Below are the names and short biographies of members who have been recipients of the Nobel Prize listed by chronological order in which they were awarded. There are currently 58.

 

Ivan Pavlov (1905)

Russian Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936) was awarded The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1904 in recognition of his work on the physiology of digestion, through which knowledge on vital aspects of the subject has been transformed and enlarged. He became the very first Nobel laureate non-Member to be elected to honorary membership in 1909.

Ramón y Cajal (1906)

Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1852-1934) was awarded The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly in 1906 alongside Camillo Golgi in recognition of their work on the structure of the nervous system. He was made an Honorary Member of The Society in 1931.

Paul Ehrlick (1908)

German Paul Ehrlich (1854-1915) was jointly awarded The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1908 alongside Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov in recognition of their work on immunity. He was elected as an Honorary Member to The Society in 1903, prior to receiving the award.

Charles Richet (1913)

Frenchman Charles Richet (1850-1935) established that by decreasing the sodium chloride in food, potassium bromide is rendered so effective for the treatment of epilepsy that the therapeutic dose falls from 10g to 2g. In 1913, he was awarded The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his research on anaphylaxis. He was awarded Honorary membership to The Society in 1918.

 August Krogh (1920)

August Krogh (1874-1949) from Denmark was awarded The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1920 “for his discovery of the capillary motor regulating mechanism.” During the 1939-40 Winter War between the Soviet Union and Finland, when the Danes began collecting money in support of Finland, August Krogh was urged to donate his Nobel medal, which was made of solid gold, for this purpose. He did so, but first he had his daughter Bodil Schmidt-Nielsen make a copy of the medal in silver, which was then gold-plated. Krogh became a Member in 1913 an Honorary Member in 1938.

Archibald Hill (1922)

The Society’s first British Laureate, Archibald Hill (1886-1977) was awarded a half share of The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1922 for his discovery relating to the production of heat in the muscle. He became a Member in 1912 and an Honorary Member in 1960.

Otto Meyerhof (1922)

German physician and biochemist Otto Meyerho (1884-1951) was awarded a half share of The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1922 for his discovery of the fixed relationship between the consumption of oxygen and the metabolism of lactic acid in the muscle. He became a Member of The Society in 1930.

John Macleod (1923)

Scottish physiologist John Macleod (1876-1935) shared the 1923 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Frederick Banting for his help with the discovery of insulin. He became a Member in 1912.

Frederick Banting (1923)

Canadian Frederick Banting (1923) was jointly awarded The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1923 alongside John James Rickard Macleod for the discovery of insulin. He was elected a Member of The Society in 1924.

 Willem Einthoven (1924)

Dutchman Willem Einthoven (1860-1927) was awarded The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1924 for his discovery of the mechanism of the electrocardiogram. He was made an Honorary Member of The Society the same year.

Federick Gowland Hopkins (1929) President of the Royal Society 1930-35

Federick Gowland Hopkins (1861-1947) was awarded a half share of The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1929 for his discovery of growth-stimulating vitamins. He became a Member in 1892.

Arthur Harden (1929)

Arthur Harden (1865-1940) was awarded a half share of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1929 alongside Hans Karl August Simon von Euler-Chelpin for their investigations on the fermentation of sugar and fermentative enzymes. He became a Member in 1904.

Charles Sherrington (1932) President of the Royal Society 1920-25

Charles Sherrington (1857-1952) received a half share of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1932 alongside Edgar Douglas Adrian for their discoveries regarding the functions of neurons. Sherrington became a Member in 1885 and an Honorary Member in 1935.

Edgar Adrian (1932) President of the Royal Society 1950-55 (The Lord Adrian)

Edgar Adrian (1889-1977) received a half share of The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1932 alongside Charles Sherrington for their discoveries regarding the functions of neurons. Adrian became a Member in 1917 and an Honorary Member in 1960.

Henry Dale (1936) President of the Royal Society 1940-1945

Sir Henry Hallett Dale (1875-1968) received a half share of The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1936 alongside Otto Loewi for their discoveries relating to chemical transmission of nerve impulses. Dale became a Member in 1900 and an Honorary Member in 1951.

Otto Loewi (1936)

German Otto Loewi (1873-1961) was awarded The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1936 alongside Sir Henry Dale for their discoveries relating to chemical transmission of nerve impulses. He was elected as an Honorary Member of The Society in 1934, prior to receiving the award.

