INTRODUCTION
The United States has won the most Nobel prizes. Most Nobel prizes are for high level scientific research and it’s awarded by a western country so it’s to be expected that by far the largest of the western developed countries, the USA, has the most Nobel prizes. This page looks at a more detailed breakdown of the characteristics of US Nobel prize winners.
Charts
1. Distribution By Award of US Born Nobel Prize Winners
2. US Born Nobel Prize Winners by Region of Birth and Award Category
3. States with Most Nobel Prize Winners
4. Cities with Most Nobel Prize Winners
Data Table
5. Award, City/Town, State and Region of Birth of US Born Nobel Prize Winners
Like other countries with a large number of Nobel prizes, the majority of American Nobel prize winners are for the science subjects. Notable American Nobel winning scientists include Richard Feynman for Physics, James Watson for Physiology and Medicine and Linus Pauling for Chemistry. The latter also won the Nobel peace prize. America has notably few Nobel prize winners for Literature. Only 3% of it’s Nobel prizes have been for literature, mostly recently musician Bob Dylan for his musical lyrics. 7% have been for peace including Martin Luther King who won the award in 1964 for his work in the civil rights campaign and Teddy Roosevelt who was the first American to win a Nobel prize in any field. 17% have been for Economics including John Forbes Nash Jr whose work on Game Theory earned him the award in 1994.
Martin Luther King won the Nobel peace prize in 1964 for his work in the civil rights movement.
The Northeast has produced by far the largest number of Nobel prize winners compared to other regions. The Northeast is the location of America’s 8 prestigious Ivy League Universities including Harvard. As such, it’s unsurprising that it’s most successful scientific minds come from this region. The south, the poorest and least developed region of the USA, has the fewest. The western region has the same number as the south although it has been less populated than other regions for much of the 20th century. A substantial proportion of American Nobel prize winners come from Jewish backgrounds, being primarily from the Northeast especially New York.
Linus Pauling is the only person to have been awarded two unshared Nobel prizes, for chemistry in 1954 and for peace in 1962.
New York is by far the most successful state in producing Nobel prize winners with nearly 3 times the number of the 2nd state. A large proportion of Jewish and born in New York City. Massachusetts, a relatively small state, notable has 22 Nobel Prize winners born in the state. The largest state in America, California, is in 4th with 17. California had quite a small population at the beginning of the 20th century which explains is relatively low place relative to current population size. The state is home to many of America’s top Universities such as Stanford and Caltech.
Bob Dylan, from New York City, won the Nobel prize for literature.
Among cities, New York City has by far been the most frequent birthplace of American born Nobel prize winners. Even after adjusting for population, it’s still the most successful of the major US cities in this regard. As mentioned above, a big part of the reason for this is the large Jewish community in New York City.
Theodore Roosevelt, the first American Nobel prize winner and President of the United States, was born in Manhattan in New York City.
DATA TABLE
5. Award, City/Town, State and Region of Birth of US Born Nobel Prize Winners
OTHER PAGES ABOUT NOBEL PRIZES AND ACADEMICS
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Charts created using OpenOffice Calc.