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Berlin, 12 November 1931, at a dinner given by Max von Laue (archive caption). From left: Walther Nernst, Albert Einstein, Max Planck, the American Robert A. Millikan and von Laue. Their prizes: Walther Nernst (Chemistry 1920), Albert Einstein (Physics 1921), Max Planck (Physics 1918), Robert A. Millikan (Physics 1923), Max von Laue (Physics 1914).Photo: Unknown photographer, 1931. Nationaal Archief, via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

German Nobel laureates · 1901–2025

Germany won more science Nobels than any nation for four decades. After 1933 it never came first again.

From 1901 to 1940 the laboratories of Berlin, Göttingen, Munich and Heidelberg produced more Nobel-winning physics, chemistry and medicine than those of any other country: 38 prizes, against 23 for the United Kingdom and 15 each for France and the United States. In 1933 the new regime began dismissing Jewish scholars from their posts. The prizes, which reward work done years earlier, kept arriving for a while — and some of them the laureates were forbidden to accept. Since the war the United States has come first in every decade; Germany's best has been second, twice.

38 to 23
science Nobels won in Germany and in Britain, the runner-up, 1901–40
4
decades in a row at the top of the table, 1901–40. None since
10 of 32
German science prizes before 1933 that went to Berlin laboratories
42 years
between Berlin’s prizes for Otto Hahn (1944) and Ernst Ruska (1986)

01Berlin, before 1933

Before 1933, nearly one German science Nobel in three was won in a Berlin laboratory

Before 1933, ten of Germany's thirty-two science prizes went to laboratories in Berlin — the university, Robert Koch's institute, the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institute in Dahlem.

This story counts, decade by decade, the prizes in physics, chemistry and medicine by the country where the laureate was working when the prize was announced — the Nobel Foundation's own record of institutions. Writers and peacemakers have no laboratory to count and are left out here.

The long classical façade of a university palace behind a forecourt with statues and trees.
The main building on Unter den Linden of the university where Planck taught — the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität then, the Humboldt-Universität today — in 2014.Photo: Mike Peel, 2014. Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0.
A large brick institute building with gables and small towers behind a line of young trees.
Koch’s institute on the Nordufer in Wedding, 1900. It is the Robert-Koch-Institut today.Photo: Unknown photographer, 1900. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.
A sepia postcard of a street lined with brick hospital buildings, a tall chimney at the far end.
The Charité, Berlin, on a postcard of 1909. Ehrlich worked there in the 1890s.J. Goldiner, Berlin, 1909 (postcard). Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.
A wide view of two new institute buildings on open ground, each named in print beneath.
The first two Kaiser-Wilhelm institutes in Dahlem, October 1912: chemistry, and physical chemistry and electrochemistry, the institute Haber led.Photo: Unknown photographer, 1912. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

02Every decade, 1901–2025

First for four decades running. Then never again

Top of the table in 1901⁠–⁠10, 1911⁠–⁠20, 1921⁠–⁠30 and 1931⁠–⁠40. Third in 1941⁠–⁠50, and no higher than second in any decade since.

1901–10 – 2021–25Physics, chemistry and medicine
Bars for each decade from 1901–10 to 2021–25: the Nobel prizes in physics, chemistry and medicine won in Germany and in the United States, with marks for Britain and France, and Germany's place in each decade above.
GermanyUnited StatesBritainFranceAbove the bars: Germany’s place
A bearded man with round spectacles sits resting his head on one hand.
Robert Koch, whose prize for medicine in 1905 was won in Berlin.Photograph: Wilhelm Fechner, c. 1900. Public domain.

1901–10

Germany 13. Britain 6, France 6

In the first decade of the prizes, laboratories in Germany won 13 prizes in physics, chemistry and medicine — more than Britain and France together.

Portrait of a bald man with a grey moustache and round spectacles, in a dark suit and bow tie.
Max Planck, physics, 1918.Photo: Transocean, Berlin, c. 1930. Smithsonian Libraries, via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.
A young man with wavy hair and a pince-nez on a cord, in a high collar and dark jacket.
Fritz Haber, chemistry, 1918.Photograph: unknown, 1891. Public domain.

