Nobel Prizes

2023

Pierre Agostini | Ferenc Krausz | Anne L'Huillier

"For experimental methods that generate attosecond pulses of light for the study of electron dynamics in matter."

Since the late 1980s, researchers have been conducting experiments designed to track the ultrafast motion (43 miles per second) of electrons and grasp the dynamic behavior of these subatomic particles. Through their independent efforts and combined work, Agostini, Krausz and L'Huillier developed breakthrough techniques to capture, in real time, electrons' rapid movements using short pulses of light called "attosecond pulses." NSF is proud to have supported Agostini's exploratory research and particle motion experiments over the course of two decades. These laureates' collective discoveries have opened another door into the world of electrons, helping to better understand the fundamental laws of physics, while paving the way for the creation of new technologies.

2022

Alain Aspect | John F. Clauser | Anton Zeilinger

"For experiments with entangled photons, establishing the violation of Bell inequalities and pioneering quantum information science."

The groundbreaking work of all three researchers has revealed the strange nature of quantum entanglement and paved the way to a new field of research: quantum information science. Their fundamental discoveries provided a new understanding of nature at the quantum scale and a foundation for new technologies such as quantum computers, secure communications and networks that transmit information through entanglement. NSF is proud to have supported Zeilinger's experiments demonstrating quantum entanglement as well as Aspect's collaboration with researchers in the U.S.

2021

Syukuro Manabe | Klaus Hasselmann | Giorgio Parisi

"For the physical modelling of Earth's climate, quantifying variability and reliably predicting global warming" and "for the discovery of the interplay of disorder and fluctuations in physical systems from atomic to planetary scales."

Making sense of systems that function from randomness and disorder is not only a challenge, but also essential for understanding some of the most important phenomena of the world. Manabe developed the first-of-its-kind general circulation climate model that combined both oceanic and atmospheric processes that paved the way for the critical work of limiting the impact of human-caused climate change. NSF is proud to have supported Manabe's research on large-scale atmospheric circulation in the early 1980s through awards at Princeton University.

2020

Andrea Ghez | Reinhard Genzel | Roger Penrose

"For the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity" and "for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy."

The Nobel Assembly has awarded half of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics to Roger Penrose for his work on black hole formation and jointly awarded the other half to Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez for discovering the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. NSF provided support for the work of all three laureates. During a period in the early 1980s when Penrose, of the U.K., served as a professor at Rice University, NSF supported his investigations applying twistor theory to general relativity, and he was co-principal investigator (co-PI) on several awards for theoretical work on classical and quantum gravity. NSF also supported Genzel in the same period, providing him a Presidential Young Investigator award for development in infrared and submillimeter astrophysics.

NSF's supported Ghez's work with several awards related to her Nobel prize. In 1994, NSF provided her with a young investigator award. Subsequently, NSF supported the projects through which Ghez developed her Nobel-winning findings about our galaxy's supermassive black hole. With NSF support and use of the NSF-funded Keck Observatory, Ghez also sustained a 24-year observation of a star orbiting the Milky Way's supermassive black hole, the most comprehensive test so far of general relativity. Ghez discussed her work in an interview with NSF.

2019

James Peebles | Michel Mayor | Didier Queloz

"For contributions to our understanding of the evolution of the universe and Earth's place in the cosmos."

The 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded jointly "for contributions to our understanding of the evolution of the universe and Earth's place in the cosmos," with one half to James Peebles "for theoretical discoveries in physical cosmology" and the other half jointly to Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz "for the discovery of an exoplanet orbiting a solar-type star." NSF supported Peebles' work on gravitation, relativity, and cosmology with 17 awards over a 20-year span. Peebles' long career has included much theoretical work on the early universe. Some of his most cited research was conducted with the support of NSF funding.

2018

Arthur Ashkin | Gérard Mourou | Donna Strickland

"For their groundbreaking inventions in the field of laser physics."

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Physics 2018 "for groundbreaking inventions in the field of laser physics" with one half to Arthur Ashkin "for the optical tweezers and their application to biological systems" and the other half jointly to Gérard Mourou and Donna Strickland "for their method of generating high-intensity, ultra-short optical pulses." Laser physics is a field for which NSF investments have had significant impact. NSF made several grants to Mourou and his collaborators, including funds to support a biological physics facility at the University of Rochester and two centers at the University of Michigan, the Center for Ultrafast Optical Science (originally an NSF Science and Technology Center) and the FOCUS Physics Frontier Center. NSF Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) funding also helped transition technology developed in Mourou's labs to commercial applications, including a transformative new approach to LASIK eye surgery.

2017

Rainer Weiss | Kip Thorne | Barry Barish

"For their work detecting gravitational waves -- ripples in space and time created by the motion of massive objects in the universe."

The 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded jointly to Rainer Weiss of MIT and Kip Thorne and Barry Barish of Caltech. The three scientists led the development of the NSF-funded Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO), in which NSF invested $1.1 billion. The first detection occurred in September 2015, confirming one prediction of Einstein's theory of general relativity, which he published more than 100 years ago, and led to the identification of large black hole binary systems. LIGO is an example of risky but potentially revolutionary science funded by NSF, as it was one of the largest experiments NSF has ever funded. Funding supported construction and operational costs for the instrument, and research awards to individual scientists studying data obtained by LIGO.

2016

David J. Thouless | F. Duncan M. Haldane | J. Michael Kosterlitz

"For theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter."

