Many women have won Nobel Prizes. For most of these women LAPL has one or more biographies, or books written by the honorees. Not every woman has a book on her life and work, so collective biographies are included. For the following women the library does not own any biographies. Ask a Librarian for help in researching their lives and contributions.
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2022, Carolyn R. Bertozzi shared with Morton Meldal and K. Barry Sharpless “for the development of click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry”
The Nobel Prize in Physics, 2020, Andrea Ghez “for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy”
The Nobel Prize in Physics, 2018, Donna Strickland “for groundbreaking inventions in the field of laser physics”
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2015, Youyou Tu "for her discoveries concerning a novel therapy against Malaria"
The Nobel Prize Peace Prize 2011, Tawakkol Karman shared with Leymah Gbowee and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf "for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace-building work"
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2009, Carol W. Greider awarded jointly to Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak "for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase".
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2008, Françoise Barré-Sinoussi was jointly awarded with Luc Montagnier "for their discovery of human immunodeficiency virus"
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2004, Linda B. Buck was awarded jointly to Richard Axel and Linda B. Buck "for their discoveries of odorant receptors and the organization of the olfactory system"
For an overview of women who have won the Nobel Prize in different categories, past and current, check Nobel Prize Awarded Women.
Includes biographical information about Rosalyn Yalow, The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1977 "for the development of radioimmunoassays of peptide hormones"; Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin, The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1964 "for her determinations by X-ray techniques of the structures of important biochemical substances"
The Nobel Prize in Literature 1926 Grazia Deledda "for her idealistically inspired writings which with plastic clarity picture the life on her native island and with depth and sympathy deal with human problems in general"
The Nobel Peace Prize 1982 for her work for disarmament between the USA and USSR.
The Nobel Peace Prize 1982 for her work for disarmament between the USA and USSR.
Includes biographical information about: Florence Bascom, Barbara McClintock, Maria Goeppert-Mayer. Grace Murray Hopper, Rachel Carson, Chien-Shiung Wu, Rosalyn Sussman Yalow, Stephanie Louise Kwolek, Shirley Ann Jackson, Flossie Wong-Staal.
The Nobel Peace Prize 1991 "for her non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights"
The Nobel Peace Prize 1946 Jointly awarded to Emily Greene Balch and John Raleigh Mott. "When Emily Greene Balch was given the Peace Prize in 1946 for her lifelong work for disarmament and peace, she received no congratulations from the US government. The official US had long regarded her as a dangerous radical."
Includes biographical information about women who have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize: Bertha von Suttner, Jane Addams, Emily Greene Balch, Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan, Mother Teresa, Alva Myrdal, Aung San Suu Kyi, Rigoberto Menchu Tum, Jody Williams, Shirin Ebadi, Wangari Muta Maathai.
A collective biography about the lives and achievements of sixteen women who have been awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace: Bertha von Suttner; Jane Addams; Emily Greene Balch; Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan; Mother Teresa; Alva Myrdal; Aung San Suu Kyi; Rigoberta Menchú Tum; Jody Williams; Shirin Ebadi; Wangari Muta Maathai; Tawakkol Karman, Leymah Gbowee, and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf; Malala Yousafzai. (Updated edition of the earlier edition)
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2020 was awarded jointly to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna "for the development of a method for genome editing."
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1995 Edward B. Lewis, Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, Eric F. Wieschaus "for their discoveries concerning the genetic control of early embryonic development"
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2020 was awarded jointly to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna, "for the development of a method for genome editing."
The Nobel Prize in Literature 2007 as "that epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny"
Nobel Prize in Literature 2019 for her narrative imagination that with encyclopedic passion represents the crossing of boundaries as a form of life."
More of her books can be found here.
The Nobel Prize in Literature 2004 "for her musical flow of voices and counter-voices in novels and plays that with extraordinary linguistic zeal reveal the absurdity of society's clichés and their subjugating power"
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2009 was awarded jointly to Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak "for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase"
The Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology 1983 "for her discovery of mobile genetic elements"
The Nobel Peace Prize 1979 "Established the Missionaries of Charity. Mother Teresa and her helpers built homes for orphans, nursing homes for lepers and hospices for the terminally ill in Calcutta. Mother Teresa's organization also engaged in aid work in other parts of the world."
LAPL owns many books on the life of Mother Teresa which can be found in this number area: 282.092 T3155
The Nobel Prize in Literature 2009 Herta Muller "who, with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, depicts the landscape of the dispossessed" An early novel.
Journalist Maria Ressa covered major information about the spread of terrorism from the training camps of Afghanistan to Southeast Asia and the Philippines.
Nobel Peace Prize 2021, shared with Russian journalist Dimitry Muratov “for their courageous fight for freedom of expression in the Philippines and Russia. At the same time, they are representatives of all journalists who stand up for this ideal in a world in which democracy and freedom of the press face increasingly adverse conditions.”
This Frontlinedocumentary covers the journalist Maria Ressa and three other colleagues who bravely created Rappler in 2012. In 2016, this publication grabbed the attention of the Duterte-led Phlippine government, and what followed were detrimental consequences for freedom of speech, the press and the personal safety of the journalists.
Nobel Peace Prize 2021, along with Dimitry Muratov, "for their courageous fight for freedom of expression in the Philippines and Russia."
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2014 May-Britt Moser with Edvard I. Moser and John O'Keefe "for their discoveries of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain". This book has an essay by May-Britt Moser and Edvard I. Moser.
The Nobel Prize in Literature 1945 "for her lyric poetry which, inspired by powerful emotions, has made her name a symbol of the idealistic aspirations of the entire Latin American world"
The Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology 1988 was awarded jointly to Sir James W. Black, Gertrude B. Elion and George H. Hitchings "for their discoveries of important principles for drug treatment".