Albert Szent-Gyorgyi (1937)

Hungarian Albert von Szent-Györgyi Nagyrápolt (1893-1986) was awarded The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1937 for his discoveries in connection with the biological combustion processes, with special reference to vitamin C and the catalysis of fumaric acid. He became a Member in 1929.

Corneille Heymans (1938)

Belgian Corneille Heymans (1892-1968) received The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1938 for the discovery of the role played by the sinus and aortic mechanisms in the regulation of respiration. He became a Member in 1931 and an Honorary Member in 1967.

Herbert Gasser (1944)

American physiologist Herbert Gasser (1888-1963) was jointly awarded The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1944 alongside Joseph Erlanger for their discoveries relating to the highly differentiated functions of single nerve fibres. He became a Member in 1924 and an Honorary Member in 1949.

 Howard Florey (1945) President of the Royal Society 1960-65

Australian Howard Florey (1898-1968) shared The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945 with Sir Ernst Chain and Sir Alexander Fleming for his role in the development of penicillin. Florey carried out the first ever clinical trials of penicillin in 1941 at the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford on the first patient, a police constable from Oxford. Florey’s discoveries are estimated to have saved over 200 million lives and he is esteemed as one of Australia’s greatest figures. Florey became a Member in 1925 and an Honorary Member in 1965.

Bernardo Houssay (1947)

Argentine physiologist Bernardo Houssay (1887-1972) was awarded half The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1947 for his discovery of the part played by the hormone of the anterior pituitary lobe in the metabolism of sugar. He was the first Argentine Nobel laureate in the sciences. He was elected as an Honorary Member of The Society in 1935, prior to his receiving the award.

John Boyd Orr (1949)

Scottish physician and biologist John Boyd Orr (1880-1971) was awarded The Nobel Peace Prize in 1949 for his scientific research into nutrition and his work as the first Director-General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. He emerged in the inter-war years as one of Britain’s leading experts on nutrition, maintaining that many Britons were malnourished because their incomes were too low. Orr became a Member in 1918.

 Walter Hess (1949)

Swiss physiologist Walter Hess (1881-1973) won The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1949 for mapping the areas of the brain involved in the control of internal organs. He was elected an Honorary Member of The Society in 1936, prior to the award.

Hans Krebs (1953)

German-born, British-naturalised Hans Krebs (1900-1981) was awarded a half share of The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1953 for his discovery of the citric acid cycle. He became a Member in 1948.

Peter Medawar (1960)

Peter Medawar (1915-1987) was awarded the 1960 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly with Sir Macfarlane Burnet for their discovery of acquired immunological tolerance. Medawar’s interest in immunological tolerance grew directly out of his research in skin grafts begun during the Second World War. When a plane crashed near his Oxford home during the Battle of Britain, the doctors treating the severely burned pilot sought Medawar’s advice, hoping that his studies in cell development might provide some critical insight. He became a Member in 1941 and an Honorary Member in 1975.

Alan Hodgkin (1963) President of the Royal Society 1970-75

Alan Hodgkin (1914-1998) was awarded The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1963 jointly with Sir John Carew Eccles and Andrew Fielding Huxley for their discoveries concerning the ionic mechanisms involved in excitation and inhibition in the peripheral and central portions of the nerve cell membrane. He became a Member in 1938 and an Honorary Member in 1979.

Andrew Huxley (1963) President of the Royal Society 1980-85

Andrew Huxley (1917-2012) was awarded The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1963 jointly with Sir John Carew Eccles and Alan Lloyd Hodgkin for their discoveries concerning the ionic mechanisms involved in excitation and inhibition in the peripheral and central portions of the nerve cell membrane. He became a Member in 1942 and an Honorary Member in 1979.

John Eccles (1963)

Australian research physiologist John Eccles (1903-1997)  shared The 1963 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine with Alan Hodgkin and Andrew Huxley for their discoveries concerning the ionic mechanisms involved in excitation and inhibition in the peripheral and central portions of the nerve cell membrane. Eccles’ work profoundly influenced the medical treatment of nervous diseases and the research on kidney, heart, and brain function. His research on the fundamental transmission of nerve impulses is basic to the knowledge of how neurons interact with one another, especially in explaining integrated movements and their pathologic alterations, and to the eventual understanding of higher functions of the brain. Eccles became a Member in 1929 and an Honorary Member in 1982.

 Peyton Rous (1966)

American Peyton Rous (1879-1970) was jointly awarded The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1966 for his discovery of tumour-inducing viruses. He was elected an Honorary Member of The Society in 1936, prior to receiving the award.