Thouless was awarded one half and Haldane and Kosterlitz shared the other half of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physics for their work at the forefront of condensed matter physics. Using topological concepts — topology is a branch of mathematics — they "opened the door on an unknown world where matter can assume strange states," noted the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences press release. Thouless of the University of Washington has received support from NSF since the 1980s, including 02001948. Haldane of Princeton University also received multiple awards from NSF, including 9196212, and he is part of the Princeton Center for Complex Materials, an NSF Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC). Kosterlitz of Brown University received multiple awards from NSF in the 1980s and 1990s, including 9222812.

2012

Serge Haroche | David J. Wineland

"For ground-breaking experimental methods that enable measuring and manipulation of individual quantum systems."

Haroche and Wineland were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics. They independently invented and developed methods for measuring and manipulating individual particles while preserving their quantum-mechanical nature, in ways previously thought unattainable. Haroche, of the Collège de France and Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris, received support from NSF as a PI and co-PI in the 1980s when he was at Yale University. Wineland, of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and University of Colorado Boulder, was selected for a Graduate Research Fellowship in 1965.

2011

Saul Perlmutter | Brian P. Schmidt | Adam G. Riess

"For the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the universe through observations of distant supernovae."

Perlmutter of the Supernova Cosmology Project of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and University of California, Berkeley; Schmidt of the High-z Supernova Search Team, Australian National University; and Riess of the High-z Supernova Search Team, Johns Hopkins University and Space Telescope Science Institute revolutionized our understanding of the universe. In 1998, as key members of two research teams, they presented findings that the universe is expanding at an ever-accelerating rate. The acceleration is thought to be caused by "dark energy," so-called because little is known about it. NSF played a role in the foundations of the work, as numerous NSF-supported groups and instruments contributed to the discovery. NSF-funded researcher Robert Kirshner was a key player, and both Schmidt and Riess worked in his group when they were graduate students at Harvard University. Schmidt and Riess were supported by Kirshner's NSF grants during the period in the 1990s when key supernovae observations were made. Later, the Supernova Cosmology Project, led by Perlmutter, and another team — the High-z Supernova Search Team, led by Schmidt in which Riess played a major role — examined the amount of light that was being emitted by a particular type of supernova, called Type-Ia supernova, in order to determine the distance of these stars. The work of the Supernova Cosmology Project was partly supported by NSF through the Center for Astroparticle Physics at the University of California, Berkeley. The two independent teams found that the light of over 50 distant supernovae was weaker than predicted — the supernovae, still set in their galaxies, were fading as they were being pushed away at an accelerated rate. Crucial observations of supernovae were made using the Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory (CTIO) Blanco 4-meter Telescope operated by the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), which is funded by NSF. NOAO's Kitt Peak National Observatory and the Gemini Observatory also played important roles either in the discovery phase or in follow-up observations.

2008

Yoichiro Nambu

"For the discovery of the mechanism of spontaneous broken symmetry in subatomic physics."

Nambu's theories permeate the Standard Model of elementary particle physics which unifies the smallest building blocks of all matter and three of nature's four forces in one single theory. Nambu, of the Enrico Fermi Institute at the University of Chicago, received NSF support for research on theoretical elementary particle physics from the 1974 (7408833) to 1999 (9901194).

2006

John C. Mather | George F. Smoot

"For the discovery of the blackbody form and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation."

Mather, of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and Smoot, of the University of California, Berkeley, shared the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics for their work studying the infant Universe and contributing to a better understanding of the origin of stars and galaxies. Using the Cosmic Background Explorer satellite launched by NASA in 1989, they analyzed the cosmic microwave background radiation that is a relic of the "Big Bang." The detection of extremely small variations in the temperature of the radiation offered a clue to the distribution of matter in the early Universe. An NSF-funded summer physics program following 11th grade inspired Mather to become a scientist, and he received an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship in 1968. NSF supported Smoot's research for more than 20 years.

2005

Roy J. Glauber

"For his contribution to the quantum theory of optical coherence."

Glauber received half of the 2005 Nobel Prize in physics. His analysis of quantum effects in laser optics laid the foundations for modern applications such as quantum cryptography. NSF supported Glauber's research with several grants in the 1970s.
Affiliation: Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.

Theodor W. Hänsch

"For their contributions to the development of laser-based precision spectroscopy, including the optical frequency comb technique."

The other half of the physics prize went to John L. Hall of JILA (a research laboratory) and Hänsch for their contributions to the development of laser-based precision spectroscopy, including the optical frequency comb technique. Their work has made it possible to measure frequencies with an accuracy of fifteen digits. NSF funded Hänsch from 1977 through 1985.

2004

David J. Gross | H. David Politzer | Frank Wilczek

"For the discovery of asymptotic freedom in the theory of the strong interaction."

Gross, Politzer and Wilczek received the prize for their work related to the strong force, which binds quarks into protons and neutrons in the nucleus of an atom. Both Wilczek and Politzer were supported by NSF graduate fellowships while they conducted their Nobel-recognized research. NSF support for Gross spans many years, beginning at Princeton University where Wilczek was his graduate student, and since the mid-1990s at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (KITP) at the University of California, Santa Barbara. NSF has supported the KITP since its creation in 1979 and supported Wilczek when he was a member of the KITP in the 1980s.

2003

Anthony J. Leggett

"For pioneering contributions to the theory of superconductors and superfluids."

