The Nobel Prize (Swedish: Nobelpriset) is a set of five different prizes that, according to its benefactor Alfred Nobel, in his 1895 will, must be awarded "to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind”. The five prizes are awarded in the fields of Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace.^[1]

As of 2023, 65 Nobel Prizes and the Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences have been awarded to 64 women^[2] and since 1901, the year wherein the awarding of the prizes began, hundreds of women have already been nominated and shortlisted carefully in each field.^[3][4]

The first woman to win a Nobel Prize was Marie Curie, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 with her husband, Pierre Curie, and Henri Becquerel.^[5][6] Curie is also the only woman to have won multiple Nobel Prizes; in 1911, she won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Curie's daughter, Irène Joliot-Curie, won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1935, making the two the only mother-daughter pair to have won Nobel Prizes.^[5] Of the currently revealed female nominees both in physics and chemistry, the notable scientists Henrietta Swan Leavitt, Astrid Cleve, Harriet Brooks, Alice Ball, Mileva Marić, Inge Lehmann, Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, Leona Woods, Helen Parsons, and Jocelyn Bell Burnell were not included.

In 1912, Mary Edwards Walker became the first ever woman nominated for prize in physiology or medicine but her nomination was later declared invalid by the Nobel Committee because her nominator was not invited to nominate that year.^[7] Hence, Cécile Vogt-Mugnier, nominated first in 1922, became the official first female nominee but never won despite numerous recommendations.^[3] She was followed by Maud Slye who was nominated in the year 1923, but again never won. Only in 1947, that the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was finally awarded to a woman, Gerty Cori, sharing with her husband Carl Ferdinand Cori.^[8] Of the 13 currently revealed female nominees, the physiologists Nettie Stevens, Frieda Robscheit-Robbins, Rosalind Franklin, Miriam Michael Stimson, Louise Pearce, Virginia Apgar, Hattie Alexander and Alice Catherine Evans were not included.

The most number of female nominees was in the field of literature. The first woman to be nominated was the German memoirist Malwida von Meysenbug for the year 1901.^[3] She was nominated by the French historian Gabriel Monod but unfortunately did not win the prize.^[9] Her nomination was followed by Émilie Lerou and Selma Lagerlöf for the year 1904. Lagerlöf would later on become the first woman to win the prize in the year 1909.^[10] Of the 77 currently revealed female nominees for the literature category, the celebrated authors Kate Chopin, Alfonsina Storni, Virginia Woolf, Simone Weil, Edith Nesbit, Delmira Agustini, Willa Cather, Gertrude Stein, Edith Hamilton, Marina Tsvetaeva, Zora Neale Hurston, Fannie Hurst, Flannery O'Connor and Agatha Christie were not included.^[11][12][13]

The first women nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize were Belva Ann Lockwood and Bertha von Suttner, who would eventually be awarded in 1905.^[3] The latter was considered for authoring Lay Down Your Arms! and contributing to the creation of the Prize.^[14] Of the 57 currently revealed female nominees, the famous Susan B. Anthony, Florence Nightingale, Clara Barton, Harriet Tubman, Mary Harris Jones, Olive Schreiner, Aletta Jacobs, Emmeline Pankhurst, Ida B. Wells, Käthe Kollwitz, Muriel Lester, Katharine Drexel, Helene Schweitzer, Marie Stopes, Vera Brittain, Ava Helen Pauling, Golda Meir, Rachel Carson and Rosa Parks were not included.^[15][16]

Starting from 1902 to 1970, 10 women have been nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physics and three of the nominees were subsequently awarded.

More information Picture, Name ...

Picture	Name	Born	Died	Years Nominated	Notes
1902
	Marie Skłodowska Curie	7 November 1867 Warsaw, Poland	4 July 1934 Passy, Haute-Savoie, France	1902, 1903	Awarded the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics with P.Curie and the 1911 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.[17]
1935
	Irène Joliot-Curie	September 12, 1897 Paris, France	March 17, 1956 Paris, France	1934, 1935	Awarded the 1935 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Frédéric Joliot-Curie.[18]
1937
	Lise Meitner	November 7, 1878 Vienna, Austria	October 27, 1968 Cambridge, England	1937, 1940, 1941, 1943, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1959, 1961, 1964, 1965	Nominated for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry too.[19]
1950
	Marietta Blau	April 29, 1894 Vienna, Austria	January 27, 1970 Vienna, Austria	1950, 1956, 1957	Nominated for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry too.[20]
	Hertha Wambacher[lower-alpha 1]	March 9, 1903 Vienna, Austria	March 25, 1950 Vienna, Austria	1950	Nominated jointly with Marietta Blau the only time by Erwin Schrödinger.[21]
1955
	Maria Goeppert-Mayer	June 28, 1906 Katowice, Poland	February 2, 1972 San Diego, California, United States	1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1962, 1963	Awarded the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physics with J. Hans D. Jensen.[22]
1956
	Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin	May 12, 1910 Cairo, Egypt	July 29, 1994 Ilmington, England	1956, 1957, 1959, 1960, 1961	Awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.[23]
1958
	Chien-Shiung Wu	May 31, 1912 Liuhe, Taicang, China	February 16, 1997 New York City, New York, United States	1958, 1959, 1960, 1964, 1965	[24]
1964
	Margaret Peachey Burbidge	August 12, 1919 Stockport, England	April 5, 2020 San Francisco, California, United States	1964	Nominated jointly with William Alfred Fowler and Fred Hoyle the only time by Harold Urey.[25]
1970
	Janine Connes	1926 or 1934 France	—	1970	Nominated jointly with Pierre Connes and Robert B. Leighton the only time by Rupert Wildt.[26]
1971–1972
should be revealed by Nobel Committee

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Starting 1911 to 1970, 15 women have been nominated for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry and 3 of these nominees were subsequently awarded.

Starting from 1922 to 1953, 14 women have been nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine wherein one was declared invalid and one was subsequently awarded.

From 1901 to 1972, 77 women have been nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature and 8 of these nominees were subsequently awarded.

From 1901 to 1973, 57 women have been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and five of these nominees were subsequently awarded. Currently, the Nobel archives has revealed nominations from 1901 to 1973, the other enlisted women were verified nominations based on public and private news agencies.

From 1969 to 1971, 3 women have been nominated for the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences but none of them were subsequently awarded.

• List of Nobel laureates
• List of female Nobel laureates
• List of women writers
• List of women's rights activists
• List of female scientists in the 20th century
• Matilda effect