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List of Muslim Nobel laureates

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As of 2024, fifteen Nobel Prize laureates have been Muslims, more than half of them in the 21st century. Eight of the fifteen laureates have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, while five have been for the sciences and three for Literature. Aziz Sancar is the second Turkish Nobel laureate and was awarded the Nobel prize in Chemistry in the field of molecular biology in 2015.[1]

Chemistry

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Three Muslims have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Year Image Laureate Country and profession Rationale comment
1999 Ahmed Zewail
(1946–2016)[2] 		EgyptUnited States Egyptian-American scientist The 1999 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Ahmed Zewail "for his studies of the transition states of chemical reactions using femtosecond spectroscopy".[3] He is the first Muslim chemist to be awarded the Nobel Prize and the second Muslim scientist.[4][5][6][7][8]
2015 Aziz Sancar
(b. 1946) 		TurkeyUnited States Turkish-American scientist The 2015 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Aziz Sancar "for mechanistic studies of DNA repair"[9] He is the first Turkish chemist, and the second Turk to date to be awarded the Nobel Prize.[10]
2023 Moungi Bawendi
(b. 1961) 		TunisiaUnited StatesFrance American- Tunisian-French The 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Moungi Bawendi "for the discovery and development of quantum dots"[11] He is the first Tunisian to date to be awarded the Nobel Prize.[12][13]

Literature

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Three Muslims have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Year Image Laureate Country and profession Rationale comment
1988 Naguib Mahfouz
(1911–2006) 		Egypt Egyptian author, noted for his contribution to modern Arabic literature The 1988 Nobel Prize in Literature was given to Naguib Mahfouz "who, through works rich in nuance—now clear-sightedly realistic, now evocatively ambiguous—has formed an Arabian narrative art that applies to all mankind".[14][15] The first Muslim author to receive such a prize.[4][16][17]
2006 Orhan Pamuk
(b. 1952) 		Turkey Turkish-Circassian author famous for his novels My Name Is Red and Snow The 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Orhan Pamuk "who in the quest for the melancholic soul of his native city has discovered new symbols for the clash and interlacing of cultures".[18][19] The first Turk and Circassian to receive the Nobel Prize, He describes himself as a Cultural Muslim who associates the historical and cultural identification with the religion while not believing in a personal connection to God.[4][20][21][22]
2021 Abdulrazak Gurnah
(b. 1948) 		Tanzania Tanzanian author, noted for his contribution to modern African literature Gurnah was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2021 "for his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fates of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents".[23] "Muslim Writer"[24]

Peace

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Eight Muslims have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Year Image Laureate Country and profession Rationale comment
1978 Anwar al-Sadat (1918–1981) Egypt Egyptian President He, along with Menachem Begin was awarded 1978 Nobel Peace Prize "for their contribution to the two frame agreements on peace in the Middle East, and on peace between Egypt and Israel, which were signed at Washington on September 17, 1978".[25] The first Muslim to receive a Nobel Prize.[4][26][27][28][29][30]
1994 Yasser Arafat (1929–2004) State of Palestine Palestinian politician The 1994 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded jointly to Arafat, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin "for their efforts to create peace in the Middle East".[31][32] The only Muslim Palestinian to receive a Nobel Prize.[4][33][34][35][36]
2003 Shirin Ebadi
(b. 1947) 		Iran Iranian human rights activist The 2003 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Ebadi "for her efforts for democracy and human rights. She has focused especially on the struggle for the rights of women and children".[37] The first Iranian to receive a Nobel Prize. She was also the first Muslim woman to receive such an honor.[4][38][39][40][41] Note that Doris Lessing born and raised for 5 years in modern-day Iran is a fellow laureate.
2005 Mohamed El Baradei (b. 1942) Egypt Egyptian diplomat The 2005 Nobel Peace Prize was jointly awarded to El Baradei and IAEA "for their efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes and to ensure that nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is used in the safest possible way".[42][43] He was the second Egyptian to be awarded Nobel Peace Prize (2005).[4][44][45][46]
2006 Muhammad Yunus (b. 1940) Bangladesh Bangladeshi economist, founder of Grameen Bank and current Chief Adviser of Bangladesh. The 2006 Nobel Peace Prize was jointly awarded to Yunus and Grameen Bank "for their efforts to create economic and social development from below".[47] The first Bangladeshi and Bengali Muslim Nobel laureate, and overall, the fourth Bengali person to win a Nobel prize.[4][48][49][50][51][52]
2011 Tawakel Karman (b. 1979) Yemen Human rights activist based in Yemen. A prominent leader in the Arab Spring. The 2011 Nobel Peace Prize was jointly given to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee and Karman "for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace-building work".[53] The first Arab woman and only Yemeni to receive a Nobel Prize.[54][55][56][57][58]
2014 Malala Yousafzai (b. 1997) Pakistan Pakistani peace activist. At the age of 17, Yousafzai is the youngest Nobel Prize recipient ever.[59] She is also the second Pakistani and first ethnic Pashtun to be awarded a Nobel Prize.[60] Malala Yousafzai: 'I'm a feminist and a Muslim' [61]
2023 Narges Mohammadi
(b. 1972) 		Iran Iranian human rights activist. The 2023 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Mohammadi "for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all"[62] She is the second Iranian to win the Nobel Peace Prize and the Nobel Prize in general.[63]