Leggett was honored for his groundbreaking work in explaining the behavior of atoms in superfluids. Leggett, whose research NSF has supported over the past 20 years, formulated a theory to explain the complex superfluid behavior in the rare form of helium. The theory for this quantum phenomenon has also been able to shed light in other areas, including particle physics, cosmology and the study of turbulence. NSF support includes a series of awards from 1983 (8315550) through the present (0121568).

2002

Raymond Davis Jr.

"For pioneering contributions to astrophysics, in particular for the detection of cosmic neutrinos."

NSF support has included five awards from 1985 (8512601) to 1991 (9115517) for the observation of solar neutrinos.

Riccardo Giacconi

"For pioneering contributions to astrophysics, which have led to the discovery of cosmic X-ray sources."

NSF support to Giacconi includes five awards from 1992 (9223814) through the present (0331358) for the operations of the NSF-funded National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO). He was president from 1999-2004 of Associated Universities, Inc., which operates NRAO.

2001

Eric A. Cornell | Wolfgang Ketterle | Carl E. Wieman

"For the achievement of Bose-Einstein condensation in dilute gases of alkali atoms, and for early fundamental studies of the properties of the condensates."

Cornell was honored by NSF with the 1997 Alan T. Waterman Award (9725291) and a research award in 2000 (0096822), while he was at JILA at the University of Colorado. NSF support for Wieman includes a long series of nearly 20 awards dating from as early as 1977 (7725712), and as recent as 2003 (0302134). Ketterle's NSF support includes three awards, starting in 1995 (9501984).

2000

Herbert Kroemer

"For developing semiconductor heterostructures used in high-speed-and opto-electronics."

NSF support includes a 1983 equipment award (8305131) to the University of California, Santa Barbara and participation in a 1992 award for U.S.-German collaboration (9222876).

1998

Robert B. Laughlin | Horst L. Störmer | Daniel C. Tsui

"For their discovery of a new form of quantum fluid with fractionally charged excitations."

NSF support for Laughlin includes five awards from 1985 (8510062) to 1998 (9813899). While at Bell Labs, Störmer conducted the Nobel work using the Francis Bitter National Magnetic Laboratory at MIT, supported at the time by NSF as a user facility (7420706, 8211416, 8813164). He has since been a user at the NSF-supported National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (9016241, 9527035) at the University of Florida, a member of the MRSEC at Columbia University (9809687),and as of 2003, co-director of Columbia's Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center (0117752). Tsui's NSF support includes a continuous series of more than 10 awards spaaning from 1982 (8212167) through 2003 (0315710).

1997

Steven Chu | William D. Phillips

"For development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light."

NSF support for Chu began with an NSF Fellowship in 1977 (7712322) and continued with 10 awards in the 1990s (9320142). Phillips was supported by an NSF Fellowship (1970–1973). He has spent much of his career at the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

1996

David M. Lee | Douglas D. Osheroff | Robert C. Richardson

"For [their] discovery of superfluidity in helium-3."

NSF support for Lee dates back as early as a 1960 physics award and continued with electronically available awards through 1982 (8211508). Osheroff's NSF support includes an NSF Fellowship and five awards since 1988 (8803301). NSF support for Richardson includes a series of nearly 15 awards, beginning in 1975 with a research award on low-temperature properties of helium-3 (7515933), and continuing through 2000 (0071630). Richardson also served as a member of the National Science Board from 1998-2004.

1995

Frederick Reines

"For the detection of the neutrino."

NSF support included three awards in the 1970s (7204474, 7523206, 7818359) related to the pursuit of the neutrino.

1994

Clifford G. Shull

"For the development of the neutron diffraction technique."

NSF support began with an award in 1962 and several electronically available materials research awards in the 1970s (7001857) related to magnetic ordering and neutron physics.

1993

Joseph H. Taylor Jr. | Russell A. Hulse

"For the discovery of a new type of pulsar, a discovery that has opened up new possibilities for the study of gravitation."

NSF support for Taylor includes four awards, beginning in 1975 (7523581), related to the observation of pulsars. Hulse's NSF support includes an NSF Graduate Traineeship (1970-1973) and support as a student of Taylor.

1990

Henry W. Kendall

"For their pioneering investigations concerning deep inelastic scattering of electrons on protons and bound neutrons, which have been of essential importance for the development of the quark model in particle physics."

NSF support for Kendall includes an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship at MIT (1954-1956).

1989

Norman F. Ramsey

"For the invention of the separated oscillatory fields method and its use in the hydrogen maser and other atomic clocks."

NSF support dates back to awards in 1958 and 1960, as well as a series of seven electronically available awards since 1974 (7412429) related to molecular beam, hydrogen maser and stored atom research.

Hans G. Dehmelt

"For the development of the ion trap technique."

NSF support includes awards beginning as early as 1958, and a string of 15 awards from 1974 (7413727) through 1997 (9732444) related to isolating atomic particles at rest in space.

1988

Leon M. Lederman | Melvin Schwartz | Jack Steinberger

"For the neutrino beam method and the demonstration of the doublet structure of the leptons through the discovery of the muon neutrino."

NSF supported Lederman as early as 1966 and during the 1970s at Columbia University as part of the team that discovered the bottom quark. NSF also supported Lederman through a number of awards (8120902, 8303817) for workshop and conference activities. NSF support for Schwartz includes an NSF Fellowship (1953-55) and awards beginning as early as 1962. His electronically available awards include several in the 1970s (7308920). For Steinberger, NSF support began with a Senior Postdoctoral Fellowship in 1960 and an award in 1962.