1911–20 · 1921–30

Still first: 7, then 8

Max Planck’s physics prize and Fritz Haber’s chemistry prize, both for 1918, were won in Berlin. France came closest in the 1910s with 5; Britain closest in the 1920s with 7.

1901–40

Forty years: 38 prizes to Britain’s 23

From 1901 to 1940 the laboratories of Berlin, Göttingen, Munich and Heidelberg produced more Nobel-winning physics, chemistry and medicine than those of any other country: 38 prizes, against 23 for the United Kingdom and 15 each for France and the United States.

A man with thick wavy hair and a moustache stands in a dark suit before a blackboard with a chalk drawing.
Albert Einstein, 1921. He gave up his German citizenship in 1933.Albert Einstein, Vienna 1921. Photograph by Ferdinand Schmutzer. Public domain.
A wide view of two new institute buildings on open ground, each named in print beneath.
The Dahlem institutes. Haber was forced out of his in 1933.Photo: Unknown photographer, 1912. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

1931–40 · January 1933

First again, on work done before the regime

Prizes reward work done years before, which is why the German line holds through the 1930s: seven of that decade's ten German prizes were announced after January 1933. Count only the prizes from 1933 to 1940, and the United States leads, 8 to 6.

In 1933 Albert Einstein gave up his German citizenship; Fritz Haber was forced out of his Dahlem institute.

A thin, close-cropped man in a dark prisoner's jacket with a number patch stands against a wooden wall, facing a uniformed guard seen from behind.
Carl von Ossietzky as a prisoner, 1934.Photo: Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-R70579 / Unknown / CC BY-SA 3.0 de
A woman in a fur-collared coat and cloche hat and a man in a checked overcoat and hat walk along a wet pavement; a doorman stands behind them.
Thomas Mann in Berlin, 1929, the year of his prize.Photo: Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-H27031 / Unknown author / CC BY-SA 3.0 de

1936–38

A Peace Prize for a prisoner, and a ban on all the prizes

Carl von Ossietzky, held in a camp since 1933, is named the 1935 Peace laureate and refused permission to travel to Norway. The ban on any German accepting a Nobel Prize was announced in November 1936 and formalised by a decree of 30 January 1937. Thomas Mann's citizenship is revoked.

Ossietzky dies of tuberculosis in police custody in May 1938.

A black-and-white photograph of people at a long table outdoors; a waiter serves a platter to an elderly man and a woman.
Richard Kuhn (left), 1958.Photo: Willy Pragher, 1958. Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 4.0.
A smiling man with swept-back hair in a light suit and dark tie.
Adolf Butenandt, 1951.Photo: Willy Pragher, 1951. Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 3.0 de.
A black-and-white photograph of a white-haired man in a dark suit seated at a table by a window.
Gerhard Domagk, 1951.Photo: Willy Pragher, 1951. Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 4.0.

1938–39

Three laureates made to say no

Richard Kuhn was made to decline the chemistry prize for 1938. Adolf Butenandt and Gerhard Domagk were made by the authorities to decline their prizes.

A woman and a man in laboratory coats stand at a bench by a tall factory-style window; the man reads from something in his hands.
Lise Meitner and Otto Hahn in Dahlem, 1913.Photo: Unknown photographer, 1913. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.
A large classical concert hall with a row of tall columns, facing a square crowded with market stalls.
Stockholm, where Hahn received the prize in 1946.Photo: C. G. Rosenberg, 1926. Stockholm City Museum, via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

1941–50

Third, with 3. The United States had 17

In December 1938 Otto Hahn demonstrated the fission of uranium in Berlin-Dahlem. His prize for 1944 was announced only in November 1945; he received it in Stockholm in December 1946. Lise Meitner, who explained the result from exile in Sweden, was not named.

A newly built institute with a tall roof and a domed corner tower, on bare ground.
A Kaiser-Wilhelm institute: chemistry, Dahlem, 1912.Photo: Unknown photographer, 1912. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

1951–60 – 1981–90

The United States first in every decade; Germany 3rd or 4th

In 1948 the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft, which ran the Dahlem institutes, was renamed the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft. The United States won 30, 28, 41, 39 prizes in these four decades; Germany 3, 5, 4, 5.