Physics

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One Muslim has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics.

Year Image Laureate Country and profession Rationale comment
1979 Mohammad Abdus Salam
(1926–1996) 		Pakistan Pakistani physicist The 1979 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded jointly to Sheldon Glashow, Salam, and Steven Weinberg "for their contributions to the theory of the unified weak and electromagnetic interaction between elementary particles, including, inter alia, the prediction of the weak neutral current". The life work of Abdus Salam was key to defining a theory of particle physics still used today, and it laid the groundwork for the 2012 discovery of the God particle, the particle that holds the physical fabric of the universe together as Abdus Salam viewed it theoretically and introduced it in the electroweak and strong interactions theory of the quantum field.[64] He may be categorized as the first Muslim nobel laureate in science and only one in physics till now.[65][66] Abdus Salam openly identified himself as an Ahmadi Muslim throughout his life. He was a devoted member of the Ahmadiyya community and actively participated in its activities. The Pakistani government declared the Ahmadiyya community as non-Muslim in 1974, which created significant challenges and discrimination for Ahmadis, including Dr. Salam.

By country

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Includes count for those with multiple citizenships:

Country Number of Wins
Egypt Egypt 4
United States United States 3
Turkey Turkey 2
Pakistan Pakistan 2
Iran Iran 2
Bangladesh Bangladesh 1
Yemen Yemen 1
State of Palestine Palestine 1
Tanzania Tanzania 1
Tunisia Tunisia 1
France France 1

See also

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References

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The year of receiving Nobel Prize is given after each Nobel Laureate in this article. For verification of candidacy of above listed Nobel Laureates, please go to nobelprize.org,[67] and search the corresponding year of reception of Nobel Prize in the respective field.