1983

Subramanyan Chandrasekhar

"For his theoretical studies of the physical processes of importance to the structure and evolution of the stars."

NSF support includes four electronically available awards starting in 1974 (7417456) related to gravitational physics and relativistic astrophysics.

William A. Fowler

"For his theoretical and experimental studies of the nuclear reactions of importance in the formation of the chemical elements in the universe."

Fowler cited NSF support in his Nobel Lecture. His NSF awards span from 1968 through the 1990s, often as part of the WK Kellogg Radiation Laboratory at Caltech. Fowler was also a member of the National Science Board from 1968-1974.

1982

Kenneth G. Wilson

"For his theory for critical phenomena in connection with phase transitions."

Wilson's NSF support dates back to an NSF Fellowship, an award from 1979 (7927167) for the purchase of a computer, and numerous awards through 1995 (9511923). Wilson was also director of the NSF-funded Cornell Theory Center of the Supercomputer Centers Program from 1985-1988.

1981

Arthur L. Schawlow

"For their contribution to the development of laser spectroscopy."

NSF support for Schawlow includes a series of seven awards related to spectroscopy and quantum electronics from 1974 (7414786) through 1990 (9022233).

1980

James W. Cronin

"For the discovery of violations of fundamental symmetry principles in the decay of neutral K-mesons."

Cronin's extensive NSF support includes an NSF Fellowship (1952-54) and a series of 28 high-energy physics awards spanning a quarter century from 1975 (7522664) through 2001 (0103717).

1979

Sheldon L. Glashow | Steven Weinberg

"For their contributions to the theory of the unified weak and electromagnetic interaction between elementary particles, including inter alia the prediction of the weak neutral current."

Glashow's NSF support includes an NSF Fellowship (1955-1960) and a series of awards from 1973 (7305038) through 2000 (0099539) on the interactions of particles and fields. Weinberg's NSF support also includes an NSF Fellowship (1954-1956) as well as awards from 1973 through 2000 (0071512), some of which were joint with Glashow.

1978

Robert W. Wilson

"For [joint] discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation."

NSF supported Wilson with an NSF Graduate Fellowship (1958-1960). His Nobel work was later conducted at Bell Labs.

1977

Philip W. Anderson

"For their fundamental theoretical investigations of the electronic structure of magnetic and disordered systems."

After working at Bell Labs, Anderson moved to Princeton University in 1975. NSF support for Anderson includes a series of awards starting in 1976 (7600886) on applications of the many-body theory and continuing through 1997 (9725913).

1976

Burton Richter

"For [joint] pioneering work in the discovery of a heavy elementary particle of a new kind."

NSF support includes a Graduate Student Fellowship (1952-1953), after which Richter spent much of his career at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, supported by the Department of Energy. He later received workshop and symposium awards in 1985 (8511457) and 1998 (9806632).

1975

James Rainwater

"For the discovery of the connection between collective motion and particle motion in atomic nuclei and the development of the theory of the structure of the atomic nucleus based on this connection."

NSF support includes awards in the 1960s and 1970s (7001850, 7517396, 7707577) for research and synchrocyclotron operation.

1973

Ivar Giaever*

"For [joint] experimental discoveries regarding tunneling phenomena in semiconductors and superconductors, respectively."

Giaever was a researcher with General Electric. NSF support includes a 1977 engineering award (7723604) for studies of antibody-antigen interaction.

1972

Leon N. Cooper | J. Robert Schrieffer

"For their jointly developed theory of superconductivity, usually called the BCS-theory."

NSF support for Cooper began with an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship (1954-1955) and includes awards in the 1960s, a 1973 award (7302605) on solid state and many body theory and later biology and engineering awards in 1987 (8719102, 8720084) and 1993 (9319373) related to learning and memory. Schrieffer's NSF support includes an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship (1957-1958) and a series of physics awards beginning as early as 1965 and including awards from 1973 (7307682) through 1996 (9629987). From 1984-1989, he was director of the NSF-funded Institute for Theoretical Physics at University of California, Santa Barbara. Since 1992, Schrieffer has been chief scientist of the NSF-supported National High Magnetic Field Laboratory at Florida State University.

* Received NSF support after receiving Nobel Prize.

1969

Murray Gell-Mann

"For his contributions and discoveries concerning the classification of elementary particles and their interactions."

NSF support includes international travel grants, including one in 1954, a Senior Postdoctoral Fellowship in 1959 and a 1985 workshop award (8512949).

1967

Hans Albrecht Bethe

"For his contributions to the theory of nuclear reactions, especially his discoveries concerning the energy production in stars."

NSF support includes awards in 1965 and 1968 for research on fundamental nuclear physics and astrophysics and a 1974 astronomy award (7419018) on theoretical particle physics.

1964

Charles H. Townes

"For fundamental work in the field of quantum electronics, which has led to the construction of oscillators and amplifiers based on the maser-laser principle."

NSF support began with an award in 1961 and has included more than a dozen electronically available awards from 1975 (7520353) through 2000 (0097994).

1963

Eugene P. Wigner

"For his contributions to the theory of the atomic nucleus and the elementary particles, particularly through the discovery and application of fundamental symmetry principles."

NSF support includes an international travel grant in 1953 and three electronically available awards beginning in 1978 (7815282).

1961

Robert Hofstadter*

"For his pioneering studies of electron scattering in atomic nuclei and for his thereby-achieved discoveries concerning the structure of the nucleons."

