By the numbers:
1. Since the Nobel prizes were first awarded in 1901, there have been over 80 Columbians who have received this honor - among the highest number of Nobel prize-winners associated with any institution of higher learning around the world.
2. They include alumni, faculty, adjunct faculty, researchers, and administrators.
3. Columbians have won Nobel prizes in every field which the award is given.
4. Today, Columbia's faculty includes 8 Nobel laureates.*
5. Forty-two of Columbia's noble Nobelists are alumni.
6. The most recent prize awarded to a Columbian was in 2012 - a year that two prize categories were claimed by Columbia graduates: Robert J. Lefkowitz (Chemistry) and Alvin Roth (Economics).
7. U.S. President Barack Obama '83CC was the most recent Columbian to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009.
8. Just this year, Columbia alumni have met with Nobel laureates Eric Kandel and Joseph Stiglitz at alumni events. You never know who you'll meet through your Columbia alumni network. alumni.columbia.edu
Here are some more sources to learn more about Columbia's noble Nobelists:
- https://www.columbia.edu/content/nobel-laureates.html
- A sortable, searchable list by name, field, and award year (through 2004): https://c250.columbia.edu/c250_celebrates/nobel_laureates/by_name.html
- A humorous look at why Columbia might or might not have the most Nobel prize-winners out of any University: This unofficial Columbia wiki page, last updated in 2012, claims 98 Columbia-affiliated Nobelists.
Do you have an update for us? Let us know in the comments section.
*Update:
Thanks to an alum weighing in on CAA's LinkedIn group, we hear there are ten Columbia faculty who have received a Nobel prize.
"The ten current faculty are Richard Axel (Medicine 2004), Martin Chalfie (Chemistry 2008), Eric Kandel (Medicine 2000), Tsung-Dao Lee (Physics 1957), Robert Mundell (Economics 1999), Orhan Pamuk (Literature 2006), Edmund Phelps (Economics 2006), James Rothman (Medicine 2013), Joseph Stiglitz (Economics 2001), and Horst Stormer (Physics 1998). Lee, Mundell, and Stormer are all emeritus these days. Rothman is an adjunct who used to be full-time.
CU's 2013 winners include both Rothman and Martin Karplus (Chemistry), who was a full-time faculty member from 1960 to 1966. Two other 2013 winners -- Michael Levitt (Chemistry) and Thomas C. Südhof (Medicine) -- used to be visiting profs."