In an estimate by Baruch Shalev, between 1901 and 2000 about two-thirds of Nobel Prize winners were either Christians or had a Christian background.Baruch A. Shalev, 100 Years of Nobel Prizes (2003), Atlantic Publishers & Distributors, p. 57: between 1901 and 2000 reveals that 654 Laureates belong to 28 different religions. Most (65.4%) have identified Christianity in its various forms as their religious preference. Here is a non exhaustive list of some of the prize winners who publicly identified themselves as Christians.
Physics By one estimate made by Weijia Zhang from Arizona State University and Robert G. Fuller from University of Nebraska–Lincoln, between 1901 and 1990, 60% of Nobel Prize in Physics winners had Christian backgrounds. In an estimate by Baruch Shalev, between 1901 and 2000, about 65.3% of Physics Nobel prize winners were either Christians or had a Christian background.
Year Laureate Country Denomination Rationale 1901 Wilhelm Röntgen Dutch Reformed Church "for the discovery of X rays"1902Hendrik Lorentzraised Protestant but attended Catholic services " discovery and theoretical explanation of the Zeeman effect" 1904 Lord Rayleigh Anglican "for his investigations of the densities of the most important gases and for his discovery of argon in connection with these studies" 1906 Joseph John Thomson Anglican "for his theoretical and experimental investigations on the conduction of electricity by gases" 1909 Guglielmo Marconi Italy Roman Catholic "for his contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy"1914Max von LaueChristian"for his discovery of the diffraction of X-rays by crystals".1915William Henry BraggChristian"for their services in the analysis of crystal structure by means of X-rays" 1917 Charles Glover Barkla MethodistSchool of Mathematics and Statistics. "Charles Glover Barkla" (2007), University of St Andrews, Scotland. JOC/EFR.Charles Glover Barkla, Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography (2008) "for his discovery of the characteristic Röntgen radiation of the elements", another important step in the development of X-ray spectroscopy1918Max PlanckMember of the Lutheran Church (deistic outlook)" for the discovery of energy quanta" 1923 Robert Andrews Millikan Christian"Millikan, Robert Andrew", Who's Who in America v. 15, 1928–1929, p. 1486. adherents.comNobel biography. nobelprize.org."Medicine: Science Serves God," Time, 4 June 1923. Retrieved 19 January 2013. He dealt with this in his Terry Lectures at Yale in 1926–27, published as Evolution in Science and Religion.Evolution in Science and Religion (1927), 1973 edition: Kennikat Press, "for his work on the elementary charge of electricity and on the photoelectric effect" 1927 Arthur Holly Compton Presbyterian "for his discovery of the effect named after him" 1932 Werner Heisenberg Lutheran "for the creation of quantum mechanics, the application of which has, inter alia, led to the discovery of the allotropic forms of hydrogen" 1936 Victor Francis Hess Austria Roman Catholic He wrote on the topic of science and religion in his article "My Faith".Victor Francis Hess. "My Faith". San Antonio Light Newspaper Archive. Sunday, 3 November 1946, p. 52 "for his discovery of cosmic radiation" 1951 Ernest Thomas Sinton Walton Methodist "for his pioneer work on the transmutation of atomic nuclei by artificially accelerated atomic particles" 1964 Charles Hard Townes Protestant (United Church of Christ) "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" 1974 Antony Hewish Christian "for his pioneering research in radio astrophysics: Ryle for his observations and inventions, in particular of the aperture synthesis technique, and Hewish for his decisive role in the discovery of pulsars" 1977 Nevill Francis Mott Anglican "for their fundamental theoretical investigations of the electronic structure of magnetic and disordered systems". 1981 Arthur Leonard Schawlow Protestant (United Methodist Church) "for their contribution to the development of laser spectroscopy".1993Joseph Hooton Taylor Jr.Quaker“for the discovery of a new type of pulsar, a discovery that has opened up new possibilities for the study of gravitation” 1997 William Daniel Phillips Protestant (United Methodist Church) "for development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light".1998Daniel C. Tsui Lutheran"for their discovery of a new form of quantum fluid with fractionally charged excitations." 2007 Peter Grünberg Roman CatholicPeter Grünberg received the Pilsner signet of 1307Glauben Sie, Professor Grünberg, als Naturwissenschaftler an Gott? – Peter Grünberg: Ja, natürlich. Ich bin streng katholisch aufgewachsen und denke, einiges dabei gewonnen zu haben. Aber ich halte es mit Lessings Ringparabel. Welcher der drei Ringe ist der echte? – Grünberg states he believes in God, was raised strictly Catholic, and adheres to Lessing's Ring Parable in an interview with Gerhard Ertl and Peter Grünberg at cicero.de "for the discovery of giant magnetoresistance" 2009 Charles K. Kao , Roman Catholic "for groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication" 2018 Donna Strickland Protestant (United Church of Canada)How this Nobel winner balances physics and faith "for their method of generating high-intensity, ultra-short optical pulses"
Chemistry In an estimate by Baruch Shalev, between 1901 and 2000, about 72.5% of Nobel Prize in Chemistry winners were either Christians or had a Christian background.
