The Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to 229 individuals as of 2025. The first prize in physics was
awarded in 1901 to
Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, of Germany, who received 150,782
SEK.
John Bardeen is the only laureate to win the prize twice—in 1956 and 1972.
William Lawrence Bragg was the youngest Nobel laureate in physics; he won the prize in 1915 at the age of 25. He was also the youngest laureate for any Nobel prize until 2014 (when
Malala Yousafzai won the Nobel Peace Prize at the age of 17). The oldest Nobel Prize laureate in physics was
Arthur Ashkin who was 96 years old when he was awarded the prize in 2018. Only five women have won the prize:
Marie Curie (1903),
Maria Goeppert-Mayer (1963),
Donna Strickland (2018),
Andrea Ghez (2020), and
Anne L'Huillier (2023). Before L'Huillier, each woman only ever received a quarter share of the prize, although Marie Curie did receive an
unshared Nobel prize in chemistry in 1911. In 2023, L'Huillier received a one-third share. There have been six years for which the Nobel Prize in Physics was not awarded (1916, 1931, 1934, 1940–1942). There were also nine years for which the Nobel Prize in Physics was delayed for one year: • The 1914 prize awarded to
Max von Laue was announced only in November 1915. • the 1924 prize awarded to
Manne Siegbahn in 1925, == Laureates ==