Our Nobel Laureates
Caltech’s Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy (PMA) is proud of its extraordinary legacy of scientific achievement. Over the years, 10 faculty and 10 alumni have been honored with Nobel Prizes for work ranging from discoveries of subatomic particles and the structure of matter, to precision tests of quantum theory, and observational breakthroughs such as the relic radiation from the Big Bang, the first direct detection of gravitational waves, and the mapping of our galaxy’s central supermassive black hole.
1923 - Nobel Prize in Physics
Prize motivation: “for his work on the elementary charge of electricity and on the photoelectric effect”
1936 - Nobel Prize in Physics
Prize motivation: “for his discovery of the positron”
(BS '27, PhD '30)
1956 - Nobel Prize in Physics
Prize motivation: “for research on semiconductors and discovery of the transistor effect”
(BS '32)
1960 - Nobel Prize in Physics
Prize motivation: “for the invention of the bubble chamber”
(PhD '50)
1961 - Nobel Prize in Physics
Prize motivation: “for his researches concerning the resonance absorption of gamma radiation and his discovery in this connection of the effect which bears his name”
1964 - Nobel Prize in Physics
Prize motivation: "For the invention of the maser and laser."
(PhD '39)
1965 - Nobel Prize in Physics
Prize motivation: "For his fundamental work in quantum electrodynamics, with deep-ploughing consequences for the physics of elementary particles."
1969 - Nobel Prize in Physics
Prize motivation: "For his contributions and discoveries concerning the classification of elementary particles and their interactions."
1975 - Nobel Prize in Physics
Prize motivation: "For pioneering contributions to the development of the theory of nuclear structure."
(BS '39)
1978 - Nobel Prize in Physics
Prize motivation: “for their discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation”
(PhD '62)
1982 - Nobel Prize in Physics
Prize motivation: “for his theory for critical phenomena in connection with phase transitions”
(PhD '61)
1983 - Nobel Prize in Physics
Prize motivation: “for his theoretical and experimental studies of the nuclear reactions of importance in the formation of the chemical elements in the universe”
(PhD '36)
1996 - Nobel Prize in Physics
Prize motivation: “for their discovery of superfluidity in helium-3”
(BS '67)
2004 - Nobel Prize in Physics
Prize motivation: “for the discovery of asymptotic freedom in the theory of the strong interaction"
2015 - Nobel Prize in Physics
Prize motivation: “for the discovery of neutrino oscillations, which shows that neutrinos have mass”
(PhD '70)
2017 - Nobel Prize in Physics
Prize motivation: "for decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves"
2017 - Nobel Prize in Physics
Prize motivation: "for decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves"
(BS '62)
2020 - Nobel Prize in Physics
Prize motivation: "for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy"
(MS '89, PhD '93)
2022 - Nobel Prize in Physics
Prize motivation: "for experiments with entangled photons, establishing violation of Bell inequalities and pioneering quantum information science"
(BS '64)
2024 - Nobel Prize in Physics
Prize motivation: "for foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks"
* in residence
† deceased
The complete list of Caltech Nobel Prize winners can be found here.