List of Nobel laureates affiliated with Columbia University as alumni or faculty

This list of Nobel laureates affiliated with Columbia University as alumni or faculty comprehensively shows alumni (graduates and attendees) or faculty members (professors of various ranks, researchers, and visiting lecturers or professors) affiliated with Columbia University in New York City who were awarded the Nobel Prize or the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. People who have given public lectures, talks or non-curricular seminars; studied as non-degree students; received honorary degrees; or served as administrative staff at the university are excluded from the list. Summer school attendees and visitors are generally excluded from the list, since summer terms are not part of formal academic years; the same rule applies to the extension school.

Alumni or faculty members of Barnard College after 1900 and Bard College by 1944 are included in the list. Physicians and long-term medical staff of the Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital are included in the list.

The Nobel Prizes, established by the 1895 will of Alfred Nobel, are awarded to individuals who make outstanding contributions in the fields of Chemistry, Literature, Peace, Physics, and Physiology or Medicine. An associated prize, the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel (commonly known as the Nobel Prize in Economics), was instituted by Sweden's central bank, Sveriges Riksbank, in 1968 and was first awarded in 1969.

As of the 2025 awards, 105 Nobel laureates have been affiliated with Columbia University as alumni or faculty. Among the 105 laureates, 72 are Nobel laureates in natural sciences; 47 are Columbia alumni (graduates and attendees) and 34 have been long-term academic members of the Columbia faculty; and subject-wise, 33 laureates have won the Nobel Prize in Physics, more than any other subject. This list considers Nobel laureates as equal individuals and does not consider their various prize shares or if they received the prize more than once.

Summary

All types of affiliations, namely alumni and faculty members, count equally in the following table and throughout the whole page.

In the following list, the number following a person's name is the year they received the prize; in particular, a number with asterisk (*) means the person received the award while they were working at Columbia University (including emeritus staff). A name marked with a dagger (†) indicates that this person has already been listed in a previous category (i.e., multiple affiliations). +CategoryAlumniProfessors of various ranksResearchers or visitorsTotal: 105473444Physics (33) Robert Millikan – 1923 Isidor Rabi – 1944 Julian Schwinger – 1965 Leon Cooper – 1972 James Rainwater – 1975 Arno Penzias – 1978 Val Fitch – 1980 Leon Lederman – 1988 Melvin Schwartz – 1988 Norman Ramsey – 1989 Martin Perl – 1995 Arthur Ashkin – 2018 John Clauser – 2022 Enrico Fermi – 1938 Isidor Rabi† – 1944* Hideki Yukawa – 1949* Willis Lamb – 1955 Polykarp Kusch – 1955* Tsung-Dao Lee – 1957* Charles Townes – 1964 James Rainwater† – 1975* Samuel Ting – 1976 Melvin Schwartz† – 1988 Leon Lederman† – 1988 Jack Steinberger – 1988 Norman Ramsey† – 1989 Horst Störmer – 1998* Emilio Segrè – 1959 Maria Mayer – 1963 Hans Bethe – 1967 Murray Gell-Mann – 1969 Aage Bohr – 1975 Samuel Ting† – 1976 Steven Weinberg – 1979 Arthur Schawlow – 1981 Carlo Rubbia – 1984 Leon Lederman† – 1988 Daniel Tsui – 1998 John C. Mather – 2006 Giorgio Parisi – 2021Chemistry (16) Irving Langmuir – 1932 John H. Northrop – 1946 William H. Stein – 1972 Roald Hoffmann – 1981 Herbert Hauptman – 1985 Sidney Altman – 1989 William S. Knowles – 2001 Robert Grubbs – 2005 Robert Lefkowitz – 2012 Louis E. Brus – 2023 Harold Urey – 1934* Martin Chalfie – 2008* Martin Karplus – 2013 Joachim Frank – 2017* Louis E. Brus† – 2023* Willard Libby – 1960 Luis Leloir – 1970Physiology or Medicine (23) Hermann J. Muller – 1946 Edward C. Kendall – 1950 Dickinson Richards – 1956 Joshua Lederberg – 1958 Konrad Bloch – 1964 George Wald – 1967 Konrad Lorenz – 1973 Baruch Blumberg – 1976 Baruj Benacerraf – 1980 Harold Varmus – 1989 Louis Ignarro – 1998 Richard Axel – 2004 Thomas H. Morgan – 1933 André Cournand – 1956* Dickinson Richards† – 1956* Eric Kandel – 2000* Richard Axel† – 2004* James Rothman – 2013 Hermann J. Muller† – 1946 Joshua Lederberg† – 1958 Konrad Bloch† – 1964 Salvador Luria – 1969 Baruch Blumberg† – 1976 Carleton Gajdusek – 1976 Daniel Nathans – 1978 Baruj Benacerraf† – 1980 Sune Bergström – 1982 Donnall Thomas – 1990 Linda Buck – 2004 David Julius – 2021Economics (17) Simon Kuznets – 1971 Kenneth Arrow – 1972 Milton Friedman – 1976 Robert Fogel – 1993 William Vickrey – 1996 Robert C. Merton – 1997 Alvin Roth – 2012 George Stigler – 1982 Gary Becker – 1992 William Vickrey† – 1996* Robert Mundell – 1999* James Heckman – 2000 Joseph Stiglitz – 2001* Edmund Phelps – 2006* Milton Friedman† – 1976 Franco Modigliani – 1985 Robert Solow – 1987 Joseph Stiglitz† – 2001 David Card – 2021 Joshua Angrist – 2021Literature (7) Louise Glück – 2020 Orhan Pamuk – 2006 Gabriela Mistral – 1945 Joseph Brodsky – 1987 Nadine Gordimer – 1991 Derek Walcott – 1992 Orhan Pamuk† – 2006 László Krasznahorkai – 2025Peace (9) Theodore Roosevelt – 1906 Nicholas Butler – 1931 Jose Ramos-Horta – 1996 Barack Obama – 2009 Nicholas Butler† – 1931 Elie Wiesel – 1986 Al Gore – 2007 Liu Xiaobo – 2010 Leymah Gbowee – 2011 Maria Ressa – 2021

