Peter J. W. Debye (Netherlands), for investigations on dipole moments and diffraction of X-rays and electrons in gases
1937
Walter N. Haworth (U.K.), for research on carbohydrates and vitamin C; and Paul Karrer (Switzerland), for work on carotenoids, flavins, and vitamins A and B
1938
Richard Kuhn (Germany), for carotenoid study and vitamin research (declined)
1939
Adolf Butenandt (Germany), for work on sexual hormones (declined the prize); and Leopold Ruzicka (Switzerland), for work with polymethylenes
1943
Georg Hevesy De Heves (Hungary), for work on use of isotopes as indicators
Artturi Illmari Virtanen (Finland), for research in the field of conservation of fodder
1946
James B. Sumner (U.S.), for crystallizing enzymes; John H. Northrop and Wendell M. Stanley (both U.S.), for preparing enzymes and virus proteins in pure form
1947
Sir Robert Robinson (U.K.), for research in plant substances
1948
Arne Tiselius (Sweden), for biochemical discoveries and isolation of mouse paralysis virus
1949
William Francis Giauque (U.S.), for research in thermodynamics, especially effects of low temperature
1950
Otto Diels and Kurt Alder (both Germany), for discovery of diene synthesis enabling scientists to study structure of organic matter
Ilya Prigogine (Belgium), for contributions to nonequilibrium thermodynamics, particularly the theory of dissipative structures
1978
Peter Mitchell (U.K.), for contributions to the understanding of biological energy transfer
1979
Herbert C. Brown (U.S.) and Georg Wittig (West Germany), for developing a group of substances that facilitate very difficult chemical reactions
1980
Paul Berg, Walter Gilbert (both U.S.), and Frederick Sanger (U.K.), for developing methods to map the structure and function of DNA, the substance that controls the activity of the cell
1981
Roald Hoffmann (U.S.) and Kenichi Fukui (Japan), for applying quantum-mechanics theories to predict the course of chemical reactions
1982
Aaron Klug (U.K.), for research in the detailed structures of viruses and components of life
1983
Henry Taube (U.S.), for research on how electrons transfer between molecules in chemical reactions
1984
R. Bruce Merrifield (U.S.), for research that revolutionized the study of proteins
1985
Herbert A. Hauptman and Jerome Karle (both U.S.), for their outstanding achievements in the development of direct methods for the determination of crystal structures
1986
Dudley R. Herschback, Yuan T. Lee (both U.S.), and John C. Polanyi (Canada), for their work on “reaction dynamics”
1987
Donald J. Cram, Charles J. Pedersen (both U.S.), and Jean-Marie Lehn (France), for wide-ranging research that has included the creation of artificial molecules that can mimic vital chemical reactions of the processes of life
Thomas R. Cech and Sidney Altman (both U.S.), for their discovery, independently, that RNA could actively aid chemical reactions in the cells
1990
Elias James Corey (U.S.), for developing new ways to synthesize complex molecules ordinarily found in nature
1991
Richard R. Ernst (Switzerland), for refinements he developed in nuclear magnetic-resonance spectroscopy
1992
Rudolph A. Marcus (U.S.), for his mathematical analysis of how the overall energy in a system of interacting molecules changes and induces an electron to jump from one molecule to another
1993
Kary B. Mullis (U.S.) and Michael Smith (Canada), for their contributions to the science of genetics
1994
George A. Olah (U.S.), University of Southern California in Los Angeles, for research that opened new ways to break apart and rebuild compounds of carbon and hydrogen
1995
F. Sherwood Rowland, Mario Molina (both U.S.), and Paul Crutzen (Netherlands), for their pioneering work in explaining the chemical processes that deplete the earth's ozone shield
1996
Richard E. Smalley, Robert F. Curl, Jr. (both U.S.), and Harold W. Kroto (U.K.), for discovery of a new class of carbon molecule
1997
Paul D. Boyer (U.S.), Jens C. Skou (Denmark), and John E. Walker (U.K.), for discoveries about a molecule that allows the human body to store and transfer energy between cells
1998
Walter Kohn (U.S.) and John A. Pople (U.K.), for their developments in the study of the properties of molecules and the chemical processes in which they are involved
1999
Ahmed H. Zewail (Egypt and U.S.), for creating the world's fastest camera, which captures atoms in motion
2000
Alan J. Heeger, Alan G. MacDiarmid (both U.S.), and Hideki Shirakawa (Japan), for the discovery and development of conductive polymers
2001
William S. Knowles (U.S.) and Ryoji Noyori (Japan) “for their work on chirally catalyzed hydrogenation reactions,” and K. Barry Sharpless (U.S.) “for his work on chirally catalyzed oxidation reactions.”
2002
John B. Fenn (U.S.) and Koichi Tanaka (Japan) for ionization methods analyses of biological macromolecules, and Kurt Wüthrich (Switzerland) for determining the three-dimensional structure of biological macromolecules in solution.
2003
Peter Agre and Roderick MacKinnon (both U.S.) for studies on channels in cell walls.
2004
Aaron Ciechanover (Israel), Avram Hershko (Israel), and Irwin Rose (U.S.) “for the discovery of ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation.”
2005
Yves Chauvin (France), Robert H. Grubbs and Richard R. Schrock (both U.S.)
2006
Roger D. Kornberg (U.S.) for “his studies of the molecular basis of eukaryotic transcription”
2007
Gerhard Ertl (Germany) for "his studies of chemical processes on solid surfaces"