Ragnar Granit (1967)

Swede Ragnar Granit (1900-1991) was awarded the 1967 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discoveries about chemical and physiological visual processes in the eye. He became a Member in 1932 and an Honorary Member in 1968.

Bernard Katz (1970)

German-born, British-naturalised Bernard Katz (1911-2003) was jointly awarded The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1970 alongside Ulf von Euler and Julius Axelrod for their discoveries concerning the humoral transmitters in the nerve terminals and the mechanism for their storage, release and inactivation. He became a Member in 1940 and an Honorary Member in 1979.

Ulf Von Euler (1970)

Swede Ulf Von Euler (1905-1983) was awarded The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1970 alongside Sir Bernard Katz and Julius Axelrod for their discoveries concerning the humoral transmitters in the nerve terminals and the mechanism for their storage, release and inactivation. He became a Member in 1937 and an Honorary Member in 1972.

David Hubel (1981)

Canadian American David Hubel (1926-2013) was jointly awarded half The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1981 alongside Torsten Wiesel for their discoveries concerning information processing in the visual system. He was made an Honorary Member in 1983.

Torsten Wiesel (1981)

Swedish neurophysiologist Torsten Wiesel (b.1924) was jointly awarded half The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1981 alongside David Hubel. He was made an Honorary Member in 1983.

 John Vane (1982)

John Vane (1927-2004) was awarded The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering how aspirin alongside with Sune Bergström and Bengt Samuelsson of Sweden. Vane’s research underpinned the finding that a daily low dose of aspirin prevents heart attacks and strokes, saving millions of lives each year, and the development of angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors for the treatment of hypertension. He made huge advances to our knowledge of inflammation. Vane became a Member in 1953 and an Honorary Member in 1988.

James Black (1988)

Scottish pharmacologist Sir James Black (1924-2010) was awarded The Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1988 (alongside George Hitchings and Gertrude Elion) for his development of two important drugs, propranolol (a beta blocker used for the treatment of heart disease) and cimetidine (an H2 receptor antagonist, a drug used to treat stomach ulcers). He became a Member in 1962 and an Honorary Member in 1989.

Erwin Neher (1991)

German Erwin Neher (b.1944) was awarded The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1991 alongside Bert Sakmann for their discoveries concerning the function of single ion channels in cells. Neher became an Affiliate Member in 1981 and an Honorary Member in 1997.

Bert Sakmann (1991)

German Bert Sakmann (b.1942) was awarded The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1991 alongside Erwin Neher for their discoveries concerning the function of single ion channels in cells. He became an Affiliate Member in 1990 and an Honorary Member in 1997.

Eric Kandel (2000)

Austrian Eric R. Kandel (b.1929) was jointly awarded The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2000 alongside Arvid Carlsson and Paul Greengard for their discoveries concerning signal transduction in the nervous system. He was elected an Honorary Member to The Society in 2008.

Arvid Carlsson (2000)

Swede Arvid Carlsson (1923-2018) was jointly awarded The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2000 alongside Eric Kandel and Paul Greengard for their discoveries concerning signal transduction in the nervous system. He was elected an Honorary Member to The Society in 2009.

Paul Nurse (2001) President of the Royal Society (2010-15)

English geneticist Sir Paul Nurse (b.1949) was jointly awarded The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2001 along with Leland Hartwell and Tim Hunt for their research relating to the discovery of cell cycle regulatory molecules. He was elected as an Honorary Member of The Society in 2003.

Tim Hunt (2001)

British biochemist and molecular physiologist Sir Richard Timothy Hunt (b.1943) were jointly awarded The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2001 alongside Paul Nurse and Leland Hartwell for their discoveries of protein molecules that control the division of cells. He was elected as an Honorary Member of The Society in 2009.

John Sulston (2002)

British Biologist John E. Sulston (1942-2018) was jointly awarded The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2002 alongside Sydney Brenner and Robert Horvitz for their discoveries concerning genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death. Their research illustrated the entire sequence in which the daughters of a single cell divide and sometimes disappear as an embryo grows into an adult in the tiny roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans. He was better known for leading the British team working on the Human Genome Project (HGP) that sequenced a third of the human genome, and for the fierce integrity with which he successfully argued that all genomic data should be openly accessible to the scientific community without commercial involvement. Sulston was elected as an Honorary Member in 2003.