1991–00 – 2021–25

Germany’s best since the war: second, twice

In 1991–00, Germany 4 and the United States 43; In 2021–25, Germany 4 and the United States 23. The last column covers five years, 2021 to 2025.

Physics

Three of the nine decades since 1941 brought no German physics prize.

Germany led physics in 1901–10, 1911–20 and 1921–30, alone or tied, and has not led a decade of it since.

Chemistry

First for four decades. Never lower than fourth since — the field that held.

Germany’s place in chemistry in the decades since 1941: 2nd, 3rd, 3rd, 3rd, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 3rd, 3rd.

Physiology or medicine

First in the first decade only. Four decades since with no German prize at all.

The decades with no German prize for medicine: 1911–20, 1941–50, 1981–90, 2011–20.

03Twelve laureates

The prize protected none of them from exile, dismissal or death in custody

Twelve German-language laureates whose work or lives ran through Berlin or the German question, in the order of their prizes: seven scientists, four writers and two winners of the Peace Prize, one of them a prisoner.

A bearded man with round spectacles sits resting his head on one hand.
Robert Koch, about 1900, from a photograph by Wilhelm Fechner.Photograph: Wilhelm Fechner, c. 1900. Public domain.

Medicine 1905

Robert Koch

Institut für Infektionskrankheiten, Berlin

Identified the bacteria of anthrax, tuberculosis (1882) and cholera. His institute of 1891 is today the Robert-Koch-Institut, Germany's disease-control agency.

A sepia portrait of a man with a white beard and round spectacles, in a dark jacket and tie.
Paul Ehrlich, medicine, 1908 (photograph, undated).Photo: Wellcome Collection. Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 4.0.
A sepia postcard of a street lined with brick hospital buildings, a tall chimney at the far end.
The Charité, Berlin, on a postcard of 1909. Ehrlich worked there in the 1890s.J. Goldiner, Berlin, 1909 (postcard). Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

Medicine 1908 (shared)

Paul Ehrlich

At the Charité in the 1890s he helped found the theory of immunity.

Portrait of a bald man with a grey moustache and round spectacles, in a dark suit and bow tie.
Max Planck, physics, 1918, photographed about 1930.Photo: Transocean, Berlin, c. 1930. Smithsonian Libraries, via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

Physics 1918

Max Planck

Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, Berlin

Introduced the quantum in 1900 and taught in Berlin from 1889. The Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft took his name in 1948.

A young man with wavy hair and a pince-nez on a cord, in a high collar and dark jacket.
Fritz Haber as a young chemist, 1891.Photograph: unknown, 1891. Public domain.
Soldiers in steel helmets run across a field through a drifting cloud of gas.
German infantry during a gas attack in Flanders, 1916 (archive caption). Haber led Germany’s chemical-warfare effort.Photo: Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-R05923 / Unknown author / CC BY-SA 3.0 de

Chemistry 1918

Fritz Haber

Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut für physikalische Chemie, Berlin-Dahlem

His synthesis of ammonia made synthetic fertiliser possible; he also led Germany's chemical-warfare effort in the First World War. Forced out of his institute in 1933.

A man with thick wavy hair and a moustache stands in a dark suit before a blackboard with a chalk drawing.
Albert Einstein, Vienna, 1921, photographed by Ferdinand Schmutzer.Albert Einstein, Vienna 1921. Photograph by Ferdinand Schmutzer. Public domain.

Physics 1921

Albert Einstein

In Berlin from 1914 to 1932, and the institute's director from 1917. The citation names 'the law of the photoelectric effect', not relativity. He gave up his German citizenship in 1933 and did not return.

A woman in a fur-collared coat and cloche hat and a man in a checked overcoat and hat walk along a wet pavement; a doorman stands behind them.
Thomas Mann and his wife leave the Hotel Adlon, Berlin, in 1929, “on his way to Stockholm” (archive caption).Photo: Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-H27031 / Unknown author / CC BY-SA 3.0 de

Literature 1929

Thomas Mann

no institution recorded

Cited 'principally for his great novel Buddenbrooks'. Left for Switzerland in February 1933, later for the United States; his German citizenship was revoked in 1936.

