Science & Technology

List of Nobel Prize in Physics Laureates (2016-2025)

Winners of the Nobel Prize in Physics over the last decade, from topological phase transitions in 2016 to macroscopic quantum tunnelling in 2025.

10 itemsUpdated May 30, 2026

The Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for the most important discoveries in the field. The last decade of laureates spans an extraordinary range of physics, from the topological states of matter recognized in 2016 to the detection of gravitational waves in 2017, the development of laser-based tools in 2018, and discoveries in cosmology and exoplanets in 2019. More recent prizes have honored work on black holes, complex and climate systems, quantum entanglement, attosecond light pulses, the machine-learning foundations of modern artificial intelligence, and most recently the demonstration of quantum mechanical behavior in circuits large enough to hold in the hand. Each year's prize is typically shared among up to three scientists.

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1

2025 — John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret & John M. Martinis

Macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling

2

2024 — John J. Hopfield & Geoffrey E. Hinton

Machine learning with artificial neural networks

3

2023 — Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz & Anne L'Huillier

Attosecond pulses of light

4

2022 — Alain Aspect, John F. Clauser & Anton Zeilinger

Quantum entanglement

5

2021 — Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann & Giorgio Parisi

Complex physical systems

6

2020 — Roger Penrose, Reinhard Genzel & Andrea Ghez

Black holes

7

2019 — James Peebles, Michel Mayor & Didier Queloz

Cosmology and exoplanets

8

2018 — Arthur Ashkin, Gérard Mourou & Donna Strickland

Laser physics

9

2017 — Rainer Weiss, Barry C. Barish & Kip S. Thorne

Gravitational waves (LIGO)

10

2016 — David J. Thouless, F. Duncan M. Haldane & J. Michael Kosterlitz

Topological phase transitions

This list is compiled from verified public records and reference sources. Last verified: May 30, 2026.

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