The complete list of Nobel Prize winners in 2024

Who won this year? Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun won this year’s Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for their discovery of microRNA. Not to be confused with messenger RNA, microRNA is a tiny molecule that tells our cells how to behave. This year’s laureates figured out that microRNA plays a key role in gene regulation, which ensures that our cells perform their necessary functions. Understanding microRNA’s role is crucial for addressing the challenges that arise when it doesn’t work properly, including cancer and congenital hearing loss.

Who won last year? Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman won the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine last year for their studies of messenger RNA, which enabled the development of coronavirus vaccines. Messenger RNA, or mRNA, is a key component of our cells. It’s a molecule that carries instructions from the DNA to make proteins, which are essential for building and repairing our bodies. The Nobel laureates figured out how to alter mRNA so that, when delivered through a vaccine, it triggers the immune system to develop protective antibodies against a disease.

Who won this year? John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton won this year’s Nobel Prize in physics for their foundational work in machine learning. Machine learning, a subfield within artificial intelligence work, refers to the development of computer systems that can learn and adapt without being given explicit instructions. The laureates figured out how to create systems that process data similar to how the brain processes information. Their work has found applications across fields, including astrophysics, medical diagnostics and climate modeling.

Who won last year? Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier won the Nobel Prize in physics last year for developing super short laser pulses that can be used to study how electrons move. Electrons are part of the building blocks of our universe, so understanding how they behave is important to many fields. Knowing how electrons carry and exchange energy can enable the development of new electronics and help us study other tiny things, such as molecules, advancing diagnostic capabilities in medicine.

Who won this year? David Baker, Demis Hassabis and John Jumper won this year’s Nobel Prize in chemistry for their studies of protein structure and design. Proteins are strings of molecules that drive our bodily functions, from the development of antibodies to the repair of tissues. The laureates figured out how to predict the structure of proteins and design entirely new ones. Their work has found applications in virus studies, vaccine development and the study of nanomaterials.

Who won last year? Moungi Bawendi, Louis Brus and Alexei Ekimov were awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry last year for creating quantum dots. Quantum dots are incredibly small objects — think a million times smaller than a pinhead — that, depending on their size, can produce various colors of light. Today, quantum dots can be found in everyday items, such as TV screens and LED lamps.

Who won this year? Han Kang won this year’s Nobel Prize in literature, the first writer from South Korea to do so, for “intense prose” that “exposes the fragility of human life.” Her surreal novel “The Vegetarian,” about a woman who comes to believe she is a vegetable, brought her international acclaim. Three of her other books have been translated into English — “Human Acts,” “Greek Lessons” and “The White Book” — and another translation is forthcoming in 2025.

Who won last year? Jon Fosse, the genre-spanning Norwegian writer best known for his plays and fiction contemplating the divine, won last year’s Nobel Prize in literature. In its announcement, the Swedish academy singled out “Septology,” Fosse’s multivolume novel in which a painter meditates on dying, memory, alcoholism and art. Widely regarded as Fosse’s masterwork, “Septology” is published in the United States by the nonprofit Transit Books, run by a husband-and-wife team out of their home in Richmond, Calif.

Who won this year? Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese organization of atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, won this year’s Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons. Norwegian Nobel Committee Chair Jorgen Watne Frydnes said the group “helps us to describe the indescribable, to think the unthinkable, and to somehow grasp the incomprehensible pain and suffering caused by nuclear weapons.” The organization’s “extraordinary efforts” have “contributed greatly to the establishment of the nuclear taboo,” he added.

Who won last year? Narges Mohammadi, an imprisoned Iranian human rights activist, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2023. The Norwegian Nobel Committee commended “her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all.” The prize cast an international spotlight on the struggle for women’s rights in the Middle Eastern nation, where women took to the streets in protest after the death of a young woman in custody in September 2022. Mohammadi was the fifth person to receive the prize while incarcerated.

Who won this year? Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A. Robinson won for their work on prosperity gaps between countries. The trio of economists looked at how different kinds of European colonization led to some nations being rich and others poor. The laureates’ research found that inclusive institutions — such as public schooling, the rule of law or antitrust policies — were often introduced in countries that were poor when they were colonized, and over time those nations became more prosperous. Meanwhile, other countries experienced low economic growth after they became trapped in situations with institutions that extracted resources, such as through slavery.

Who won last year? Professor Claudia Goldin, a trailblazing economist at Harvard University, won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for her work exploring the role of women in the labor market. Goldin’s analysis of more than 200 years of U.S. labor force data showed how employment rates and the gender wage gap depend not just on the economy but also on evolving social norms related to women’s education and roles in the home and family. Goldin was only the third woman to win the Nobel Prize in economics, which has been awarded to 90 men.

Marisa Bellack, Jennifer Liberto, Sophia Nguyen, Hari Raj and Rachel Siegel contributed to this report.