NSF support began with an award in 1961 and included nearly 10 electronically available awards from 1973 (7308749) through 1984 (8411168).

1960

Donald A. Glaser

"For the invention of the bubble chamber."

According to his biography on the Nobel website, NSF supported Glaser in the 1950s (first award in 1954), and more recently he received an award in 1985 (8519590).

* Received NSF support after receiving Nobel Prize.

1959

Owen Chamberlain*

"For [joint] discovery of the antiproton."

NSF support includes a 1975 interagency award (7520422) on solid-state studies by muon spin precession.

1957

Chen Ning Yang*

"For [joint] penetrating investigation of the so-called parity laws which has led to important discoveries regarding the elementary particles."

NSF support has included a series of 16 awards while Yang was at the State University of New York, Stony Brook, from 1974 (7413208) to 1997 (9722101).

1955

Willis E. Lamb*

"For his discoveries concerning the fine structure of the hydrogen spectrum."

NSF support includes four electronically available awards in the 1970s (7503549) when Lamb moved to the University of Arizona.

Polykarp Kusch*

"For his precision determination of the magnetic moment of the electron."

NSF support began with physics awards in 1955 and 1957 and, more recently, includes a 1977 award (7703174) while Kusch was at the University of Texas, Dallas.

In addition to the researchers named above, six other laureates have received funding from NSF for travel grants: John Bardeen (1956, 1972), Richard Feynman (1965), Julian Schwinger (1965), Luis Alvarez (1968), John Van Vleck (1977) and Nicolaas Bloembergen (1981).

* Received NSF support after receiving Nobel Prize.

2023

Claudia Goldin

"For having advanced our understanding of women's labor market outcomes."

Making sense of the underlying factors that drive women's workforce representation and earnings is critical to better understand wage and labor gaps over the last century and the barriers that need to be addressed to overcome these systemic problems. In the early 1980s, Claudia Goldin adopted a comprehensive approach to explaining these differences. She concluded that structural transformation of the economy, laws and innovations in technology and medicine — namely, women's access to the contraceptive pill — and evolving social norms regarding women's education and responsibilities in the home and family were driving forces in women's greater representation in the workforce. A central finding is that differences in pay and workforce participation are due not to biology but to the division of unpaid caregiving responsibilities between heterosexual couples. NSF is proud to have supported Goldin's research career over 40 years. Her groundbreaking work has led to surprising insights into women's historical and contemporary roles in the labor market and helped us better understand how and why rates of employment and pay differ between women and men — knowledge critical for creating a more equitable and efficient society.

2022

Ben S. Bernanke | Douglas W. Diamond | Philip H. Dybvig

"For research on banks and financial crises."

Their combined discoveries revealed the critical role that banks play in modern society and how banking regulation can help protect the public from a large-scale financial crisis by reducing the damage to individuals and businesses. NSF has invested in the research of both Bernanke and Diamond. Diamond received multiple awards from NSF to investigate the nature of financial crises and how to mitigate them. Bernanke received a Graduate Research Fellowship from NSF in 1975, followed by several awards early in his career in the 1980s and 1990s.

2021

David Card | Joshua D. Angrist | Guido W. Imbens

"For empirical contributions to labor economics;" and "for their methodological contributions to the analysis of causal relationships."

Understanding the complex — and oftentimes counterintuitive — cause-and-effect relationships between changing aspects of our society and economy is a critical need for policymakers and other leaders. The collective discoveries of Card, Angrist and Imbens, along with contributions by Card's colleague Alan Krueger who died in 2019, showed how cause and effect can be accurately determined when it is not feasible or ethical to conduct a controlled experiment. They used "natural experiments" — large-scale situations arising in real life — to precisely understand how one thing causes another, such as how income affects health, how wages affect unemployment and how investments in schools affect the future earnings of students. Their methods have been widely adopted and applied by researchers studying a range of important social and economic issues. NSF is proud to have supported all three winners and their groundbreaking work.

2020

Paul Milgrom | Robert Wilson

"For improvements to auction theory and inventions of new auction formats."

The Nobel Assembly has awarded the 2020 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel to Paul Milgrom and Robert Wilson, both of Stanford University. The U.S. National Science Foundation has supported these researchers throughout their efforts to explore game theory and decision-making, and then use that knowledge base to invent new auction formats for multiple, simultaneous transactions. One notable example of their findings applied in the U.S. is the wireless spectrum auctions they helped the Federal Communications Commission create. The auctions have brought in more than $60 billion in federal revenue as of 2020 and enabled innovation from wireless providers.

2019

Abhijit Banerjee | Esther Duflo | Michael Kremer

"For their research in alleviating global poverty."

The 2019 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel has been awarded to Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Michael Kremer of Harvard University for their research in alleviating global poverty. The award committee remarked that the research "has considerably improved our ability to fight global poverty." NSF has supported the work of all three laureates — Banerjee with six awards over 20 years, Kremer with six awards over 15 years, and Duflo with four awards over 15 years. Duflo is the youngest person ever to win the economics prize, and the second woman to win.

2018

William Nordhaus | Paul Romer

"For expanding the understanding of global scale macroeconomics."