The Nobel Prize in Economics (The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel) 2019 to Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo, "for her analysis of economic governance, especially the commons." The joint award to Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo, "for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty."
The Nobel Prize in Literature, 2022 was awarded to Annie Ernaux "for the courage and clinical acuity with which she uncovers the roots, estrangements and collective restraints of personal memory".
The Nobel Peace Prize 2014 was awarded jointly to Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai "for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education"
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1986 Stanley Cohen and Rita Levi-Montalcini "for their discoveries of growth factors"
In 1986 Dr. Rita Levi-Montalcini won the Nobel Prize in Physiology/Medicine, which she shared with her colleague, Stanley Cohen, for their discovery of nerve growth factor known as NGF. This autobiography recounts her early life as part of a wealthy Jewish Italian family in Turin, overcoming her father's objection having his daughter become a doctor, the anti-semitic 1938 law in Italy which barred her from teaching.
The Nobel Peace Prize 2003 Shirin Ibadi "for her efforts for democracy and human rights. She has focused especially on the struggle for the rights of women and children"
Human rights activist and lawyer, Shirin Ibadi won the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2003. Prior to the 1979 revolution in Iran, she was the first woman judge in that country, and she recounts her challenges as a woman, mother and lawyer in a country that was in turmoil.
The Nobel Peace Prize 1931 "Jane Addams was the second woman to receive the Peace Prize. She founded the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom in 1919, and worked for many years to get the great powers to disarm and conclude peace agreements."
The Nobel Peace Prize, 2018. This prize was shared with Dr. Denis Mukwege, "for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict." Nadia Murad is a member of the Yazidi community who lived in Kocho, northern Iraq. She and her family lived a peaceful rural life with other families until their village was caught in the crosshairs of ISIS in 2014. People were killed and Nadia was abducted, beaten, tortured, repeatedly raped, and became part of the ISIS slave trade. She escaped and this is her story. Even though she is free, ISIS has continued to issue death threats because Nadia continues to speak out.
The Nobel Prize in Literature 2013 Alice Munro"master of the contemporary short story"
The Nobel Peace Prize 2011 This prize was shared: Leymah Gbowee, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Tawakkol Kaman "for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace-building work"
Marie Curie, The Nobel Prize in Physics 1903 with Antoine Henri Becquerel and Pierre Curie. Becquerel "in recognition of the extraordinary services he has rendered by his discovery of spontaneous radioactivity." Pierre and Marie Curie "in recognition of the extraordinary services they have rendered by their joint research on the radiation phenomena discovered by Antoine Henri Becquerel."
Marie Curie, The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1911 "in recognition of her services to the advancement of chemistry by the discovery of the elements radium and polonium, by the isolation of radium and the study of the nature and compounds of this remarkable element"
Irène Joliot-Curie, The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1935 was awarded jointly to Frédéric Joliot and Irène Joliot-Curie "in recognition of their synthesis of new radioactive elements"
The Nobel Peace Prize 1997 Jointly awarded to Jody Williams and The International Campaign to Ban Landmines "for their work for the banning and clearing of anti-personnel mines"
The Nobel Prize in Literature 1966 "for her outstanding lyrical and dramatic writing, which interprets Israel's destiny with touching strength"
The Nobel Prize in Literature 2020 “for her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal”
The Nobel Prize in Literature 1938 "for her rich and truly epic descriptions of peasant life in China and for her biographical masterpieces"
The Nobel Prize in Literature 1996 "for poetry that with ironic precision allows the historical and biological context to come to light in fragments of human reality"
The Nobel Prize in Literature 2020 “for her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal”
The Nobel Peace Prize 1992 "in recognition of her work for social justice and ethno-cultural reconciliation based on respect for the rights of indigenous peoples"
The Nobel Prize in Literature 2015 "for her polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time" This is the first English translation of her most recent book.
Maria Ressa documented, in numerous reports, that every major al-Qaeda attack since 1993 was connected to the Philippines. She did on-the-ground investigations, interviewing terrorists, families and neighbors and reported on the shifting tactics of al-Qaeda to infiltrate local conflicts, particularly in the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries.
Nobel Peace Prize 2021, shared with Russian journalist Dimitry Muratov “for their courageous fight for freedom of expression in the Philippines and Russia. At the same time, they are representatives of all journalists who stand up for this ideal in a world in which democracy and freedom of the press face increasingly adverse conditions.”
The Nobel Prize in Literature 1909 "in appreciation of the lofty idealism, vivid imagination and spiritual perception that characterize her writings" First woman to win in this category.
The Nobel Prize in Literature 1909 "in appreciation of the lofty idealism, vivid imagination and spiritual perception that characterize her writings" First woman to win in this category.
The Nobel Prize in Literature 1993 "who in novels characterized by visionary force and poetic import, gives life to an essential aspect of American reality"
The Nobel Peace Prize 2004 Wangari Maathai "for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace"
The Nobel Prize in Economics 2009 Elinor Ostrom "for her analysis of economic governance, especially the commons"
The Nobel Prize in Literature 1928 Sigrid Undset "principally for her powerful descriptions of Northern life during the Middle Ages"
Includes biographicl information Gerty Theresa Cori, née Radnitz, The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1947 shared with Carl Ferdinand Cori and Bernardo Alberto Houssay. Carl Ferdinand Cori and Gerty Theresa Cori "for their discovery of the course of the catalytic conversion of glycogen"
The Nobel Prize in Literature 1991 Nadine Gordimer "who through her magnificent epic writing has - in the words of Alfred Nobel - been of very great benefit to humanity"