Nobel Prizes 2026, announced between October 5 and 12, honour outstanding contributions in the fields of medicine, literature, arts, chemistry, physics, economics and peace. They are regarded among the world’s most prestigious awards and are highly anticipated each year.
Indians who have won a Nobel Prize are Rabindranath Tagore, C.V. Raman, Mother Teresa, Amartya Sen, and Kailash Satyarthi.
What to know about Nobel Prize 2026
A visual guide to 2026’s Nobel Prize winners
Nobel Prizes: Areas of recognition
Nobel Prizes are awarded for outstanding achievements in medicine or physiology, physics, chemistry, literature, economic sciences, and peace. According to a Reuters report, the Nobel Prize now comes with a recently increased amount of 12 million Swedish crowns or $1.21 million. The awards are highly coveted and bestow instant international fame on the recipients.
Key context and latest developments
Graphic mentioning the 2026 Nobel Laureates
Date and timings of Nobel Prize announcements in I.S.T.
Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine
The prize was announced on October 5, 2026, at 3 p.m. IST, at the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institute. Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann, and Georg Nagel won the award for discoveries leading to a technique called optogenetics, which allows scientists to control select nerve cells using light.
2026 Nobel medicine prize: Trio wins for optogenetics work
Nobel Prize in Physics
The prize was announced on October 6, 2026, at 3.15 p.m. IST, at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It was won by Francis Halzen “for decisive contributions to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and the discovery of high-energy neutrinos of astrophysical origin.”
Francis Halzen
| Photo Credit:
Reuters
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
The prize was be announced on October 7, at 3.15 p.m. IST, at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai won it for the discovery of “non-linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis.”
Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai.
Nobel Prize in Literature
The prize was announced on October 8, 4.30 p.m. IST, at the Swedish Academy. Anne Carson won the award “for her bold and inventive oeuvre that, in playful dialogue with the classical tradition, has created new forms for contemporary literature.”
Canadian author Anne Carson
Nobel Peace Prize
Navanethem “Navi” Pillay, a South African judge of Indian origin, won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday (October 9) “for her efforts to promote peace and international law”, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said. The prize was announced at the Norwegian Nobel Institute. Navi Pillay was chair of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory that concluded last year that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza. Israel dismissed the report as “scandalous”.
Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2026 (Nobel Prize in Economics)
US academics Robert Hall and Michael Woodford won the 2026 Nobel economics prize for “for microeconomic foundations of macroeconomic stabilisation”, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said on Monday (October 12, 2026). The prestigious award, formally known as the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, is the final Nobel prize to be given out this year
How to watch the Nobel prize announcement ceremonies?
The announcements of the prestigious prizes can be watched live on YouTube. They can be streamed through the Nobel Prize YouTube channel.
Nobel Prize Winners 2025
The 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis “for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit.”
Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar M. Yaghi “for the development of metal–organic frameworks.” The prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi “for their discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance.”
Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to László Krasznahorkai “for his compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art.”
Maria Corina Machado was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize “for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy”
Who founded the Nobel Prize?
A Swedish chemist and entrepreneur, Alfred Nobel created the award and dictated in his will that the bulk of his sizable estate be used to fund prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind.
Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite and was also a businessman, poet, and linguist. Mr Nobel spent much of his career developing weapons. He died in 1896, and the first prizes were awarded in 1901, following a legal battle over his will.
A private institution called The Nobel Foundation is responsible for fulfilling the intentions of Alfred Nobel’s will.
According to the Nobel Prize website, “the main mission of the Nobel Foundation is to manage Alfred Nobel’s fortune in a manner that ensures a secure financial standing for the Nobel Prize over the long term and that the prize-awarding institutions are guaranteed independence in their work of selecting recipients.”
Nobel selected the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to award the prizes for chemistry and physics, the Swedish Academy for literature, Sweden’s Karolinska Institute medical university for physiology or medicine, and the Norwegian parliament for peace.
All timings mentioned are based on the information displayed on the official Nobel Prize website.
With inputs from Reuters
Published – October 05, 2026 02:18 pm IST