The Nobel Assembly awarded the 2018 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel to William Nordhaus of Yale University and Paul Romer of New York University for expanding the understanding of global-scale macroeconomics. NSF has supported the work of both laureates over multiple decades. Nordhaus integrated key findings from chemistry and physics into macroeconomics, resulting in new methods to understand the interplay between global, atmospheric public goods and economic outcomes. Romer's research highlights the importance of science and technology as long-term drivers of economic growth — in the U.S. and around the world. His work has helped to identify the specific economic factors that lead firms to invest in innovation, resulting in new findings showing how governments can encourage new ideas.

2017

Richard H. Thaler

"For his contributions to behavioral economics."

The 2017 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel has been awarded to Richard H. Thaler of the University of Chicago. Thaler's research incorporates findings from psychology into the analysis of economic decision-making. Examples include an examination of the impact of loss aversion on financial decisions (the extreme sensitivity to losses relative to gains) and an investigation of how perceptions of fairness affect consumers' purchase decisions and limit the ability of firms to change prices. Thaler received NSF support through grants from the Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (9223358) to investigate decision-making under risk, launching behavioral economics as a field of basic research.

2016

Oliver Hart | Bengt Holmström

"For their contributions to contract theory."

The 2016 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in memory of Alfred Nobel was awarded to Oliver Hart and Bengt Holmström "for their contributions to contract theory." Their research into the economic theory of contracts has led to new theoretical tools for understanding important issues in real-world contracts, including ownership, property rights, and employee compensation. Hart and Holmström have developed "a comprehensive framework for analyzing many diverse issues in contractual design, like performance-based pay for top executives, deductibles and co-pays in insurance, and the privatization of public-sector activities," noted the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences press release. Hart, the Andrew E. Furer Professor of Economics at Harvard University, has received multiple NSF awards since the mid-1980s, including award #8520264 and more recently #0922325. Holmström, a long-time professor at MIT who holds joint appointments in economics and management, received NSF awards in the 1980s (#8411732) and 1990s ( #9410194).

2015

Angus Deaton

"For his analysis of consumption, poverty and welfare."

According to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which awards the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, "To design economic policy that promotes welfare and reduces poverty, we must first understand individual consumption choices. More than anyone else, Angus Deaton has enhanced this understanding." Born in Scotland, Deaton is a professor of international affairs and economics at Princeton University. The work for which he was honored focuses on three questions: How do consumers distribute their spending among different goods? How much of society's income is spent and how much is saved? How do we best measure and analyze welfare and poverty? A pair of awards from the NSF Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences — one (#9223668) for "Trying to understand commodity prices" and another (#9507809) focusing on "Accumulation, Inequality and Commodity Prices" — supported that work.

2014

Jean Tirole

"For his analysis of market power and regulation."

Tirole was awarded the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel for his influential work on regulation and imperfect markets. A French economist and professor at the Toulouse School of Economics in France, he received his doctorate in economics from MIT in 1981 and taught there for about eight years before returning to France. He holds the title of visiting professor at MIT and has collaborated with professors at MIT and Harvard University. Tirole was the principal investigator (PI) or co-PI on four awards from NSF beginning in the mid-1980s: #8520837, #8908587, #0321694 and #0830288.

2013

Eugene F. Fama | Lars Peter Hansen | Robert J. Shiller

"For their empirical analysis of asset prices."

The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2013 was awarded jointly to Eugene F. Fama of the University of Chicago, Lars Peter Hansen of the University of Chicago and Robert J. Shiller of Yale University. Fama has received seven NSF grants, while Hansen has received nine from the Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences, starting in the early 1980s. Shiller has received nine NSF grants since 1979. In 2009, Schiller participated in an NSF webcast on the housing market crisis — which he predicted three years before. Shiller was also selected as a NSF Graduate Research Fellow in 1967.

2012

Alvin E. Roth | Lloyd S. Shapley

"For the theory of stable allocations and the practice of market design."

Roth and Shapley were jointly awarded the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. Roth, a professor at Harvard University and later Stanford University, is a long-time NSF awardee. He has received 16 awards since 1978, including two awards for collaborative research on kidney exchange (#1061932 and #0616733). Roth realized that Shapley's purely theoretical work could help explain how important markets function. Shapley, a professor emeritus at the University of California at Los Angeles, received multiple NSF awards between 1971 and 1983, for research in game theory — the study of strategic decision-making — and mathematical economics. Shapley and his collaborators developed new methods in cooperative game theory to understand the properties of stable matching methods. A "stable" match is one where no two agents prefer to swap their current matched partners. Roth built on Shapley's mathematical formula that predicted that stability would be a key predictor of success of market institutions, and tested this theory in laboratory experiments. Roth then used the results to develop new methods for allocation. His work is now used to match new doctors to hospitals, to match students to schools and to match organ donors to patients.

2011

Thomas J. Sargent | Christopher A. Sims

"For their empirical research on cause and effect in the macroeconomy."

Sargent of New York University and Sims of Princeton University are long-time NSF awardees. Sims has received 11 NSF awards since 1976, and Sargent has received 10 NSF awards since 1985. Sargent's work helps with understanding the linkages between households and businesses — or, those who make decisions today based on what they expect the economy will look like in the future — and government policy. Sims developed sophisticated data analysis methods that can help researchers understand how an entire economy is affected by temporary changes in economic policy and other factors.

2010

Peter A. Diamond | Dale Mortensen

"For their analysis of markets with search frictions."

The laureates were recognized for their work that developed a new theoretical framework for understanding how markets work with "search frictions." This is the term economists use to describe a market in which buyers and sellers do not have enough information to immediately identify each other. Over the past three decades, Diamond and Mortensen have both received multiple NSF awards.

