The Nobel Prize award in Physiology or Medicine is presented annually by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute in recognition of outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a singular honour, but rather a collection of five separate awards established by Alfred Nobel’s 1895 will. These prestigious prizes are conferred upon individuals who have, in the preceding year, conferred the greatest benefit to humankind in the fields of Physics, Chemistry, Literature, Peace, and Physiology or Medicine.

TVC had earlier reported that the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institute has presented a joint award for the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to Mary E. Brunkow of the Institute for Systems Biology, Seattle, USA, Fred Ramsdell of Sonoma Biotherapeutics, San Francisco, USA and Shimon Sakaguchi, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan, for their discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance.

The body’s powerful immune system must be regulated, or it may attack our own organs. Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi are awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2025 for their groundbreaking discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance that prevents the immune system from harming the body.

In this article, TVC presents recipients of the prestigious Nobel Prize award in Physiology or Medicine since 1960 and their work contributions, as confirmed by the Nobel Prize Assembly.

In 1960, Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet Australian and Peter Medawar Brazilian born received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for their discovery of acquired immunological tolerance”.

In 1961, Georg von Békésy received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for his discoveries of the physical mechanism of stimulation within the cochlea”.

In 1962, Francis Crick, James Watson and Maurice Wilkins received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material”.

In 1963, Sir John Eccles, Alan Hodgkin and Andrew Huxley received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for their discoveries concerning the ionic mechanisms involved in excitation and inhibition in the peripheral and central portions of the nerve cell membrane”.

In 1964, Konrad Bloch and Feodor Lynen received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for their discoveries concerning the mechanism and regulation of the cholesterol and fatty acid metabolism”.

In 1965, François Jacob, André Lwoff and Jacques Monod received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for their discoveries concerning genetic control of enzyme and virus synthesis”.

In 1966, Peyton Rous received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for his discovery of tumour-inducing viruses”, and in the same here, Charles B. Huggins received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for his discoveries concerning hormonal treatment of prostatic cancer”.
In 1967, Ragnar Granit, Körner Hartline and George Wald received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for their discoveries concerning the primary physiological and chemical visual processes in the eye”.
In 1968, Robert W. Holley, H. Gobind Khorana and Marshall W. Nirenberg received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for their interpretation of the genetic code and its function in protein synthesis”.
In 1969, Max Delbrück, Alfred D. Hershey and Salvador E. Luria received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for their discoveries concerning the replication mechanism and the genetic structure of viruses”.
In 1970, Sir Bernard Katz, Ulf von Euler and Julius Axelrod received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for their discoveries concerning the humoral transmitters in the nerve terminals and the mechanism for their storage, release and inactivation”.
In 1971, Earl W. Sutherland, Jr. received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for his discoveries concerning the mechanisms of the action of hormones”.
In 1972, Gerald M. Edelman and Rodney R. Porter received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for their discoveries concerning the chemical structure of antibodies”.
In 1973, Karl von Frisch, Konrad Lorenz and Nikolaas Tinbergen received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for their discoveries concerning organisation and elicitation of individual and social behaviour patterns”.
In 1974, Albert Claude, Christian de Duve and George E. Palade received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for their discoveries concerning the structural and functional organisation of the cell”.
In 1975, David Baltimore, Renato Dulbecco and Howard M. Temin received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for their discoveries concerning the interaction between tumour viruses and the genetic material of the cell”.
In 1976, Baruch S. Blumberg and D. Carleton Gajdusek received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for their discoveries concerning new mechanisms for the origin and dissemination of infectious diseases”.
In 1977, Roger Guillemin and Andrew V. Schally received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for their discoveries concerning the peptide hormone production of the brain,” and Rosalyn Yalow “for her development of radioimmunoassays of peptide hormones”.
1978, Werner Arber, Daniel Nathans and Hamilton O. Smith received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for the discovery of restriction enzymes and their application to problems of molecular genetics”.
In 1979, Allan M. Cormack and Godfrey N. Hounsfield received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for their development of computer-assisted tomography”.
In 1980, Baruj Benacerraf, Jean Dausset and George D. Snell received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for their discoveries concerning genetically determined structures on the cell surface that regulate immunological reactions”.
In 1981, Roger W. Sperry received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for his discoveries concerning the functional specialisation of the cerebral hemispheres”. Also in the same year, David H. Hubel and Torsten N. Wiesel received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for their discoveries concerning information processing in the visual system”.
In 1982, Sune K. Bergström, Bengt I. Samuelsson and John R. Vane received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for their discoveries concerning prostaglandins and related biologically active substances”.
In 1983, Barbara McClintock received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for her discovery of mobile genetic elements”.
In 1984, Niels K. Jerne, Georges J.F. Köhler and César Milstein received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for theories concerning the specificity in development and control of the immune system and the discovery of the principle for production of monoclonal antibodies”.
In 1985, Michael S. Brown and Joseph L. Goldstein received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for their discoveries concerning the regulation of cholesterol metabolism”.
In 1986, Stanley Cohen and Rita Levi-Montalcini received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for their discoveries of growth factors”.
In 1987, Susumu Tonegawa received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for his discovery of the genetic principle for generation of antibody diversity”.
In 1988, Sir James W. Black, Gertrude B. Elion and George H. Hitchings received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for their discoveries of important principles for drug treatment”.
In 1989, J. Michael Bishop and Harold E. Varmus received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for their discovery of the cellular origin of retroviral oncogenes”.
In 1990, Joseph E. Murray and E. Donnall Thomas received the Nobel Prize in Medicine“for their discoveries concerning organ and cell transplantation in the treatment of human disease”.
In 1991, Erwin Neher and Bert Sakmann received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for their discoveries concerning the function of single ion channels in cells”.

