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The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Explained

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One of the Original Five Prizes

Established directly by Alfred Nobel's 1895 will, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded since 1901, honoring discoveries that have provided the greatest benefit to humankind in this field.

How Laureates Are Selected

The Nobel Assembly at Sweden's Karolinska Institute, a leading medical university, is responsible for reviewing nominations from qualified experts worldwide and selecting the medicine prize winner each year.

Recognition Often Comes Years Later

Because scientific discoveries frequently need extensive time to be fully validated and understood in terms of their real-world impact, medicine prizes are often awarded many years β€” sometimes even decades β€” after the original groundbreaking research was actually conducted.

Notable Laureates

Past medicine laureates include Alexander Fleming for the discovery of penicillin, Karl Landsteiner for discovering human blood groups, and more recently, researchers recognized for mRNA vaccine technology.

Controversial Selections

The prize has occasionally faced significant criticism over the decades, most notably for the 1949 award recognizing the lobotomy procedure, a decision now widely viewed by the medical community as a serious historical misjudgment given the procedure's later-documented harms.

A prize that has never been revoked, even in hindsight

Despite the lobotomy award and a small number of other selections that appear deeply questionable by modern medical standards, the Nobel Foundation has maintained a strict policy of never revoking a prize once awarded, meaning even widely criticized past decisions remain part of the official historical record.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why did the 1949 lobotomy prize become so controversial?

While lobotomy was considered a legitimate and even groundbreaking psychiatric treatment at the time, subsequent decades of research revealed the procedure often caused severe, irreversible harm to patients, leading many in the medical community to view the original award as a significant historical error.

Can the medicine prize be awarded for animal or non-human research?

The prize is specifically intended to recognize discoveries in physiology or medicine that benefit human health, so while foundational research is frequently conducted using animal models, the recognized contribution must ultimately connect to advancing human medical understanding.