2009

Elinor Ostrom

"For her analysis of economic governance, especially the commons."

Oliver E. Williamson

"For his analysis of economic governance, especially the boundaries of the firm."

Ostrom has demonstrated how common property can be successfully managed by user associations. Williamson has developed a theory where business firms serve as structures for conflict resolution. Ostrom has received NSF support from the 1970s to 2009, including a 2005 award (0527165) for collaborative research on human and environmental systems interactions, a 2004 award ( 0432894) for dynamics of rules in commons dilemmas, and a 2001 award (0083511) for biocomplexity research on agent-based models of land use decisions and emergent land use patterns. Williamson received NSF support in 1977 (7707168) for an economic assessment of the organization of work and in 1980 (7924111) for the transaction cost approach in antitrust economics.

2008

Paul Krugman

"For his analysis of trade patterns and location of economic activity."

His work on the effects of economies of scale on trade patterns and on the location of economic activity has extensively reoriented research on these issues. Krugman received NSF support for research from the 1970s to the 1990s, including the 1991 award (9111380) to develop and empirically test models of the location of production within countries, as a way of shedding light on the forces driving international trade and investment.

2007

Leonid Hurwicz | Eric S. Maskin | Roger B. Myerson

"For having laid the foundations of mechanism design theory."

Their work, building on game theory, enables researchers to analyze the possible outcomes of applying different sets of rules to a given problem to determine the optimal mechanism for achieving the best result. Hurwicz received NSF support for collaborative research on systems and techniques of economic organization from the early 1970s to the mid-1980s, including an award in 1971 (7103780). Maskin has received NSF support since 1977, including a 2006 award (0618345) for theoretical research in the areas of dynamics, auctions, and voting. Myerson received NSF support in 1986 and 1993, including an award (8605619) for research into negotiation and equilibrium in games.

2006

Edmund S. Phelps

"For his analysis of intertemporal tradeoffs in macroeconomic policy."

Phelps' work in the 1960s and 1970s challenged the prevailing view of the relationship between inflation and unemployment represented by the Phillips curve and led to a better understanding of the short-term and long-term effects of economic policy. The Columbia University professor has received a number of research grants from NSF. His first award was GS-33374, "The Economics of Income Redistribution." He received an award in 1987 (8721847) for "Microeconomic Foundations for a Real Theory of Employment Fluctuations."

2005

Robert J. Aumann | Thomas C. Schelling

"For having enhanced our understanding of conflict and cooperation through game-theory analysis."

Aumann and Schelling were honored for enhancing our understanding of conflict and cooperation through game theory analysis. Their insights have also proven highly relevant to real-world conflict resolution and the prevention of war. Both Aumann and Schelling have been supported by NSF grants.

Aumann

Affiliation: University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel

Schelling

Affiliation: University of Maryland, College Park, MD
NSF support: 9123774

2004

Finn Kydland | Edward C. Prescott

"For their contributions to dynamic macroeconomics, the time consistency of economic policy and the driving forces behind business cycles."

Finn Kydland of Carnegie Mellon University and the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Edward Prescott of Arizona State University were awarded the 2004 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics for their contributions to macroeconomics, particularly in addressing the time-consistency problem in formulating economic policy and in understanding the causes of business cycles. Both Kydland and Prescott have long histories of funding from NSF, which supported the Nobel-honored research.

2003

Robert F. Engle Iii

"For methods of analyzing economic time series with time-varying volatility (ARCH)."

Clive W.j. Granger

"For methods of analyzing economic time series with common trends (cointegration)."

Engle and Granger shared the 2003 Economics Prize for their research and collaboration over the years leading to statistical methods for time series data that have become a routine part of financial analysis today. Their methods have become standard tools for such tasks as forecasting stock market performance, evaluating investment portfolio risks and analyzing interest-rate trends. NSF has supported their research for the past quarter century. NSF support for Engle includes a series of nine awards from the late 1970s (7707166) through the late 1990s (9730062). Granger's NSF support includes 16 awards from 1974 (#7412243) to 2001 (0111238).

2002

Daniel Kahneman

"For having integrated insights from psychological research into economic science, especially concerning human judgment and decision making under uncertainty."

Vernon L. Smith

"For having established laboratory experiments as a tool in empirical economic analysis, especially in the study of alternative market mechanisms."

NSF support for Kahneman includes awards starting in the 1990s (9109670) for his research on decision-making and uncertainty. NSF's support for Smith began with an award in 1962 and includes a series of 20 electronically available awards from the mid-1970s (7520043) to 2001 (0129744) related to applied and empirical economic studies.

2001

George A. Akerlof | A. Michael Spence | Joseph E. Stiglitz

"For their analyses of markets with asymmetric information."

NSF support for Akerlof includes 13 awards from the 1970s (7523076) to the 2000s. Spence's NSF support includes three awards in the 1970s (37309257). Stiglitz has been supported by 10 NSF awards from 1974 (7422182) to the 2000s (#0333418).

2000

James J. Heckman

"For his development of theory and methods for analyzing selective samples."

Daniel L. McFadden

"For his development of theory and methods for analyzing discrete choice."

NSF support for Heckman has included a series of 13 awards from 1977 (7727136) to the 2000s (0241858). McFadden's NSF support includes 18 awards starting in the 1970s (7305649).

1999

Robert A. Mundell

"For his analysis of monetary and fiscal policy under different exchange rate regimes and his analysis of optimum currency areas."

