Nobel Prize 2025
Stockholm, Sweden and Oslo, Norway
Why in news
Oct 2026
With the 2026 Nobels being announced, the 2025 laureates are back in the news as the comparison set: Brunkow, Ramsdell and Sakaguchi (Medicine, immune tolerance), Clarke, Devoret and Martinis (Physics, quantum tunnelling), Kitagawa, Robson and Yaghi (Chemistry, MOFs), Krasznahorkai (Literature), Machado (Peace) and Mokyr, Aghion and Howitt (Economics).
Key facts
- The 2025 Nobel Prizes were announced from 6 to 13 October 2025. Medicine went to Mary Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi for discoveries on peripheral immune tolerance; Physics to John Clarke, Michel Devoret and John Martinis for macroscopic quantum tunnelling in electric circuits; Chemistry to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar Yaghi for metal-organic frameworks (MOFs).
- László Krasznahorkai of Hungary won the 2025 Literature prize for a visionary body of work. María Corina Machado of Venezuela won the 2025 Peace Prize for her fight for democratic rights and a peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.
- The 2025 Economics prize went to Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt for work on innovation-driven economic growth: Mokyr on the prerequisites of sustained growth through technological progress, Aghion and Howitt on the theory of creative destruction.
- 2025 vs 2026 comparison - Medicine: 2025 honoured immune tolerance and regulatory T cells; 2026 honoured optogenetics and light-controlled neurons. Physics: 2025 celebrated quantum effects in circuits; 2026 celebrated cosmic neutrinos detected at IceCube. Chemistry: 2025 was about porous MOF materials; 2026 about chirality and asymmetric synthesis.
- 2025 vs 2026 comparison - Literature: 2025's Krasznahorkai writes of apocalyptic collapse; 2026's Anne Carson blends classical myth with modern poetry. Peace: 2025's Machado fought for democracy inside Venezuela; 2026's Navi Pillay built the global machinery of international law and human rights.
- Indian connections recur in Nobel history, which Prelims loves: Amartya Sen (Economics 1998), Venkatraman Ramakrishnan (Chemistry 2009), Kailash Satyarthi (Peace 2014) and Abhijit Banerjee (Economics 2019).
- The Economics prize is formally the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, instituted in 1968. The original five prizes date from Alfred Nobel's 1895 will and were first awarded in 1901.
UPSC relevance
Prelims
Prelims can ask the 2025 and 2026 laureates side by side: match the laureate to the discovery, the country, and the prize. High-yield specifics: MOFs (metal-organic frameworks) 2025 Chemistry, peripheral immune tolerance 2025 Medicine, quantum tunnelling in circuits 2025 Physics, creative destruction 2025 Economics, Machado's Venezuela fight 2025 Peace, Krasznahorkai 2025 Literature.
Mains
Mains GS-3: the 2025 science prizes feed directly into answers on emerging technologies - quantum computing foundations (2025 Physics), MOFs for gas storage and carbon capture (2025 Chemistry), immunology and autoimmune disease (2025 Medicine). Mains GS-2: comparing Machado (2025) and Pillay (2026) shows two routes to peace - democratic struggle within a country, and international legal institutions above countries.
Asked in UPSC
2018, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2002, 2001, 1999, 1998, 1997
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Frequently asked questions
Why is Nobel Prize 2025 in the news?
Oct 2026: With the 2026 Nobels being announced, the 2025 laureates are back in the news as the comparison set: Brunkow, Ramsdell and Sakaguchi (Medicine, immune tolerance), Clarke, Devoret and Martinis (Physics, quantum tunnelling), Kitagawa, Robson and Yaghi (Chemistry, MOFs), Krasznahorkai (Literature), Machado (Peace) and Mokyr, Aghion and Howitt (Economics).
Why is Nobel Prize 2025 important for UPSC?
Prelims can ask the 2025 and 2026 laureates side by side: match the laureate to the discovery, the country, and the prize. High-yield specifics: MOFs (metal-organic frameworks) 2025 Chemistry, peripheral immune tolerance 2025 Medicine, quantum tunnelling in circuits 2025 Physics, creative destruction 2025 Economics, Machado's Venezuela fight 2025 Peace, Krasznahorkai 2025 Literature. Mains GS-3: the 2025 science prizes feed directly into answers on emerging technologies - quantum computing foundations (2025 Physics), MOFs for gas storage and carbon capture (2025 Chemistry), immunology and autoimmune disease (2025 Medicine). Mains GS-2: comparing Machado (2025) and Pillay (2026) shows two routes to peace - democratic struggle within a country, and international legal institutions above countries.
Last updated: 2026-10-09