2009 Nobel Prize Winners

Updated February 21, 2017 | Factmonster Staff
Nobel Prize

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Below find the winners of the 2009 Nobel Prizes, including prizes for Peace, Physics, Medicine, Chemistry, Literature, and Economics.

  • Peace
    Barack Obama (U.S) for his "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples"
  • Physiology or Medicine
    Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider, and Jack W. Szostak (all U.S) for "the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase"
  • Physics
    One-half to Charles K. Kao (China) for "groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication," and one-quarter to both Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith (both U.S.) for "the invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit–the CCD sensor)
  • Chemistry
    Venkatraman Ramakrishnan (UK), Thomas A. Steitz (U.S.), and Ada E. Yonath (U.S.) for "studies of the structure and function of the ribosome"
  • Literature
    Herta Müller (Germany) "who, with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, depicts the landscape of the dispossessed"
  • Economics
    Elinor Ostrom (U.S.) for "her analysis of economic governance, especially the commons" and Oliver E. Williamson (U.S.) for "his analysis of economic governance, especially the boundaries of the firm"
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