Cambridge Nobelists

 

Here are the 96 Nobel Prizewinners who attended Cambridge University that I have found during my research. For more information on any of the Laureates, see the Nobel Archive

Laureate College Prize Year Reason for Prize
Lord Rayleigh Trinity Phy 1904 Discovered Argon
JJ Thomson Trinity Phy 1906 Investigated the electrical conductivity of gases
Ernest Rutherford Trinity Che 1908 Atomic structure and radioactivity
William Bragg Trinity Phy 1915 Analysed crystal structure using X-rays
Lawrence Bragg Trinity Phy 1915 Analysed crystal structure using X-rays
Charles Barkla Trinity Phy 1917 Discovered the characteristics of X-radiation
Niels Bohr Trinity Phy 1922 Investigated atomic structure and radiation
Francis Aston Trinity Che 1922 Work on mass spectroscopy and the `whole number rule'
Archibald Hill Trinity Med 1922 Heat production in the muscles
Austen Chamberlain Trinity Pea 1925 Work on the Locarno Pact, 1925
Charles Wilson Sidney Sussex Phy1927 Invented the cloud chamber
Arthur Holly Compton - Phy1927 Discovered wavelength change in diffused X-rays
Owen Richardson Trinity Phy 1928 Richardson's Law of electron emission of hot metals
Frederick Hopkins Trinity/ Emmanuel Med 1929 Discovered growth stimulating vitamins
Lord Adrian Trinity Med 1932 The function of neurons
Charles Sherrington Caius Med1932 The function of neurons
Paul Dirac St John's Phy 1933 Quantum mechanics
James Chadwick Caius Phy 1935 Discovered the neutron
Henry Dale Trinity Med 1936 The chemical transmission of nerve impulses
George Thomson Trinity Phy 1937 Interference in crystals irradiated by electrons
Albert Szent-Gyorgyi Fitzwilliam Med1937 Combustion in biology
Ernst Chain Fitzwilliam Med 1945 Discovery of penicillin
Howard Florey Caius Med 1945 Discovery of penicillin
Edward Appleton St John's Phy 1947 Discovered the Appleton Layer
Patrick Blackett Magdalene/ King's Phy 1948 Nuclear physics and cosmic radiation
Bertrand Russell Trinity Lit 1950 A History of Western Philosophy, 1945
Cecil Powell Sidney Sussex Phy 1950 Photography of nuclear processes
John Cockcroft St John's/ Churchill Phy 1951 Used accelerated particles to study atomic nuclei
Ernest Walton Trinity Phy 1951 Used accelerated particles to study atomic nuclei
Richard Synge Trinity Che 1952 Developed partition chromatography
Archer Martin Peterhouse Che 1952 Developed partition chromatography
Hans Krebs - Med 1953 Discovered the citric acid cycle
Max Born - Phy 1954 Fundamental research into quantum mechanics
Alexander Todd Christs Che1957 Work on nucleotides
Frederick Sanger St John's Che 1958 Structure of the insulin molecule
Philip Noel-Baker King'sPea1959 Work towards global disarmament
John Kendrew Trinity Che 1962 Determined the structure of haemoproteins
Max Perutz Peterhouse Che 1962 Determined the structure of haemoproteins
Francis Crick Caius/ ChurchillMed1962 Structure of DNA
James Watson Clare Med 1962 Structure of DNA
Maurice Wilkins St John's Med 1962 Structure of DNA
Alan Hodgkin Trinity Med 1963 Transmission of nerve impulses along a nerve fibre
Andrew Huxley Trinity Med 1963 Transmission of nerve impulses along a nerve fibre
Dorothy Hodgkin Newnham/ Girton Che 1964 Structure of compounds used in fighting anaemia
Ronald Norrish Emmanuel Che 1967 Study of fast chemical reactions
George Porter Emmanuel Che1967 Study of fast chemical reactions
Rodney Porter Pembroke Med 1972 Chemical structure of antibodies
John Hicks Caius Eco 1972 Equilibrium theory
Brian Josephson Trinity Phy 1973 Tunneling in superconductors and semiconductors
Patrick White King's Lit 1973 For an epic and psychological narrative art which has introduced a new continent into literature
Martin Ryle Trinity Phy 1974 For the invention of aperture synthesis
Antony Hewish Caius/ Churchill Phy 1974 For the discovery of pulsars
Nevill Mott Caius/ St John's Phy 1977 Behaviour of electrons in magnetic solids
Philip Anderson Churchill Phy 1977 Behaviour of electrons in magnetic solids
James Meade Trinity Eco 1977 Contributed to the theory of international trade
Pyotr Kapitsa Trinity Phy 1978 Invented the helium liquefier
Peter Mitchell Jesus Che 1978 Energy transfer processes in biological systems
Abdus Salam St John's Phy 1979 Unification of electromagnetic and weak particle interactions
Steven Weinberg - Phy 1979 Unification of electromagnetic and weak particle interactions
Allan Cormack St John's Med1979 Development of CAT scans
Walter Gilbert Trinity Che 1980 Developed the theory of nucleotide links in nucleic acids
Frederick Sanger St John's Che 1980 Developed the theory of nucleotide links in nucleic acids
Aaron Klug Trinity Che 1982 Determined the structure of biologically active substances
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar Trinity Phy 1983 The evolution and devolution of stars
William Fowler Pembroke Phy 1983 The evolution and devolution of stars
Gerard Debreu Churchill Eco 1983 Reformulation of the theory of general equilibrium
Richard Stone Caius Eco 1984 Developing a national income accounting system
Cesar Milstein Fitzwilliam Med1984 Developed a technique for producing monoclonal antibodies
Georges Kohler - Med1984 Developed a technique for producing monoclonal antibodies
Norman Ramsey Clare Phy1989 Developing the separated field method
James Mirrlees Trinity Eco 1996 Studied behaviour in the absence of complete information
John Walker Sidney Sussex Che 1997 Studied how a spinning enzyme creates the molecule that powers cells in muscles
Amartya Sen TrinityEco 1998 For his contributions to welfare economics
John Pople TrinityChe 1998 For his development of computational methods in quantum chemistry
Alan McDiarmid Sidney SussexChe 2000 For the discovery and development of conductive polymers
Paul Greengard ?Med 2000 For discoveries concerning signal transduction in the nervous system
Tim Hunt ClareMed 2001 For discoveries of key regulators of the cell cycle
Joseph Stiglitz CaiusEco 2001 For analyses of markets with asymmetric information
John Sulston PembrokeMed 2002 For discoveries concerning genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death
Sydney Brenner King'sMed 2002 For discoveries concerning genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death
Richard Schrock -Che 2005 For the development of the metathesis method in organic synthesis
Martin Evans Christ'sMed 2007 For discoveries of principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice
Roger Tsien ChurchillChe 2008 For increasing understanding of the protein GFP
Elizabeth Blackburn DarwinMed 2009 For the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase
Venkatraman Ramakrishnan TrinityChe 2009 For studies of the structure and function of the ribosome
Robert Edwards ChurchillMed 2010 For the development of in vitro fertilization
John Gurdon Churchill/ MagdaleneMed 2012 For the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent
Michael Levitt PeterhouseChe 2013 For the development of multiscale models for complex chemical systems
Angus Deaton FitzwilliamEco 2015 For his analysis of consumption, poverty, and welfare
Oliver Hart King'sEco 2016 For his contributions to contract theory
John Kosterlitz CaiusPhy 2016 For theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter
Duncan Haldane Christ'sPhy 2016 For theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter
David Thouless Trinity HallPhy 2016 For theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter
Richard Henderson Corpus ChristiChe 2017 For developing cryo-electron microscopy for the high-resolution structure determination of biomolecules in solution
Peter Ratcliffe CaiusMed 2019 For discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability
Didier Queloz TrinityPhy 2019 For work on exoplanets and the evolution of the Universe