In 1992, Edmond H. Fischer and Edwin G. Krebs received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for their discoveries concerning reversible protein phosphorylation as a biological regulatory mechanism”.

In 1993, Richard J. Roberts and Phillip A. Sharp received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for their discoveries of split genes”.

In 1994, Alfred G. Gilman and Martin Rodbell received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for their discovery of G-proteins and the role of these proteins in signal transduction in cells”.
In 1995, Edward B. Lewis, Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard and Eric F. Wieschaus received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for their discoveries concerning the genetic control of early embryonic development”.
In 1996, Peter C. Doherty and Rolf M. Zinkernagel received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for their discoveries concerning the specificity of the cell-mediated immune defence”.
In 1997, Stanley B. Prusiner received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for his discovery of Prions – a new biological principle of infection”.
In 1998, Robert F. Furchgott, Louis J. Ignarro and Ferid Murad received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for their discoveries concerning nitric oxide as a signalling molecule in the cardiovascular system”.
In 1999, Günter Blobel received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for the discovery that proteins have intrinsic signals that govern their transport and localisation in the cell”.

In 2000, Arvid Carlsson, Paul Greengard and Eric Kandel received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for their discoveries concerning signal transduction in the nervous system”.

In 2001, Leland Hartwell, Tim Hunt and Sir Paul Nurse received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for their discoveries of key regulators of the cell cycle”.

In 2002, Sydney Brenner, H. Robert Horvitz and John E. Sulston received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for their discoveries concerning genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death”.

In 2003, Paul C. Lauterbur and Sir Peter Mansfield received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for their discoveries concerning magnetic resonance imaging”.

In 2004, Richard Axel and Linda B. Buck received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for their discoveries of odorant receptors and the organisation of the olfactory system”.

In 2005, Barry J. Marshall and J. Robin Warren received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for their discovery of the bacterium Helicobacter pylori and its role in gastritis and peptic ulcer disease”.

In 2006, Andrew Z. Fire and Craig C. Mello received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for their discovery of RNA interference – gene silencing by double-stranded RNA”.

In 2007, Mario R. Capecchi, Sir Martin J. Evans and Oliver Smithies received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for their discoveries of principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem cells”.

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In 2008, Harald zur Hausen received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for his discovery of human papilloma viruses causing cervical cancer”. Also in the same year, Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for their discovery of the human immunodeficiency virus”.

In 2009, Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase”.

In 2010, Robert G. Edwards received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for the development of in vitro fertilisation”.

In 2011, Bruce A. Beutler and Jules A. Hoffmann received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for their discoveries concerning the activation of innate immunity”. Ralph M. Steinman also received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for his discovery of the dendritic cell and its role in adaptive immunity”.

In 2012, Sir John B. Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent”.

In 2013, James E. Rothman, Randy W. Schekman and Thomas C. Südhof received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for their discoveries of machinery regulating vesicle traffic, a major transport system in our cells”.

In 2014, John O’Keefe, May-Britt Moser and Edvard I. Moser received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for their discoveries of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain”.

In 2015, William C. Campbell and Satoshi Ōmura received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for their discoveries concerning a novel therapy against infections caused by roundworm parasites”. Tu Youyou also received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for her discoveries concerning a novel therapy against Malaria”.

In 2016, Yoshinori Ohsumi received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for his discoveries of mechanisms for autophagy”.

In 2017, Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael W. Young received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for their discoveries of molecular mechanisms controlling the circadian rhythm”.

In 2018, James P. Allison and Tasuku Honjo received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for their discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation”.

In 2019, William G. Kaelin Jr, Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe and Gregg L. Semenza received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for their discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability”.

In 2020, Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for the discovery of the Hepatitis C virus”.

In 2021, David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch”.

In 2022, Svante Pääbo received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for his discoveries concerning the genomes of extinct hominins and human evolution”.

In 2023, Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman received the Nobel Prize in Medicine “for their discoveries concerning nucleoside base modifications that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19”.

In 2024, Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun received the Nobel Prize in Medicine“for the discovery of microRNA and its role in post-transcriptional gene regulation”.

Finally, in the 2025 edition, Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi received the Nobel Prize in Medicine“for their discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance”.