(1865-1940)
H. von Euler Chelpin (Stockholm, Sweden)
(1873-1964)

• Investigation on the fermentations and

fermentative enzymes.
• Chelpin married twice and second wife has 9
children. His son Ulfa von Euler Chelpin won
Nobel prize in 1970 for medicine.
 1930
Hans Fischer (Munich, 1881-1945)
• The constitution of haemin and chlorophyll and
specially for the synthesis of haemin.

• He married late in life and had no child.

• General confusion and depression caused

during world war-II resulted taking his own life
in final weeks of war.
 1931
Carl Bosch (Heidelberg, W.G.,1874-1940)
Friedrich Bergius (Heidelberg, W.G.,1884-1949)

• The invention and development of chemical

high pressure methods
(Bergius process for synthesis of petrol)
 1932
Irving Langmuir (New York, USA,1881-1957)
• Discoveries and inventions in surface chemistry
(Langmuir Adsorption Isotherm)

1933
Not awarded in Chemistry
 1934
Harold Clayton Urey (Columbia, USA,1893-1981)
• Discoveries of heavy hydrogen (2H).
• Urey was responsible for the development of
first Atomic bomb.
1935
Frederic Joliot Curie (1900-1958) and
Irene Joliot Curie (Paris,1897-1956)
• Synthesis of new radioactive elements.
• Irene died due to leukemia at the age of 59 due
to prolonged exposure to intense radiation.
 1936
Peter Debye (Berlin, 1884-1966)

• Contribution to knowledge of molecular

structure through investigations on dipole
moments and on the diffraction of X-rays and
electrons in gases.
 1937
Sir Walter N. Haworth (Birmingham, U.K.)
(1883-1950)
• Investigations on carbohydrates (cyclic
structure of glucose and other
monosaccharides) and Vitamin-C.

Paul Karrer (Zurich, Switz.,1889-1971)

• Investigations of carotenoids, flavins and

vitamins A and B2.
 1938
Richard Kuhn (Heidelberg, W.G, 1900-1967)

• Worked on Carotenoids and Vitamins.

• Famous Kuhn –Roth methyl side chain
determination.
• Richard Kuhn was forbidden by Nazi’s to
accept the award. He received it after world
war-II was over.
 1939
A.F.J. Butenandt (Berlin, W.G.)
• Also called the “Hormone Nobel Laureate”
• Worked on Sex hormones
• He has isolated 15mg of androsterone, a male sex
hormone by extracting 15,000 litres of male urine. He
accepted prize after world war-II.
O
Me

Me
He married in1931 and
has 7 Children HO
and lived in Munich. Androsterone
 Leopold Ruzicka (Zurich, Switzerland)

• Worked upon large ring compounds, i.e.

polymethylenes, muscone, civetone, which
gave deadly blow to “Baeyers strain theory” of
large ring compounds.

• Higher terpenes.
 1940-1942
Not awarded (period of II World War) in
any subject
1943
George Hevesy (Hungary, 1885-1966)
• Use of isotopes as tracers in the study of
chemical processes
1944
Otto Hahn (Berlin/Gottingen, 1879-1968)
• Discovery of the fission of heavy nuclei
 1945
A.J. Virtanen (Helsinki, Finnland,1895-1973)
Researches in agricultural and nutrition
chemistry, especially fodder preservation.
1946
J. B . Sumnar (Buffalo, USA, 1887-1955)
Discovery that enzymes can be crystallized.
J. H. Northrop (Arizona, USA, 1891-1987)
W.M. Stanley (Princeton, USA, 1904-1971)
Preparation of enzymes and virus proteins in a
pure form.
 1947
Sir Robert Robinson (Oxford, U.K.1886-1955)
• Investigations on plant products of biological
importance especially alkaloids, flavonoids, etc.

