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Nobel Prize Winners

WashU Medicine has a long tradition of pursuing novel approaches and expanding the bounds of what is known.

This tradition has roots in the vision of university board member Robert S. Brookings, who in 1909 was determined to transform the medical school into a model for American medical education and research. Among the first recruits to this “modern medical school” was Joseph Erlanger, who Brookings appointed head of the physiology department in 1910. Three decades later, Erlanger won a Nobel prize.

In 1947, four Washington University faculty members were Nobel laureates, a record for an American university at the time. Pictured here, from left to right, are laureates Carl F. Cori, professor of biochemistry; Joseph Erlanger, professor emeritus of physiology; Gerty T. Cori, professor of biochemistry; and Chancellor Arthur H. Compton. Photo: Becker Medical Library

To date, 19 Nobel laureates have ties to the School of Medicine, and the tradition continues. With an ever-growing infrastructure that supports collaboration, innovation and entrepreneurship, we equip our outstanding faculty, students and trainees with the resources to pursue discoveries that may shape science and medicine for generations to come.

1927: Arthur H. Compton (1892 – 1962)

Compton

Physics

“For his discovery of the effect named after him”

Washington University affiliations:
Professor of Physics (1920 – 23); Chancellor (1945 – 53); Distinguished Service Professor of Natural Philosophy (1954 – 61)

Nobel biography »


1943: Edward A. Doisy (1893 – 1986)

Doisy

Physiology or Medicine

“For his discovery of the chemical nature of vitamin K”

Washington University affiliations:
Instructor (1919 – 20), Associate (1920 – 22) and Associate Professor (1922 – 23) of Biological Chemistry

Nobel biography »


1944: Joseph Erlanger (1874 – 1965)

Erlanger

Physiology or Medicine

“For … discoveries relating to the highly differentiated functions of single nerve fibres”

Washington University affiliation:
Professor of Physiology (1910 – 46)

Nobel biography »


1944: Herbert S. Gasser (1888 – 1963)

Gasser

Physiology or Medicine

“For … discoveries relating to the highly differentiated functions of single nerve fibres”

Washington University affiliations:
Instructor (1916 – 18), Associate (1918 – 20) and Associate Professor of Physiology (1920 – 21); Professor of Pharmacology (1921 – 31)

Nobel biography »


1947: Carl F. Cori (1896 – 1984)

Carl F. Cori

Physiology or Medicine

“For … discovery of the course of the catalytic conversion of glycogen”

Washington University affiliations:
Professor of Pharmacology (1931 – 46); Professor of Biological Chemistry (1942 – 66)

Nobel biography »


1947: Gerty T. Cori (1896 – 1957)

Gerty T. Cori

Physiology or Medicine

“For … discovery of the course of the catalytic conversion of glycogen”

Washington University affiliations:
Fellow and Research Associate in Pharmacology (1931 – 44); Research Associate in Biological Chemistry (1943 – 44); Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Biological Chemistry (1944 – 47); Professor of Biological Chemistry (1947 – 57)

Nobel biography »


In the news: Cori Nobel Prize medals donated to Washington University
Watch the video »

1959: Arthur Kornberg (1918 – 2007)

Kornberg

Physiology or Medicine

“For … discovery of the mechanisms in the biological synthesis of ribonucleic acid and deoxiribonucleic acid”

Washington University affiliation:
Professor of Microbiology (1953 – 59)

Nobel biography »


1959: Severo Ochoa (1905 – 93)

Ochoa

Physiology or Medicine

“For … discovery of the mechanisms in the biological synthesis of ribonucleic acid and deoxiribonucleic acid”

Washington University affiliation:
Instructor and Research Associate in Pharmacology (1941 – 42)

Nobel biography »


1969: Alfred Hershey (1908 – 97)

Hershey

Physiology or Medicine

“For … discoveries concerning the replication mechanism and the genetic structure of viruses”

Washington University affiliations:
Assistant (1934 – 36), Instructor (1936 – 39), Assistant Professor (1939 – 46) and Associate Professor (1946 – 50) of Bacteriology and Immunology

Nobel biography »


1971: Earl W. Sutherland, Jr.

 (1915 – 74)

Sutherland

Physiology or Medicine

“For his discoveries concerning the mechanisms of the action of hormones”

Washington University affiliations:
Student Assistant (1940 – 43) and Instructor (1945 – 46) in Pharmacology; Instructor (1946 – 50), Assistant Professor (1950 – 51) and Associate Professor (1951 – 53) of Biological Chemistry

Nobel biography »


1978: Daniel Nathans (1928 – 99)

Nathans

Physiology or Medicine

“For the discovery of restriction enzymes and their application to problems of molecular genetics”

Washington University affiliation:
Graduate of the School of Medicine (Class of 1954)

Nobel biography »


1980: Paul Berg (1926)

Berg

Chemistry

“For his fundamental studies of the biochemistry of nucleic acids, with particular regard to recombinant DNA”

Washington University affiliations:
Research Fellow and Instructor (1954); Assistant Professor (1955 – 57) and Associate Professor (1957 – 59) of Microbiology

Nobel biography »


1986: Stanley Cohen (1922 – 2020)

Cohen

Physiology or Medicine

“For … discoveries of ‘Growth Factors'”

Washington University affiliations:
Research Fellow (1952 – 53) and Research Associate (1953 – 59) in Zoology

Nobel biography »


1986: Rita Levi-Montalcini (1909 – 2012)

Levi-Montalcini

Physiology or Medicine

“For … discoveries of ‘Growth Factors'”

Washington University affiliations:
Research Associate (1947 – 51), Associate Professor (1951 – 58) and Professor (1958 – 77) of Zoology

Nobel biography »


1992: Edwin G. Krebs (1918 – 2009)

Krebs

Physiology or Medicine

“For … discoveries concerning reversible protein phosphorylation as a biological regulatory mechanism”

Washington University affiliations:
Graduate of the School of Medicine (Class of 1943); Intern and Resident at Barnes-Jewish Hospital (1944 – 46); Research Fellow in Biological Chemistry (1946 – 48)

Nobel biography »


1998: Robert F. Furchgott (1916 – 2009)

Furchgott

Physiology or Medicine

“For … discoveries concerning nitric oxide as a signalling molecule in the cardiovascular system”

Washington University affiliations:
Assistant Professor (1946 – 52) and Associate Professor (1952 – 56) of Pharmacology

Nobel biography »


2004: Aaron Ciechanover (1947)

Ciechanover

Chemistry

“For the discovery of ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation”

Washington University affiliation:
Visiting Professor of Pediatrics (1987 – 2001)

Nobel biography »


2012: Brian K. Kobilka (1955)

Kobilka

Chemistry

“For studies of G-protein-coupled receptors”

Washington University affiliation:
Medical Resident at Barnes Hospital (1981 – 84)

Nobel biography »


2020: Charles M. Rice, PhD (1952)

Rice

Physiology or Medicine

“For the discovery of Hepatitis C virus”

Washington University affiliation:
Conducted his seminal work while on the faculty from 1986 to 2000

Read the announcement »


 

Rita Levi-Montalcini in her Washington University laboratory in the early 1960s. Levi-Montalcini and her co-researcher, Stanley Cohen, also of Washington University, were awarded a Nobel prize in 1986 for their discovery of nerve growth factors (NGF). Photo: Becker Medical Library