Nobel Prize 2026: Winners List and Announcement Dates
Five of the six 2026 Nobel Prizes were announced from October 5 to 9: Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel for Medicine (optogenetics), Francis Halzen for Physics (IceCube and high-energy neutrinos), Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai for Chemistry, Canadian poet Anne Carson for Literature, and South African jurist Navi Pillay for Peace. The economics prize is still to come, on Monday, October 12 at 11:45 CEST at the earliest. Each prize is worth 12 million Swedish kronor, about 1.21 million dollars, for the Nobel Prize's 125th anniversary, and the ceremonies follow on December 10 in Stockholm and Oslo. Sources: NobelPrize.org, Norwegian Nobel Committee, TIME, Al Jazeera, CNN.
The context
The 2026 Nobel Prize announcements filled a single week, from Monday, October 5 to Monday, October 12, in the same order as every year: Physiology or Medicine, Physics, Chemistry, Literature, Peace, then the economics prize after a weekend’s pause. Five are read out in Stockholm, one in Oslo. All six are streamed live on the Nobel Prize’s own channels.
Five of the six are now known, with 8 laureates so far. Medicine went to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel for light-gated ion channels and optogenetics, the work that opened a new era in neuroscience. Physics went to a sole laureate, Francis Halzen, a Belgian-born physicist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, for the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and the discovery of high-energy neutrinos from deep space. Chemistry went to Henri B. Kagan of France and Kenso Soai of Japan for non-linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric synthesis, “a chemical mystery that is over a century old”. Literature went to the Canadian poet Anne Carson, and Peace to the South African jurist Navi Pillay, “for her efforts to promote peace and international law”. Only the economics prize remains, on Monday, October 12.
The times mattered more than they looked. Only the Peace Prize had a firm slot, Friday, October 9 at 11:00 CEST. Every other announcement is published as an earliest possible time, because the academies keep deliberating until they have a decision, and a delay of twenty or thirty minutes is routine. Medicine opened on October 5 from 11:30 CEST, Physics followed on October 6 from 11:45, Chemistry on October 7 from 11:45, Literature on October 8 from 13:00, and the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences is due on October 12 from 11:45.
This year the money changed. The Nobel Foundation has raised each prize to 12 million Swedish kronor, roughly 1.21 million dollars, up one million kronor on 2025. The reason given is the 125th anniversary of the first Nobel Prizes, awarded in 1901. Where a prize is shared, and most science prizes now are, the laureates divide that sum between them, with a maximum of three names per prize.
Four different bodies do the choosing, which explains the staggered week. Medicine belongs to the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet; Physics, Chemistry and economics to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences; Literature to the Swedish Academy; and Peace to the Norwegian Nobel Committee, appointed by Norway’s parliament and sitting in Oslo. That last arrangement comes straight from Alfred Nobel’s will and is the reason the Peace Prize keeps its own city, its own ceremony and its own political weather.
Speculation about winners was unavoidable and, as usual, almost worthless. Nominations are confidential and the archive stays sealed for 50 years; the Norwegian committee released only the count, 287 nominations, 208 individuals and 79 organisations, before choosing Navi Pillay. The prizes themselves are handed over on December 10, the anniversary of Nobel’s death, at the Stockholm Concert Hall and at Oslo City Hall. Sources: Nobel Foundation, NobelPrize.org, Nobel Peace Center, Norwegian Nobel Committee, AFP, TIME, Al Jazeera, CNN.