1948
A.W.K. Tiselius (Uppsala, Sweden,1902-1967)
• Electrophoresis and adsorption analysis
especially for discoveries concerning the
complex nature of the serum proteins.
 1949
William Francis Giaugue (Berkley, USA)

• for his contributions in the field of chemical

thermodynamics, particularly concerning
the behaviour of substances at extremely
low temperature.
 1950
Otto Diels (Kiel, W.G.) (1876-1954)
Kurt Alder (Cologne, W.G.) (1902-1958)
• for their discovery and development of the Diene
Synthesis
+

Diene Dienophile Adduct

• during world War-II, two of Diels sons were killed on

eastern front. His house, his department were
completely destroyed in air attack. Diels also
discovered O=C=C=C=O carbon suboxide a highly
reactive substance.
 1951
E.M. Mc Millan (California, USA,1907-1991)
G.T. Seaborg (Berkeley, USA,1912- )
• for discoveries in the chemistry of
transuranium elements.

1952
A.J.P. Martin (London, 1910- )
R.L.M. Synge (Liverpool, 1914- )
• invention of partition chromatography.
 1953
H. Staudinger (Freiburg, W.G.)
(1881-1965)

• for discoveries in the field of

macromolecular chemistry.
 1954
Linus Pauling (California Institute of
Technology, Pasadena, USA,1901-1994)
• Researches into the nature of the chemical
bond and its application to the elucidation of the
structure of complex substances.
• His book “NO MORE WAR” written in 1958 won
Nobel Peace prize 1962.
• He missed the third Nobel Prize. Pauling was in
the run for another Nobel Prize when he
narrowly lost the race for identifying the ultimate
chemical unit of life-the DNA to Watson & Crick
(Nobel Prize of 1962 of Medicine).
 1955
Du Vigneaud Vicent (New York, 1901-1978)
• Biochemically important sulphur compounds
especially the first synthesis of a polypeptide
hormone.

• Structure of vitamin-H (biotin), oxytocin,

vasopressin.
 1956
Cyril Norman Hinshelwood (Oxford, U.K.)
(1887-1967)
N.N. Semenov (Moscow, 1896- )
( First Russian to get Nobel Prize)

• The mechanism of chemical reactions.

 1957
Sir Alexander Todd (Cambridge, Uk)

• Nucleotides and
nucleotide-coenzymes
(nucleic acids).

• Structures of vitamin B and

E.
 1958
Sir Frederick Sanger (Cambridge,Uk,1918-)
• determination of the entire amino acid
sequence in the bovine insulin molecule.
 1959
Jaroslav Heyrovsky (Prague, Czech.)
(1890-1967)

• discovery and development of the

polarographic method of analysis.
 1960
Willard Frank Libby (Los Angeles, USA)
(1908- )

• Use of carbon-14 for age determination in

archeology, geology, geophysics and other
branches of science.

• His most famous book “Radiocarbon Dating”

(1955).
 1961
Melvin Calvin (Berkeley, USA; 1911- )
• Research on the carbon –dioxide assimilation
in plants.
1962
John Cowdery Kendrew (Oxford, UK, 1917- )
Max Ferdinand Perutz (Vienna, Austria; 1914- )

• Structure of globular proteins such as

myoglobin, haemoglobin, etc. by X-ray analysis
 1963
Karl Ziegler (Mulheim, W.G.,1898-1973)
Giulio Natta (Milan, Italy,1903-1979)
• The chemistry and technology of high
polymers.

• Ziegler-Natta catalyst (C2H5)3Al/TiCl3 uses in

coordination polymerisation.
 1964
Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin (Oxford, U.K.)
(1910-1994)

• Determination by X-ray technique the structures

of important biochemical substances especially
X-ray studies of vitamin B12.

• Dr. Hodgkin was a biochemists and was trained

as crystallographer under Dr. J.D. Bernal.
Structure of Vitamin B12 or Cyanocobalamine
 1965
Robert Burns Woodward
(Harvard, USA; 1917-1979)
took Ph.D. at the age of 20 yrs.

