Sixteen researchers have shared in 10 Nobel prizes for work done while at Harvard Medical School.
George Minot and William P. Murphy, 1934, Physiology or Medicine
Research on liver treatment of the anemias
Fritz A. Lipmann, 1953, Physiology or Medicine
Identified coenzyme A and discovered basic principles of the way cells generate energy
John F. Enders, Frederick C. Robbins* and Thomas H. Weller, 1954, Physiology or Medicine
Application of tissue-culture methods to the study of viral diseases, such as polio
Baruj Benacerraf, 1980, Physiology or Medicine
Discovered genetically determined structures on the surface of immune system cells that regulate immunological reactions
David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel, 1981, Physiology or Medicine
Research on information processing in the visual system
Herbert Abrams, Eric Chivian and James Muller (with Bernard Lown of the Harvard School of Public Health), 1985, Peace
Cofounders, with Evgueni Chazov, Leonid Ilyin, and Mikhail Kuzin from the Soviet Union, of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War
Joseph E. Murray, 1990, Physiology or Medicine
Developed procedures for organ and cell transplantation in humans (with E. Donnall Thomas, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center)
Linda Buck**, 2004, Physiology or Medicine
Discovered odorant receptors and the organization of the olfactory system, explaining the sense of smell (with Richard Axel, Columbia University)
Jack Szostak, 2009, Physiology or Medicine
The discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase (with Elizabeth Blackburn, University of California, San Francisco, and Carol Greider, Johns Hopkins University)
William Kaelin, 2019, Physiology or Medicine
For the discovery of the molecular pathway used by all multicellular organisms to sense and adapt to changes in oxygen, a process essential for survival (with Peter J. Ratcliffe, University of Oxford/Francis Crick Institute, and Gregg L. Semenza, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine)
Gary Ruvkun, 2024, Physiology or Medicine
For the discovery of microRNA, a class of tiny molecules involved in gene activity regulation with profound implications for health and disease (with Victor Ambros, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School)
*Robbins was awarded the Nobel Prize for work done while a member of the Harvard Faculty. When the award was made, he was a member of the faculty of Western Reserve University.
**Buck was awarded the Nobel Prize for work done, in part, while a member of the Harvard faculty. When the award was made, she was a member of the faculty of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.