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Nobel Women

By The Globalist

 

 
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Every fall, the Nobel Foundation announces the new crop of Nobel Prize winners, rewarding distinguished achievements in the fields of physics, chemistry, economics, physiology or medicine, literature and peace. Of the total 789 individual winners since 1901, we wonder: In which field have women received the most Nobel Prizes?

*  *  *

You chose "Peace." Congratulations, that's correct!

Twelve women from nine different countries have won the Nobel Peace Prize, according to data compiled by the organization’s official website, nobelprize.org.

As in literature, in this field the nationalities of the women winners are also diverse — with winners from Europe, India, Southeast Asia, North and South America, Africa and the Middle East.

Mother Teresa of India and Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma remain perhaps the most famous of recent winners for their work on eliminating poverty and facilitating democratic development, respectively.

"Literature" is not correct.

Beginning with Selma Lagerlöf of Sweden in 1909, 11 women from nine different countries have won the Nobel Prize in literature. This means that roughly once every decade a woman has been awarded the prize. Of these 11 women authors, one — Nelly Sachs of Sweden — won a share of the prize, splitting the award with Shmuel Yosef Agnon of Israel in 1966.

In all, women account for just 35 — or 4% — of the 789 prizes awarded to individuals, as of late 2008.

"Physics and chemistry" is not correct.

Only four different women have ever won the Nobel Prize in the fields of physics and chemistry. The first one of these was awarded to Marie Curie, who won as far back as 1903 for her work in physics.

She was the first woman ever to receive the prize in any discipline. Just eight years later in 1911, Curie won again, this time in the field of chemistry — and in doing so became the first woman to ever win the Nobel Prize twice.

The Curie family legacy continued in 1935, when daughter Irene Joliot Curie won for her research in the field of chemistry.

"Physiology or medicine" is not correct.

It took 46 years for a woman to win the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine. Starting in 1947 with the United States’ Gerty Cori, eight women have been winners — all of whom are from either the United States or Western Europe. In 2008, French virologist Françoise Barré-Sinoussi shared the prize for her research on HIV.

All but one of the women who won the prize in physiology or medicine shared it with either one or two other individuals. Barbara McClintock, of New York, remains the only woman to win the prize outright for her discovery of mobile genetic elements, in 1983.

 
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