• Outstanding achievements in the art of organic synthesis

including the synthesis of reserpine, cholesterol,
chlorophyll and vitamin B12.
• Synthesis of vitamin B12 took 11 years and involved more
than 90 separate reactions. One hundred
coworkers took part in the project.
At the time of death he was working on the synthesis of
erythromycin.
 1966
Robert S. Mulliken (Chicago,USA,1896- )

• fundamental work concerning chemical bonds

and the electronic structure of molecules by the
molecular orbital method.
 1967
Manfred Eigen, Gottingen, W.G.(1927-)
Ronald G.W. Norrish, Cambridge, U.K.(1897-1978)
George Porter (London,1920-)

• studies of extremely fast chemical reactions,

effected by disturbing the equilibrium by means
of very short pulses of energy.
 1968
Lars Onsager (Yale, USA, 1903-1976)

• discovery of the reciprocity relations

bearing his name which are fundamental
for the thermodynamics of irreversible
processes.
 1969
D.H.R. Barton (Imperial college,London,1918-1998)
O. Hassel (Oslo,Norway,1897- )

• development of the concept of

conformation and its application in
chemistry.
 1970
L.F. Leloir (Buenos Aires,Argentina;1906- )

• discovery of sugar nucleotides and

their role in the biosynthesis of
carbohydrates.
 1971
Gerhard Herzberg (Ottawa,Canada;1904- )

• Contributions to the knowledge of

electronic structure and geometry of
molecules, particularly free radicals.
 1972
C.B. Anfinsen (Bethesda, USA, 1916- )
• for his work on ribonuclease, especially concerning
the connection between the amino acid sequence and
the biologically active conformation.

Stanford Moore (Chicago, USA, 1913-1982)

W.H. Stein (Rockefeller, New York, 1911- )

• for their contributions to the understanding of the

connection between chemical structure and catalytic
activity of the active centre of the ribonuclease
molecule.
 1973
Ernst O. Fischer (Munich, W.G.)
Geoffrey Wilkinson (Imperial College, London)

• for their pioneering work, performed

independently, on the chemistry of the
organometallic, so called sandwich compounds.
 1974
Paul J. Flory (Stanford, USA)

• for his fundamental work both theoretical and

experimental in the physical chemistry of the
macromolecules.
 1975
John W. Cornforth (Sussex, UK)

• for his work on the stereochemistry of

enzyme-catalyzed reactions.

V. Prelog (Zurich, Switzerland)

• for his research on stereochemistry of

organic molecules and reactions.
 1976
W.N. Lipscomb (Harvard, USA)
• for his studies on the structure of boranes
illuminating problems of chemical bonding.
1977
Ilyas Prigogine (Brussels, Belgium)

• for his contributions to non-equilibrium

thermodynamics, particularly the theory of
dissipative structures.
 1978
P. Mitchell (Bodmin, Cornwall, UK)

• for his contributions to the understanding

of biological energy transfer through the
formation of the chemiosmotic theory.
 1979
H.C. Brown (Purdue, USA)
George Wittig (Heidelberg, W.G.)

• for development of boron and phosphorus

compounds respectively, into important
reagents in organic synthesis.
• Hydroboration reactions.
• Wittig reaction(1954).
 1980
Paul Berg (Stanford, USA)
• for his fundamental studies on the biochemistry
of nucleic acids, with particular regard to
recombinant DNA.
W. Gilbert (Harvard) and
F. Sanger (Cambrige, UK)
• for their contributions concerning the
determination of base sequence in nucleic
acids.
 1981
K. Fukui (Kyoto, Japan) and
R. Hoffmann (Cornell, USA)
K. Fukui is the first Japanese to get Nobel
Prize.

• Quantum mechanical studies of chemical

reactivity
• Chemistry of pericyclic reactions.
 1982
A. Klug (Cambrige, UK)
• for his development of crystallographic electron
microscopy and the structural elucidation of
biologically important nucleic acid-protein
complexes.
1983
Henry Taube (Stanford, USA)
• for his work on the mechanism of electron
transfer reactions, especially in metal
complexes.
 1984
R. Bruce Merrifield
(Rockefeller, New York; 1921- )

• Solid phase synthesis of peptides.

He has a large family of six children.