Year Laureate Country Denomination Rationale1905Adolf von BaeyerLutheran"in recognition of his services in the advancement of organic chemistry and the chemical industry, through his work on organic dyes and hydroaromatic compounds" 1918 Fritz Haber Converted to Protestantism from Judaism "for the synthesis of ammonia from its elements"1943George de HevesyConverted to Catholicism from Judaism“for his work on the use of isotopes as tracers in the study of chemical processes” 1996 Richard E. Smalley Christian(May 2005, letter sent to the Hope College 2005 Alumni Banquet) "for the discovery of fullerenes" 2007 Gerhard Ertl Christian "for his studies of chemical processes on solid surfaces" 2012 Brian Kobilka Catholic "for studies of G-protein-coupled receptors." 2019 John B. Goodenough (Born in ) Christian "for the development of lithium-ion batteries".
Physiology or Medicine In an estimate by Baruch Shalev, between 1901 and 2000, about 62% of Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine winners were either Christians or had a Christian background. Year Laureate Country Denomination Rationale 1906 Santiago Ramón y Cajal Roman Catholic "in recognition of his work on the structure of the nervous system" 1909 Emil Theodor Kocher Switzerland Protestant (Moravian Church) "for his work on the physiology, pathology and surgery of the thyroid gland" 1912 Alexis Carrel Roman CatholicAlexis Carrel, The Voyage to Lourdes (New York, Harper & Row, 1939). "[for] his work on vascular suture and the transplantation of blood vessels and organs" 1930 Karl Landsteiner converted to Roman Catholicism from Judaism in 1890Anna L. Staudacher: "... meldet den Austritt aus dem mosaischen Glauben". 18000 Austritte aus dem Judentum in Wien, 1868–1914: Namen – Quellen – Daten. Peter Lang, Frankfurt, 2009, , p. 349 "for his discovery of human blood groups" 1947 Gerty Theresa Cori, née Radnitz converted to Roman Catholicism from Judaism in 1920"for their discovery of the course of the catalytic conversion of glycogen"1947Carl Ferdinand CoriRoman Catholic“for their discovery of the course of the catalytic conversion of glycogen” 1963 Sir John Carew Eccles Roman Catholic "for his discoveries concerning the ionic mechanisms involved in excitation and inhibition in the peripheral and central portions of the nerve cell membrane"1974George Emil Palade Romanian Orthodox Church"for his innovations in electron microscopy and cell fractionation which together laid the foundations of modern molecular cell biology, the most notable discovery being the ribosomes of the endoplasmic reticulum – which he first described in 1955." 1978 Werner Arber Switzerland ProtestantArber, W. 1992. The Existence of a Creator Represents a Satisfactory Solution. In Margenau, H. and R. A. Varghese (eds.), Cosmos, Bios, Theos: Scientists Reflect on Science, God, and the Origins of the Universe, Life, and Homo sapiens. La Salle, IL: Open Court, p. 141-142. "for the discovery of restriction enzymes and their application to problems of molecular genetics"1990Joseph E. MurrayRoman Catholic"their discoveries concerning organ and cell transplantation in the treatment of human disease." 1998 Ferid Murad Christian"Ferid Murad autobiography", Nobel Foundation "for their discoveries concerning nitric oxide as a signalling molecule in the cardiovascular system".2007Mario CapecchiQuaker “for their discoveries of principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem cells” 2012 Sir John B. Gurdon Protestant (Anglican) "for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent" 2015 William C. Campbell Roman Catholic "for their discoveries concerning a novel therapy against infections caused by roundworm parasites".
Literature In an estimate by Baruch Shalev, between 1901 and 2000, about 49.5% of Nobel Prize in Literature winners were either Christians or had a Christian background.