Nobel laureates by category

Nobel laureates in Physics +No.ImageNameYearAffiliation with Columbia University1Robert Millikan1923PhD2Enrico Fermi1938Professor3Isidor Rabi1944PhD; professor4Hideki Yukawa1949Professor5Polykarp Kusch1955Professor6Willis Lamb1955Professor7Tsung-Dao Lee1957Professor8Emilio Segrè1959Visitor (1935, 1936)9Maria Mayer1963Researcher (1942–1945); Manhattan Project (1939–1945)10Charles Townes1964Professor11Julian Schwinger1965BA, PhD12Hans Bethe1967Visiting professor (Spring 1941, 1948)13Murray Gell-Mann1969Visiting associate professor (Fall 1954)14Leon Cooper1972BA, MA, PhD15Aage Bohr1975Visiting Fellow (1949–1950)16James Rainwater1975MA, PhD; professor17Samuel Ting1976Assistant professor (1965–1967) and instructor (1964–1965)18Arno Penzias1978MA, PhD19Steven Weinberg1979Instructor (1957–1959)20Val Fitch1980PhD21Arthur Schawlow1981Visiting associate professor (1960); fellow and research associate (1949–1951)22Carlo Rubbia1984Research Fellow (1958–1959)23Leon Lederman1988MA, PhD; professor24Melvin Schwartz1988BA, PhD; professor; research associate25Jack Steinberger1988Professor26Norman Foster Ramsey Jr.1989BA, PhD; associate professor27Martin Perl1995PhD28Horst Störmer1998Professor29Daniel C. Tsui1998Adjunct scientist30John C. Mather2006Lecturer (1975–1976)31Arthur Ashkin2018BA32Giorgio Parisi2021Researcher (1973–1974)33John Clauser2022MA, PhD

Nobel laureates in Chemistry +No.ImageNameYearAffiliation with Columbia University1Irving Langmuir1932BS2Harold Urey1934Professor3John H. Northrop1946BS, MA, PhD4Willard Libby1960Head, Chemistry Division of the Columbia University branch of the Manhattan Project (1942–1945)5Luis Leloir1970Researcher, College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia (1944–1945)6William H. Stein1972PhD7Roald Hoffmann1981BA8Herbert Hauptman1985MA9Sidney Altman1989Graduate student in physics10William S. Knowles2001PhD11Robert Grubbs2005PhD12Martin Chalfie2008Professor13Robert Lefkowitz2012BA, MD14Martin Karplus2013Professor15Joachim Frank2017Professor16Louis E. Brus2023PhD; professor

Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine +No.ImageNameYearAffiliation with Columbia University1Thomas H. Morgan1933Professor2Hermann J. Muller1946BA, MA, PhD; instructor in Zoology (1918–1920)3Edward C. Kendall1950BS, MS, PhD4André Cournand1956Professor5Dickinson Richards1956MD; professor6Joshua Lederberg1958BA; research assistant7Konrad Bloch1965PhD; researcher8George Wald1967PhD9Salvador Luria1969Research assistant in Surgical Bacteriology (1940–1942)10Konrad Lorenz1973Undergraduate attendee (1922, one semester of premedical studies)11Baruch Blumberg1976MD; medical resident12Carleton Gajdusek1976Medical resident at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center13Daniel Nathans1978Intern (1954–1955) and resident (1957–1959) in Medicine, Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center14Baruj Benacerraf1980BS; researcher15Sune Bergström1982Research Fellow (1940–1941)16Harold Varmus1989MD17Donnall Thomas1990Physician-in-chief, Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital (1955–1963)18Louis Ignarro1998BA19Eric Kandel2000Professor20Linda Buck2004Postdoctoral researcher (1980–1984)21Richard Axel2004BA; professor22James Rothman2013Professor23David Julius2021Postdoctoral researcher (1984–1990)

Nobel Memorial Prize laureates in Economics +No.ImageNameYearAffiliation with Columbia University1Simon Kuznets1971BS, MA, PhD2Kenneth Arrow1972MA, PhD3Milton Friedman1976PhD; visiting professor4George Stigler1982Professor5Franco Modigliani1985Instructor at Bard College (1942–1944)6Robert Solow1987Research Fellow (1949–1950)7Gary Becker1992Professor8Robert Fogel1993MA9William Vickrey1996MA, PhD; professor10Robert C. Merton1997BS11Robert Mundell1999Professor12 James Heckman2000Associate professor13Joseph Stiglitz2001Professor; Stern Visiting Professor14Edmund Phelps2006Professor15Alvin Roth2012BS16David Card2021Visiting professor (1990–1991)17Joshua Angrist2021Visiting professor (2018)

Nobel laureates in Literature +No.ImageNameYearAffiliation with Columbia University1Gabriela Mistral1945Visiting professor at Barnard College (1930–1931)2Joseph Brodsky1987Adjunct professor (1978–1985)3Nadine Gordimer1991Adjunct professor (1971–1972, 1976–1978, 1983)4Derek Walcott1992Visiting professor (1979, 1981–1983, 1984)5Orhan Pamuk2006Professor; visiting scholar6Louise Glück2020Undergraduate attendee7László Krasznahorkai2025Writer-in-residence (2014)

Nobel Peace Prize laureates +No.ImageNameYearAffiliation with Columbia University1Theodore Roosevelt1906Law student2Nicholas Butler1931BA, MA, PhD; professor; president3Elie Wiesel1986Visiting professor at Barnard College (1997–1999)4Al Gore2007Visiting professor (2001)5Barack Obama2009BA6Liu Xiaobo2010Visiting scholar (1988–1989)7Leymah Gbowee2011Distinguished Fellow in Social Justice at Barnard College (2013–2014)8Maria Ressa2021Professor

Some visitors not qualified as faculty members Visiting positions such as the "Global Fellowship" of SIPA and "Ernest Kempton Adams (EKA) Lectureship" at Columbia do not require employment-level duties, and thus are excluded from this list. The EKA Fund was established in 1904, enabling Columbia to invite scientists to deliver a series of public lectures.

Affiliates during the Manhattan Project, the scientific research project which developed the first nuclear weapons, who specifically worked for the military are also excluded from this list.

+Some visitors not qualified as faculty membersNameNobel PrizeYearRole in Columbia UniversityHendrik LorentzPhysics1902EKA Lecturer about a month in the spring of 1906; Lorentz began his lectures on March 23, and gave his final lecture on April 27; later book Theory of Electrons was based on a course of lectures delivered during that periodWilhelm WienPhysics1911EKA Lecturer (1913); delivered six public lectures in April 1913Max PlanckPhysics1918EKA Lecturer (1909); delivered eight public lectures in the spring of 1909Walter BrattainPhysics1956Physicist (1941–1943) at the Division of War Research under National Defense Research Committee, working on magnetic detection of submarinesWilliam ShockleyPhysics1956Research director (1942–1944) of the Antisubmarine Warfare Operations Research Group (set up by the US Navy Department at Columbia) for military projectsJohn van VleckPhysics1977Visiting lecturer for summer school (1934)Kofi AnnanPeace2001Global Fellow (Spring 2009), School of International and Public Affairs, for public lectures and seminars

Notes

References