Merrifield is a quiet and soft spoken, who
graduated from the UCLA.
 1985
Jerome Karle (US Naval Research Lab.,
Washington)
Herbert Hauptman (Buffalo, USA)
Hauptman is a mathematician and research
director of the mathematical foundation of the
Buffalo Research Laboratories, USA.
• for the development of the mathematical
method to determine the three dimensional
structure of molecules.
 1986
John C. Polanyi (Toronto, Canada,1929- )
Dudley Herschbachn (Harvard, USA)
Yuan Lee (Berkley, USA)

• for their contribution to the “Dynamics of

Chemical Processes”. All three are pioneers in
the field now known as chemical dynamics.
 1987
C.J. Pederson (Du Pont, USA,1904- )
(was born in Korea to a Norwegian father and
Japanese mother )
Jean Marie Lehn (Paris, France)
(worked at Louis Pasteur, Univ. Strasbourg, France)
Donald J. Cram (Los Angels,USA, 1919- )
• separate work on medium sized molecules
which selectively encapsulate smaller
molecules and ions.
 1988
Johanan Deisenhofer
Robert Huber
Hartmut Michel
(W. Germany)
• for the determination of the three
dimensional structure of a photosynthetic
reaction centre.
 1989
Sidney Altman (Yale, USA)
Thomas R. Cech (Colorado, USA)
• for their discovery of catalytic properties of
RNA. They independently found out that RNA
not only carries genetic information but can also
act as an enzyme in the cell. This could lead to
the development of “gene shears” to cut out
unwanted genetic material.
 1990
E.J. Corey (Harvard, USA)
• Synthesis of
prostaglandins

• The Corey-Seebach
method to prepare the high
strained
metaparacyclophane.
Metaparacyclophane
• The Corey-House alkane
synthesis.
 1991
Richard R. Ernst (Switzerland)

• for his contribution to the development of

the methodology of high resolution NMR
spectroscopy.

• 2D NMR techniques.
 1992
Rudolph A. Marcus (California Institute of
Technology, USA)

• for his contribution to the theory of

electron transfer reactions in chemical
systems.
 1993
Kary B. Mullis, USA
Michael Smith, Canada
• for development of methods within DNA-based
Chemistry.
• for the discovery of the polymerase chain
reaction (PCR) method.
• for fundamental contributions to the
establishment of oligonucleotide-based, site-
directed mutagenesis and its development for
protein studies.
 1994
George A. Olah (USA)
• development of new methodologies in organic
synthesis.

• uses of newer synthetic reagents.

• for his contribution to carbocation chemistry.

 1995
Frank Sherwood Rowland (Ohio, USA,1927- )
Paul Josef Crutzen (Amsterdam.Holland,1933- )
Mario Jose Molina (Mexico City, Mexico,1943- )
• Atmospheric chemistry, ozone depletion.
• Reactions of CFC.
• Free radical reactions of
chlorofluorohydrocarbons and their reactions
with O3.
 1996
Robert F. Curl Jr. (Texas, USA,1933- )
Harold Kroto (Sussex, U.K.,1939- )
Richard Smally (Ohio,USA,1943- )

• Discovery of new
allotropic form of
carbon i.e.
Fullerenes-C60,C70,
etc.
 1997
Paul D. Baeyer
John E. Walker
J.C. Schu

• for the elucidation of enzymatic mechanism

underlying the synthesis of A.T.P.
• for the discovery of an ion transporting enzyme,
Na+,K+ -ATPase.
 1998
Walter Kohn (UC-Santa Barbara Univ.,USA)
John Pople (North Western Univ., USA)

• for developing methods that can be used for

theoretical studies of the properties of
molecules and the chemical processes in which
they are involved.
• for the development of computational methods
in quantum chemistry.
 1999
Ahmed H. Zewail
(Egyptian born US-Scientist,1946- )