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  6. ^ "Ahmed Zewail: At a Glance". 2018-06-18. Archived from the original on 2018-06-28. Retrieved 2012-03-18. Ahmed Zewail's caltech site.
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  13. ^ ahmedbqa (2023-10-05). "Muslim scientist wins 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for innovation of quantum dots". Muslim Network TV. Retrieved 2023-10-06.
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  16. ^ "Contact Support". 2012-06-09. Archived from the original on 2012-06-09. Retrieved 2012-03-18. "Naguib Mahfouz's Socialistic Sufism: An Intellectual Journey from the Wafd to Islamic Mysticism", Yagi, Kumiko, Ph.D. Harvard University, 2001. 235 pages. Adviser: Graham, William A. Publication Number: AAT 3028463, accessed March 24, 2012.
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  30. ^ "Mohamed Anwar El Sadat". The MY HERO Project. Retrieved 2023-08-03.
  31. ^ https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1994/arafat.html 'Yasser Arafat-Biography', Nobel Foundation, retrieved April 5, 20122.
  32. ^ "The Nobel Peace Prize 1994". NobelPrize.org. Retrieved 2023-08-03.
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  35. ^ "The Muslim Arafat 1". Archived from the original on 2012-07-21. Retrieved 2012-04-04.'The Muslim Arafat', retrieved April 5, 2012.
  36. ^ "Yasser Arafat". www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org.
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  38. ^ "Nobel Peace Prize winner promotes her new book 'The Golden Cage'". www.connect2mason.com.
  39. ^ http://nobelwomensinitiative.org/meet-the-laureates/shirin-ebadi/ Archived 2016-08-28 at the Wayback Machine "Shirin Ebadi – Iran 2003", 'Meet the Laureates', Nobel Women's Initiative, accessed April 4, 2012.
  40. ^ https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2003/ebadi-lecture-e.html "In the name of the God of Creation and Wisdom", Nobel Lecture by Shirin Ebadi, Oslo, December 10, 2003, Nobel Foundation, retrieved April 4, 2012.
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  59. ^ "Malala and Kailash Satyarthi win Nobel Peace Prize". BBC News. 10 October 2014.
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  62. ^ "The Nobel Peace Prize 2023". nobelprize.org.
  63. ^ "Nobel Peace Prize 2023 updates: Winner is Iran's Narges Mohammadi".
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  65. ^ https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1979/salam-bio.html "Abdus Salam-Biography", Nobel Foundation, retrieved April 5, 2012.
  66. ^ https://books.google.com/books?id=wAY3AAAAMAAJ Google Books,Ghani, Abdul (1982). Abdus Salam: a Nobel laureate from a Muslim country: a biographical sketch, Publisher-Maʻaref Printers, Karachi. pp. i–xi., retrieved April 8, 2012.
  67. ^ https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes All Nobel Laureates, Nobel Foundation, retrieved April 6, 2012.

Further reading

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Articles

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Books

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Biography

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Autobiography

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  1. ^ Mysticism in Contemporary Islamic Political Thought Archived 2021-03-14 at the Wayback Machine by John von Heyking, University of Lethbridge, Volume XIX, Nos. 1 and 2, 2006, Humanitas accessed April 5, 2012.
  2. ^ Almond, Ian (2003). "Islam, Melancholy, and Sad, Concrete Minarets: The Futility of Narratives in Orhan Pamuk's "The Black Book"". New Literary History. 34 (1): 75–90. doi:10.1353/nlh.2003.0002. ISSN 0028-6087. JSTOR 20057766. S2CID 162460436.
  3. ^ Gelb, Leslie H. (2011-05-06). "Mohamed ElBaradei, the Inspector". The New York Times Book Review. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-07-22.
  4. ^ https://www.amazon.com/Islam-Orientalism-Intellectual-History-Modernity/dp/1848850050 intellectual history of muslims, retrieved April 6, 2012.
  5. ^ Orhan Pamuk and the Politics of Turkish Identity: From Islam to Istanbul [Paperback], retrieved April 5, 2012.
  6. ^ http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Physics/?view=usa&ci=9780199697120 "Cosmic Anger: Abdus Salam – The First Muslim Nobel Scientist" by Gordon Fraser, Oxford University Press, retrieved March 24, 2012.
  7. ^ https://www.amazon.com/Yasser-Arafat-Biography-Lerner-Hardcover/dp/0822550040 Yasser Arafat biography, retrieved April 6, 2012.
  8. ^ Anwar Sadat: Visionary Who Dared, retrieved April 6, 2012.
  9. ^ https://www.amazon.com/Iran-Awakening-Journey-Reclaim-Country/dp/0812975286 Shirin Ebadi's autobiography, retrieved April 6, 2012.
  10. ^ Ahmed Zewail, Autobiography, Nobel Foundation, retrieved April 5, 2012.
  11. ^ Autobiography of Muhammad Yunus, retrieved April 6, 2012.
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