Thanks to Martin Boer, and the University Press and Publications office for finding several that I had missed, and to Edward Hoffman for many of the links below.

Chicago (85 Nobelists), MIT (73), Columbia (72), Harvard (>43), Oxford (48), Gottingen (44), Cornell (40), Princeton (32), John Hopkins (32), Caltech (31), Humboldt, Berlin (29), Stanford (23), Manchester (23), Washington Uni. St Louis (21), Rockefeller (21), Berkeley (20), Yale (18), Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) (18), Pennsylvania (16), Imperial College, London (14), LSE (14), and Liverpool (8), maintain their own impressive lists of Nobel Prizewinning alumni, but their criteria for deciding who is an alumnus vary wildly, and are on the whole different to those here. If only Undergraduate and Graduate Students are counted as having studied at an institution then these totals drop to perhaps 37 for Columbia and 29 for Chicago (compared to up to 48 for Harvard). By the same criteria, Cambridge loses Compton, Hicks, Fowler, Walker, Debreu, Kohler, Greengard, Weinberg, Brenner, Stiglitz, Ramakrishnan, Gurdon and Queloz leaving 83 who were actually students here.

Wikipedia has a detailed if inconsistent page on the alma maters of Nobel Prizewinners. See also here for a further list of links to Nobel Prizewinning Alumni pages.