Nobel Women

Nobel Prize-Winning Women

Inspired by Elinor Ostrom, who recently became the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, findingDulcinea recognizes female Nobel Prize winners. Read biographies and news stories celebrating their incredible lives and accomplishments.

Guillermo Arias/AP

Happy Birthday, Nadine Gordimer, 1991 Winner of Nobel Prize in Literature

November 20, 2009

by Sarah Amandolare

Writer Nadine Gordimer has devoted her life to fighting for the rights and health of the less fortunate and oppressed. She won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1991 for showing “the true power of words,” having written 14 novels and 11 collections of short stories.

Happy Birthday, Marie Curie, Discoverer of Radium
November 07, 2009 12:00 AM
The first woman in France to receive a doctorate degree, scientist Marie Curie is remembered for her discoveries in radioactivity and radioactive elements. Her work won her two Nobel prizes in physics and chemistry, but unfortunately also led to her death.
Happy Birthday, Doris Lessing, Social Commentator and Nobel Prize Winner in Literature
October 22, 2009 10:00 AM
A powerful, politically minded and acerbic Nobel Laureate, Britain's Doris Lessing is a treasured social commentator and novelist who has continued her prolific and award-winning career into her 80s.
Mother Teresa, 1979 Winner of Nobel Peace Prize
October 15, 2009 10:00 AM
Mother Teresa won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her outstanding devotion to the poor in Calcutta’s slums.
Carol Greider, 2009 Co-Winner of Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
October 15, 2009 01:30 AM
Dr. Carol Greider didn’t let her struggle with dyslexia as a young girl stop her from earning her doctorate degree or helping to discover the enzyme telomerase, a key find in the study of cell aging and cancer research.
Wangari Muta Maathai, 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Winner
October 15, 2009 12:38 AM
In 2004, Wangari Muta Maathai became the first African Woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Maathai is known as the founder of the “Green Belt Movement” to reforest Africa.
Emily Greene Balch, 1946 Noble Peace Prize Winner
October 15, 2009 12:15 AM
Passionate about helping the poor, and among the first graduates of Bryn Mawr College, Emily Greene Balch went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1946.

Emily Greene Balch, 1946 Noble Peace Prize Winner
October 15, 2009 12:15 AM
Passionate about helping the poor, and among the first graduates of Bryn Mawr College, Emily Greene Balch went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1946.
Gabriela Mistral, 1945 Winner of Nobel Prize in Literature
October 14, 2009 09:39 PM
Gabriela Mistral was the pen name of Lucila Godoy y Alcayaga, the first Latin American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. The poet and educator received the prize in 1945.
Bertha von Suttner, 1905 Winner of Nobel Peace Prize
October 14, 2009 09:28 PM
Bertha von Suttner grew up loving music, languages and travel, and eventually discovered a thirst for peace. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1905.
Pearl Buck, 1938 Winner of Nobel Prize in Literature
October 14, 2009 09:00 PM
Pearl Buck is best known for her novel “The Good Earth,” which received the Pulitzer Prize in 1935 and helped earn her the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1938.
Maria Goeppert-Mayer, 1963 Co-Winner of Nobel Prize in Physics
October 14, 2009 05:54 PM
Physicist Maria Goeppert-Mayer predicted the existence of double photon absorption decades before it was observed, and shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1963 for developing the “nuclear shell model.”
Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin, 1964 Winner of Nobel Prize in Chemistry
October 14, 2009 05:43 PM
Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1964 for determining the structures of substances such as cholesterol, penicillin and vitamin B12 using X-ray crystallography.

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Nobel Women

Nobel Prize-Winning Women

Happy Birthday, Nadine Gordimer, 1991 Winner of Nobel Prize in Literature

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