Five men in long overcoats stand in a cobbled forecourt in front of a brick prison gatehouse with an arched entrance; the man in the centre holds his hat.
Outside Tegel prison, Berlin, 10 May 1932, the day Carl von Ossietzky (centre, hat in hand) began his sentence, with Kurt Grossmann, Rudolf Olden, Alfred Apfel and Kurt Rosenfeld (names as in the archive’s caption).Photo: Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-B0527-0001-861 / Unknown author / CC BY-SA 3.0 de

Peace 1935

Carl von Ossietzky

editor of Die Weltbühne, Berlin

Jailed in 1932 for exposing secret rearmament; held in camps from 1933. Named laureate in 1936 and refused permission to travel to Norway; he died in police custody in 1938.

A woman and a man in laboratory coats stand at a bench by a tall factory-style window; the man reads from something in his hands.
Lise Meitner and Otto Hahn in their laboratory at the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut für Chemie, Berlin, 1913.Photo: Unknown photographer, 1913. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.
A newly built institute with a tall roof and a domed corner tower, on bare ground.
The Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut für Chemie on the Thielallee, Dahlem, October 1912, where Hahn and Meitner worked.Photo: Unknown photographer, 1912. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

Chemistry 1944

Otto Hahn

Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut für Chemie, Berlin-Dahlem

Demonstrated the fission of uranium in Dahlem in December 1938. The prize was announced in November 1945, to him alone; Lise Meitner, who explained the result from exile in Sweden, was not named.

A lean man in spectacles and a dark suit sits reading a book.
Hermann Hesse, literature, 1946, photographed by Gret Widmann in the late 1920s.Photo: Gret Widmann (d. 1931). Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

Literature 1946

Hermann Hesse

no institution recorded

Swiss by choice from 1924, in protest at German militarism; the Foundation counts him under Germany by birth. Der Steppenwolf (1927) and Das Glasperlenspiel (1943).

An elderly man in a hat reads a statement into a cluster of radio microphones; a younger man in a hat stands just behind him.
Berlin (West), 22 August 1961, nine days after the Wall went up: Chancellor Konrad Adenauer speaks to the press, with Willy Brandt, the city’s mayor, at his side (archive caption).Photo: Bundesarchiv, B 145 Bild-P046883 / Unknown author / CC BY-SA 3.0 de
A dark stone monument with a bronze relief of figures, on a paved square in front of apartment blocks.
The Monument to the Ghetto Heroes in Warsaw, where Brandt knelt in December 1970; photographed in 2021.Photo: Cybularny, 2021. Wikimedia Commons. CC0.

Peace 1971

Willy Brandt

Chancellor; Mayor of West Berlin 1957–66

Chancellor from 1969. Cited 'for paving the way for a meaningful dialogue between East and West'. In December 1970 he knelt at the Warsaw Ghetto memorial.

An older man with a deeply lined face rests his chin on his hand, a microphone in front of him.
Heinrich Böll at a press conference in Heerlen, 1983.Photograph: Marcel Antonisse / Anefo, 1983. CC0.

Literature 1972

Heinrich Böll

no institution recorded

The conscience of West German letters after 1945: Billard um halb zehn (1959), Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum (1974). President of PEN International 1971–74.

An elderly man in a flat cap and tweed overcoat walks in the rain beneath an umbrella held by a younger woman.
Günter Grass outside the Berliner Ensemble, where he was taking part in a reading, March 2010.Photograph: SpreeTom, 2010. Public domain.

Literature 1999

Günter Grass

no institution recorded

Die Blechtrommel (1959) gave post-war German literature a language for the Nazi past. Born in the Free City of Danzig — today Gdańsk — he is on neither of the Foundation's lists. In 2006 he disclosed his teenage conscription into the Waffen-SS.

04Berlin, Göttingen, Munich, Heidelberg

After Otto Hahn, Berlin waited 42 years for its next science Nobel

Under the regime Berlin still took four of seven. Since 1946 it has taken three of thirty-four, and none at all between Otto Hahn in 1944 and Ernst Ruska in 1986. Munich, with eight, and Heidelberg, with five, are where the post-war prizes went.

When Ernst Ruska’s prize for physics came in 1986, the Nobel Foundation recorded it to the Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft — the Dahlem institute from which Fritz Haber had been forced out in 1933, now bearing his name.