Sydney Brenner (2002)

South African Sydney Brenner (1927-2019) was jointly awarded The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2002 alongside John Sulston and Robert Horvitz for their discoveries concerning genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death. He was elected as an Honorary Member in 2003.

Peter Mansfield (2003)

English physicist Peter Mansfield (1933-2017) was jointly awarded The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2003 alongside Paul C. Lauterbur for their discoveries concerning magnetic resonance imaging. He was elected as an Honorary Member to The Society in 2004.

Paul Christian Lauterbur (2003)

American chemist Paul Christian Lauterbur (1929-2007) was jointly awarded The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2003 alongside Sir Peter Mansfield for their discoveries concerning magnetic resonance imaging. He was elected as an Honorary Member of The Society in 2004.

Richard Axel (2004)

American molecular biologist and university professor Richard Axel (b.1946) was jointly awarded The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2004 alongside Linda B. Buck for their discoveries of odorant receptors and the organization of the olfactory system. He was elected as an Honorary Member of The Society in 2012.

Linda Buck (2004)

American biologist Linda Buck (b.1947) was jointly awarded The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2004 alongside Richard Axel for their discoveries of odorant receptors and the organization of the olfactory system. She was elected as an Honorary Member of The Society in 2012.

Martin Evans (2007)

British biologist Martin Evans (b.1941) was jointly awarded The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2007 alongside Mario R. Capecchi and Oliver Smithies for their discoveries of principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem cells. He was elected as an Honorary Member of The Society in 2013.

Roger Tsien (2008)

American Roger Tsien (1952-2016) was awarded The Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2008 for the discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein, GFP. Tsien demonstrated how GFP produces its shimmering light and succeeded in varying the colour, creating a rainbow of fluorescent proteins that could light up the dance of molecules within cells. This enabled different proteins and multiple, simultaneous biological processes to be tracked. Tsien became an Affiliate Member in 1974 and an Honorary Member in 2011.

John O’Keefe (2014)

American-British neuroscientist and psychologist John O’Keefe (b.1939) was jointly awarded The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2014 alongside May-Britt Moser and Edvard I. Moser for their discoveries of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain. He was elected as an Honorary Member of The Society in 2015.

May-Britt Moser (2014)

Norwegian psychologist and neuroscientist May-Britt Moser (b. 1963) was jointly awarded The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2014 alongside John O’Keefe and Edvard I. Moser for their discoveries of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain. She was elected as an Honorary Member to The Society in 2015.

James Rothman (2013)

American biochemist James E. Rothman (b.1950) was jointly awarded The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2013 alongside Randy W. Schekman and Thomas C. Südhof for their discoveries of machinery regulating vesicle traffic, a major transport system in our cells. He was elected as an Honorary Member of The Society in 2014.

Randy Schekman (2013)

American cell biologist Randy Schekman (b.1948) was jointly awarded The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2013 alongside James E. Rothman and Thomas C. Südhof for their discoveries of machinery regulating vesicle traffic, a major transport system in our cells. He was elected as an Honorary Member to The Society in 2014.

Edvard Ingjald Moser (2014)

Norwegian professor of psychology and neuroscience Edvard Ingjald Moser (b.1962) was jointly awarded The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2014 alongside John O’Keefe and May-Britt Moser. He was elected as an Honorary Member to The Society in 2015.

Michael Warren Young (2017)

Michael Warren Young (b.1949) was awarded The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2017 alongside Jeffrey C. Hall and Michael Rosbash for their discoveries of molecular mechanisms controlling the circadian rhythm. He was elected as an Honorary Member of The Society in 2018.

Tasuku Honjo (2018)

Tasuku Honjo (b.1942) was awarded The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2018 alongside James P. Allison for their discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation. He was elected as an Honorary Member to The Society in 2019.

Peter Ratcliffe (2019)

British physician-scientist Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe was awarded The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2019 alongside William G. Kaelin Jr. and Gregg L. Semenza for their discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability. He was elected as an Honorary Member of The Society in 2020.

Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice (2020)

Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their contribution to the fight against blood-borne hepatitis, a major global health problem that causes cirrhosis and liver cancer in people around the world.

Professor David Julius and Professor Ardem Patapoutian (2021)

David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian won the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch.

Svante Pääbo (2022)

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine “for his discoveries concerning the genomes of extinct hominins and human evolution.”

Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman (2023)

Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries concerning nucleoside base modifications that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19.