Can You Name These Women Nobel Laureates in Science?
Test your knowledge of women Nobel Prize winners in physics, chemistry and physiology or medicine.
Since the Nobel prizes were first awarded in 1901, relatively few women have been recognized in the categories of physics, chemistry and physiology or medicine.
The academies that award the prizes have acknowledged that women are under-represented among Nobel laureates and have changed their nomination procedures to diversify the pool of winners.
But men still dominate the 125-year history of the awards.
In this Nobel Prize quiz, Nature shines a spotlight on women Nobel laureates and invites you to test your knowledge. This page includes data on Nobel Prize winners up to 2025 and will be updated with this year’s winners.
Women Nobel Laureates Quiz
How well do you know the women who have won Nobel Prizes in science? Explore the questions below, then take the final challenge.
Question 1
Question 2
Question 3
Question 4
Final Challenge: How Many Women Science Nobel Laureates Can You Name?
The first two prize entries are already filled out, so you can get started right away. Enter a first or last name to guess. Click on revealed winners to read about their achievements. Please take 10 minutes to answer while this page is displayed.
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Marie Skłodowska-Curie
- Prize
- Physics, 1903
- Citation
- Research on radiation phenomena
- Prize
- Chemistry, 1911
- Citation
- Discovery of radium and polonium
Read about Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Born in Poland as Maria Skłodowska, she later became a French citizen. She coined the term ‘radioactivity’ and shared half of the 1903 physics Nobel with her husband Pierre Curie for studies in radiation. She won the 1911 chemistry prize for her discoveries of polonium and radium. Her husband died in 1906.
Credit: Henri Manuel. Nobel Foundation Archives.
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Not yet found
- Prize
- Chemistry, 1935
- Citation
- Synthesis of new radioactive elements
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Not yet found
- Prize
- Physiology or medicine, 1947
- Citation
- Discovery of catalytic conversion of glycogen
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Not yet found
- Prize
- Physics, 1963
- Citation
- Discoveries concerning nuclear shell structure
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Not yet found
- Prize
- Chemistry, 1964
- Citation
- X-ray determinations of biochemical structures
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Not yet found
- Prize
- Physiology or medicine, 1977
- Citation
- Development of radioimmunoassays of peptide hormones
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Not yet found
- Prize
- Physiology or medicine, 1983
- Citation
- Discovery of mobile genetic elements
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Not yet found
- Prize
- Physiology or medicine, 1986
- Citation
- Discovery of growth factors
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Not yet found
- Prize
- Physiology or medicine, 1988
- Citation
- Discoveries of important principles for drug treatment
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Not yet found
- Prize
- Physiology or medicine, 1995
- Citation
- Discoveries in genetic control of early embryonic development
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Not yet found
- Prize
- Physiology or medicine, 2004
- Citation
- Discoveries of odorant receptors and the olfactory system
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Not yet found
- Prize
- Physiology or medicine, 2008
- Citation
- Discovery of human immunodeficiency virus
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Not yet found
- Prize
- Physiology or medicine, 2009
- Citation
- Discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres
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Not yet found
- Prize
- Chemistry, 2009
- Citation
- Studies of the structure and function of the ribosome
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Not yet found
- Prize
- Physiology or medicine, 2014
- Citation
- Discoveries of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain
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Not yet found
- Prize
- Physiology or medicine, 2015
- Citation
- Novel therapy against malaria
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Not yet found
- Prize
- Physics, 2018
- Citation
- Method for generating high-intensity, ultra-short optical pulses
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Not yet found
- Prize
- Chemistry, 2018
- Citation
- Directed evolution of enzymes
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Not yet found
- Prize
- Physics, 2020
- Citation
- Discovery of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our Galaxy
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Not yet found
- Prize
- Chemistry, 2020
- Citation
- Development of a method for genome editing
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Not yet found
- Prize
- Chemistry, 2020
- Citation
- Development of a method for genome editing
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Not yet found
- Prize
- Chemistry, 2022
- Citation
- Development of click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry
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Not yet found
- Prize
- Physics, 2023
- Citation
- Experimental methods that generate attosecond pulses of light
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Not yet found
- Prize
- Physiology or medicine, 2023
- Citation
- Nucleoside base modifications enabling effective messenger RNA vaccines
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Not yet found
- Prize
- Physiology or medicine, 2025
- Citation
- Discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance
Source: www.nature.com