09/12/2025
Interesting facts about the Nobel prize in physics :
1. Youngest Nobel Prize in Physics winner
The youngest ever is Lawrence Bragg, who won at age 25 (1915).
Fun fact: He shared it with his father — the only father–son pair to win together.
2. Einstein did NOT get it for relativity
Many people think Albert Einstein won for Relativity, but actually he won in 1921 to explain the photoelectric effect, which started quantum physics.
3. Only 4 women have won so far
Marie Curie
Maria Goeppert Mayer
Donna Strickland
Anne L’Huillier
Marie Curie is the only woman to win two Nobel Prizes (Physics & Chemistry).
4. The prize can be skipped
If the committee thinks there’s no worthy discovery that year, they simply don’t award it.
Example: No physics Nobel in 1916, 1931, and several others.
5. A maximum of 3 people can share
Even if a discovery has 100 contributors, Nobel rules allow only up to 3 winners, which is why many big collaborations (like LHC or LIGO) can’t all be awarded.
6. The "Nobel Prize" isn't given for mathematics
That’s why physics often rewards deep mathematical theories that change how we describe nature.
7. Marie Curie had to be added later
Initially, the nomination of Curie for 1903 Physics was only for her husband Pierre and Henri Becquerel.
When a committee member pointed out the unfairness, she was added.
8. First Physics Nobel (1901) was for X-rays
Wilhelm Roentgen won the first-ever prize for discovering X-rays, which changed medicine forever.
9. Some proved the theory decades later
Many Nobel Prizes in physics are given after 20–40+ years of discovery to ensure it's correct.
10. Neutrinos → 3 Nobel Prizes
Neutrinos are so mysterious they have earned three separate Nobel Prizes:
I)Discovery of the neutrino
II)Detection of solar neutrinos
III)Discovery of neutrino oscillation