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What do you know about the Nobels?

News - public release Created on 30 Sep 2026 Harvard University

Harvard’s history with the prestigious prize may surprise you

Science & Tech What do you know about the Nobels?  nobel prize, john harvard, veritas

Illustrations by Liz Zonarich/Harvard Staff

Sy Boles

Harvard Staff Writer

September 30, 2026 1 min read Harvard’s history with the prestigious prize may surprise you

Since 1901, committees in Sweden and Norway have awarded Nobel Prizes annually to recognize achievements in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, peace, and (from 1969) economics. Through the years, dozens of Harvard scholars and researchers have earned the title of Nobel laureate across all categories. Test your knowledge of Harvard’s connections with the prestigious prize in the following quiz.

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10% 1. Which Nobel laureate wrote, “I rhyme / to see myself, to set the darkness echoing”? Annie Ernaux Orhan Pamuk José Saramago Seamus Heaney Next 2. Whose groundbreaking work on women’s labor participation earned her the 2023 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, the third awarded to a woman? Carmen M. Reinhart Gita Gopinath Claudia Goldin Iris Bohnet Previous Next 3. T.W. Richards won the 1914 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for: Accurately determining the atomic weight of a large number of chemical elements Demonstrating for the first time that an element could have different atomic weights Developing the nephelometer, an instrument that measures the concentration of particulates in a liquid or gas colloid Previous Next 4. Which of the following Nobel Peace Prize-winning groups grew from the scholarship and organizing of Harvard-affiliated physicians? The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees International Committee of the Red Cross International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War Doctors Without Borders Previous Next 5. Harvard Medical School Professor Joseph Murray earned the 1990 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for performing the first successful whole organ transplant on a human. In what year did he perform the surgery? 1954 1961 1972 1978 Previous Next 6. What did 1964 laureate Konrad Bloch contribute to the understanding of cholesterol? The chemical structure of cholesterol How cholesterol is synthesized in the body How cholesterol forms plaques inside blood vessels How the body clears cholesterol Previous Next 7. Investigative journalist and 2021 Harvard Kennedy School fellow Maria Ressa earned the Nobel Peace Prize for her work documenting terrorism and authoritarianism in which country? Venezuela Somalia The Philippines Hungary Previous Next 8. Nobel laureate Michael Kremer’s work led to the approval of pneumococcal vaccines that have saved an estimated 700,000 lives. In what discipline was his prize? Physiology or medicine Peace Chemistry Economic Sciences Previous Next 9. Quantum computing and quantum cryptography grew out of the theories of which Nobel laureate in physics? Roy Glauber Riccardo Giaconi Anne L’Huillier Donna Strickland Previous Next 10. Which Harvard professor or researcher won a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his or her role in the discovery of microRNA? Jack Szostak William Kaelin Gary Ruvkun Linda Buck Previous Submit

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Sydney Boles

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