NSF support for Mundell spans 1967–1969 for his research on "International Economic Crisis."

1998

Amartya Sen

"For his contributions to welfare economics."

NSF supported Sen while he was at Harvard University with awards in 1988 (#8822107) and 1992 (#9212337) on economics and welfare, rationality and social ethics.

1997

Robert C. Merton

"For a new method to determine the value of derivatives."

NSF support for Merton began with an NSF Fellowship and has included awards in the 1970s (#7504053, #7907840) on economic theory, stochastic processes and economic-biologic mechanisms (both with Paul Samuelson).

1995

Robert E. Lucas, Jr.

"For having developed and applied the hypothesis of rational expectations, and thereby having transformed macroeconomic analysis and deepened our understanding of economic policy."

NSF support for Lucas includes a 1964 award on the economic theory of technological change and a series of eight electronically available awards spanning the 1970s (7516869) to the 1990s (9408649) for studies of the business cycle, stabilization theory and monetary theory.

1994

John C. Harsanyi | John F. Nash, Jr.*

"For [joint] pioneering analysis of equilibria in the theory of non-cooperative games."

NSF supported Harsanyi as early as an award in 1962. His later awards included grants in the 1970s (7706394) and 1980s (8218938, 8700454). Nash received his first NSF support, including a 1958 international travel grant and a 1960 Senior Postdoctoral Fellowship, just before he began the period of mental illness described in the book and movie, "A Beautiful Mind." In 2000, Nash received an award (0001711) for the study of multi-player cooperative games by the means of reducing them to non-cooperative games, that is, the "Nash program."

1993

Robert W. Fogel | Douglass C. North

"For having renewed research in economic history by applying economic theory and quantitative methods in order to explain economic and institutional change."

NSF support for Fogel includes an award as early as 1967 for a study of the American iron industry and five awards in the 1970s (7600002) and 1990s (9122238) on historical studies of economics issues. North received an NSF award in 1967 on models of European economic growth.

1992

Gary S. Becker

"For having extended the domain of microeconomic analysis to a wide range of human behaviour and interaction, including nonmarket behaviour."

NSF supported Becker with a series of six awards in the late 1970s (7825704) and through the 1990s (9310495) for topics from the economic analysis of the family to the evolution of preferences over time.

1987

Robert M. Solow

"For his contributions to the theory of economic growth."

Solow first received NSF support in the form of a Senior Postdoctoral Fellowship in 1963. His awards also include an electronically available award in 1975 (7514258) for the economics of natural resources.

1986

James M. Buchanan, Jr.

"For his development of the contractual and constitutional bases for the theory of economic and political decision making."

NSF support for Buchanan began with an award in 1964, continuing through a 1979 award (7924857) for problems of implementing and enforcing distributional norms through the political process. He also received an award for a conference in 2002 (0136798).

1985

Franco Modigliani

"For his pioneering analyses of saving and of financial markets."

NSF support includes a 1979 award (7926733) on the monetary mechanism and stabilization policy.

1983

Gerard Debreu

"For having incorporated new analytical methods into economic theory and for his rigorous reformulation of the theory of general equilibrium."

NSF support began with an award in 1964 for informational efficiency of prices and continued with six electronically available awards through 1985 (8510900), with the latter being an award for the law of demand and information processing in economic systems.

1982

George J. Stigler

"For his seminal studies of industrial structures, functioning of markets and causes and effects of public regulation."

Stigler has been supported by NSF as a funded associate of an omnibus award to the University of Chicago for law and economics.

1981

James Tobin

"For his analysis of financial markets and their relations to expenditure decisions, employment, production and prices."

NSF support began as early as 1966 and includes three electronically available awards in the 1970s (7305481, 7613448, 7704083) for economic theory and econometrics, financial flows and macroeconomic theory.

1980

Lawrence R. Klein

"For the creation of econometric models and the application to the analysis of economic fluctuations and economic policies."

NSF support dates to an award in 1961, continuing through seven electronically available awards, starting with a 1973 award (7305675) for international connection of national econometric models.

1978

Herbert A. Simon

"For his pioneering research into the decision-making process within economic organizations."

Simon's NSF support began after he moved from economics to studies of cognitive science and artificial intelligence. He was supported in the 1970s and 1990s by cognitive science awards (7309230, 7825033, 9121027) and computer science awards (7704440, 7821986).

1975

Tjalling C. Koopmans

"For [his joint] contributions to the theory of optimum allocation of resources."

NSF's awards to Koopmans began with a 1959 economics award and included awards in 1977 (7703275) for optimal economic growth and in 1980 (8007171) as part of an interdisciplinary study of materials modeling. He also participated in two large five-year awards starting in the early 1960s to the Cowles Foundation at Yale.

1973

Wassily Leontief

"For the development of the input-output method and for its application to important economic problems."

NSF support includes research awards as early as 1959 and 1962.

1972

Kenneth J. Arrow*

"For [joint] pioneering contributions to general economic equilibrium theory and welfare theory."

NSF support for Arrow began with an award in 1961 and continued with a dozen electronically available awards from the 1970s (7309142) to the 1990s (9209892).

1970

Paul A. Samuelson*

"For the scientific work through which he has developed static and dynamic economic theory and actively contributed to raising the level of analysis in economic science."

NSF support includes awards in 1975 (7504053) and 1979 (7907840) on economic theory, stochastic processes and economic-biologic mechanisms, both with Robert Merton.

* Received NSF support after receiving Nobel Prize.