• for the development of rapid laser technique to

find out the movement of atoms in chemical
reactions.
• for the study of transition states of chemical
reactions using femtosecond spectroscopy..
 2000
A.G. Mc Diarmid (Univ. of Pennsylvania, USA)
A.J. Heeger (Univ. of California, Santa Barbara,
USA)
H. Shirakawa (Tsukuba Univ., Tokyo, Japan)

• for the development of plastics that can conduct

electricity i.e. the discovery of conductive
polymers.
 2001
William Knowles, USA
K. Barry Sharpless, USA
Ryoji Noyori, Japan

• for their work on chirally catalyzed oxidation

and hydrogenation reactions.
• Sharpless Epoxidation.
 2002
John B. Fenn, USA
Koichi Tanaka , Japan
Kurt Wuthrich, Switzerland

• for the development of NMR spectroscopy

for the determining the three dimensional
structure of biological macromolecules in
solution.
 2003
Peter Agre, USA
Roderick Mackinnon, USA

• for discoveries concerning channels in cell

membranes.
• for the discovery of water channels.
• for structural and mechanistic studies of ion
channels.
 2004
Aron Ciechanover, Israel
Avram Hershko, Israel
Irvine Rose (University of California,
Irvine,
USA)

• to explain the mechanism to destroy the

unwanted protein in human body that will help
in the treatment of leukemia, cystic fibrosis, etc.
 2005
Robert H. Grubbs (CIT, USA)
Richard R. Schrock (MIT, USA)
Yues Chauvin (FRA, France)

• for the development of metathesis method in

organic synthesis .By this method hazardous
waste can be converted into new materials.
Metathesis is an example of how important
basic science has been applied for the benefit
of man, society and environment.
 2006
Roger D. Kornberg
(Stanford Medical Univ., USA)

• for studies on how cells take information

from genes (DNA) to produce proteins.
 2007
Gerhard Ertl ( Friz Haber Institute,
Berlin, Germany)

• Studies of chemical processes on solid

surfaces.
 2008
Roger Y. Tsien, University of Cambridge, U.K.
Osamu Shimomura, Princeton University, USA
Martin Chalfie, Columbia University, New York, USA
For discovering and developing green
fluorescent protein (GFP). GFP was first
discovered in Jellyfish and can now be
found in cell biology labs across the world.
This glowing protein has given us a whole
new way to examine the inner working of
cells, providing insights into a range of
diseases such as cancer, HIV and
Alzheimer’s disease.
 How Bapu was denied Nobel
Prize for Peace?
• Gandhi’s name was proposed for Nobel Peace
prize thrice-1937,1938,1939. In 1937 his name
was short listed by Nobel Committee in the list
of 13 candidates. But the committee’s advisor
Prof. Jacob Worm-Muller was very critical of the
Mahatma and stated- “He is undoubtedly a
good , noble and ascetic person-a prominent
man who is deservedly honoured and loved by
the masses of India ……but sharp turns in his
policies, which can hardly be satisfactorily
explained by his followers.
He is a freedom fighter and a dictator, and
idealist and nationalist. He is frequently a Christ
but suddenly, an ordinary politician.
Gandhi’s name was again nominated in 1947
by several Indian leaders including-B.G. Kher,
Govind Ballabh Pant, G.V. Mavlankar, etc. But
all attempts were in vain.
Nobel Foundation realised its mistake in
2007 of not honouring Gandhi ji
• 2007 Nobel Prize Panel regretted of not honouring
Gandhi ji.
• The Executive Director of the Nobel Foundation in
Sweden Michael Sohlam said that the decision not to
extend him the Prize was a mistake.
• We missed a great laureate and that is Gandhi. It is a
big regret. I usually do not comment on what the
Nobel Committee or Prize awarding Institutions
decided but here they themselves think he is the one
missing he said to CNN IBN channel 13 Oct, 2007.
 REFERENCES
Hinduja Foundation
1. ENCYCLOPEDIA OF NOBEL LAURATES
(1901-1987)
Dr.Ashok K. Bagchi
Konark Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
Dedicated to “Mohan
Das Karamchand Gandhi”
“The Mahatama”

2. Thje Nobel Prize Internet Achieve

(1987-0nwards)