Australian Nobel Laureates

Australia is renowned for scientific and medical research. The following Australians have won a Nobel Prize in these fields.

• Professor William Bragg (1862–1942) and Lawrence Bragg (1890–1971), physicists William Bragg (father) and Lawrence Bragg (son) were joint winners of the Nobel Prize in Physics 1915, ‘for their services in the analysis of crystal structure by means of X-rays’.

• Sir Howard Walter Florey (1898–1968), pathologist Born in Adelaide, South Australia, Howard Florey received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1945 (jointly) ‘for the discovery of penicillin and its curative effect in various infectious diseases’.

• Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet (1899–1985), medical scientist and biologist Born in Victoria, Frank Burnet was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1960 (jointly) ‘for discovery of acquired immunological tolerance’.

• Sir John Carew Eccles (1903–97), physiologist John Eccles was born in Melbourne and received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1963 (jointly) ‘for discoveries concerning the ionic mechanisms involved in excitation and inhibition in the peripheral and central portions of the nerve cell membrane’.

• Sir Bernard Katz (1911–2003), physician and biophysicist Born in Germany, Bernard Katz became an Australian citizen in 1941. He received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1970 for ‘discoveries concerning the humoral transmitters in the nerve terminals and the mechanism for their storage, release and inactivation’.

• Professor John Warcup Cornforth (1917–2007), chemist John Cornforth was born in Sydney and received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1975 (jointly) ‘for his work on the stereochemistry of enzyme-catalysed reactions’.

• Professor Peter Doherty (born 1940), immunologist Peter Doherty was born in Queensland and received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1996 (jointly) ‘for discoveries concerning the specificity of the cell mediated immune defence’.

• Professor Barry Marshall (born 1951), gastroenterologist, and Doctor Robin Warren (born 1937), pathologist Barry Marshall and Robin Warren were joint winners of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2005 for their discovery of ‘the bacterium Helicobacter pylori and its role in gastritis and peptic ulcer disease’.

• Professor Elizabeth Helen Blackburn (born 1948), biologist Elizabeth Blackburn was born in Hobart and received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2009 (jointly) ‘for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase’.

• Professor Brian P. Schmidt (born 1967), astronomer Brian P. Schmidt received the Nobel Prize in Physics 2011 (jointly) ‘for the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the universe through observations of distant supernovae’.

The following Australian has received the Nobel Prize in Literature.

• Patrick White (1912–90), novelist and playwright Born in London to Australian parents, Patrick White was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1973 ‘for an epic and psychological narrative art which has introduced a new continent into literature’.