Every German science prize by the city of the laboratory, 1901–2023

A prize won in BerlinElsewhere in GermanyNazi rule, 1933–451901–1932: Berlin 10 of 321933–1945: Berlin 4 of 71946–2025: Berlin 3 of 34
An ivy-covered laboratory building between two round white towers, among trees, under a blue sky.
The Ernst-Ruska-Bau, the electron-microscopy laboratories of the Fritz-Haber-Institut on the Van’t-Hoff-Straße, Dahlem (built 1972–74), in 2024.Photo: Bildarbeiter, 2024. Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 4.0.
A cream-coloured electron microscope, a column of steel and dials on a cabinet base, displayed in a glass case.
The ÜM 100, an electron microscope Ernst Ruska built for Siemens from 1949, in the foyer of the TU Berlin’s Ernst-Ruska-Gebäude, 2018.Photo: Membeth, 2018. Wikimedia Commons. CC0.
A pale classical building with a pediment and columns on a small square.
Göttingen: the university’s Aula on the Wilhelmsplatz, 2017.Photo: Julian Herzog, 2017. Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 4.0.
A long arcaded university building behind a round fountain, with snow on the ground.
Munich: the main building of the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, in snow, 2023.Photo: Flocci Nivis, 2023. Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 4.0.
A white baroque university building with red window frames on a square with a lion fountain.
Heidelberg: the Alte Universität on the Universitätsplatz, 2002.Photo: Eckhard Henkel, 2002. Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 3.0 de.

05Born here, working here

Only 48 prizes are German both ways: won by someone born inside today’s borders, working in Germany

The Nobel Foundation records where a laureate was born and where they worked when the prize came; it records no citizenship.

One dot for each prize: tap a dot for the laureate

Emil von Behring · Medicine 1901 · working in Germany, born in Prussia (now Poland)

Seventy-four prizes went to people working in Germany, eighty-four to people born inside today's borders, and only forty-eight are both.

Fritz Haber and Paul Ehrlich were born in Prussian towns that are now Polish; twenty-four German-born laureates, from Hans von Euler-Chelpin in 1929 to John B. Goodenough in 2019, were at work abroad when their prize came. Günter Grass, born in the Free City of Danzig, is on neither list.

The 74 include one prize in economics, which the decade-by-decade table above does not count. The prizes for literature and peace have no laboratory: the Foundation records no institution for 12 of the German-born.

A coloured postcard of a Gothic town hall with a tall spire and stepped gables.
Breslau, where Fritz Haber was born: the town hall on a postcard of 1915. The city is Wrocław, in Poland, today.Gebr. Kluge, 1915 (postcard). Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.
A coloured postcard of a street of tall gabled houses leading to a town hall with a slender tower.
Danzig, where Günter Grass was born: the market, town hall and Langgasse on a postcard of 1911. The city is Gdańsk, in Poland, today.Knackstedt & Näther, 1911 (postcard). Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.
A black-and-white portrait of an elderly man with grey hair and a moustache, in a pinstriped suit.
Hans von Euler-Chelpin, born in Augsburg, working in Sweden when he won the chemistry prize in 1929; photographed in 1951.Photo: Willy Pragher, 1951. Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 3.0 de.
A very old man in a dark suit and striped tie sits smiling; a younger man in a suit stands beside him with a hand on his shoulder.
John B. Goodenough (seated), born in Jena and working in the United States, photographed by the US Embassy in Sweden on 9 December 2019, the year of his chemistry prize.Photo: US Embassy Sweden, 2019. Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 2.0.

Top of the table in 1901⁠–⁠10, 1911⁠–⁠20, 1921⁠–⁠30 and 1931⁠–⁠40. Third in 1941⁠–⁠50, and no higher than second in any decade since.

The prizes kept coming for a while after 1933, for work done before it. Then the lead was gone, and it has not come back.

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Berlinfographics (2026). “German Nobel laureates: the forty years Germany led the science prizes, 1901–2025”. Berlin Experiences. https://berlinfographics.com/german-nobel-laureates/

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{{cite web |title=German Nobel laureates: the forty years Germany led the science prizes, 1901–2025 |url=https://berlinfographics.com/german-nobel-laureates/ |website=Berlinfographics |publisher=Berlin Experiences |date=2026-11-06 |access-date=2026-11-06}}