The announcement of this year's Nobel Prize winners will begin on the 3rd.

To date, 28 Japanese have received the award, including those who have acquired American citizenship.

The Nobel Prize is awarded to "those who have made the greatest contribution to mankind", based on the will of Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite.



This year's winners will be announced on the


3rd for the Physiology/Medical Prize,


▽4th for the Physics Prize,


▽5th for the Chemistry Prize,


▽6th for the Literature Prize,


▽7th for the Peace Prize,


▽10th It is an economics award.

Physiology/medicine award-winning researchers

So far, five Japanese have received the Physiology or Medicine Award.



In the field of immunology, which has many influential researchers in Japan, Shimon Sakaguchi, a specially appointed professor at Osaka University who discovered "regulatory T cells" that suppress excessive immune reactions, and ▽Immune Tadamitsu Kishimoto, a specially appointed professor at Osaka University who discovered a protein called "interleukin 6" that strengthens the action, has won many international awards so far.



In other fields, Masatoshi Takeichi, an honorary researcher at the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research who discovered cadherin, a molecule that binds cells together to form organs, and ▽ A cell organ called the endoplasmic reticulum has been found to be defective. Kazutoshi Mori, a professor at Kyoto University who clarified the mechanism of repairing and decomposing proteins, has also received attention such as Canada's "Gardner International Award".

Yoshiro Manabe won the Physics Prize last year

The Physics Prize has so far been awarded to 12 people from Japan, including those who have acquired American citizenship.



Last year, Mr. Yoshiro Manabe, who was born in Ehime Prefecture and holds American citizenship, won the award.

He was recognized for his achievements in developing the foundations of a model that simulates the climate and pioneering the study of global warming.



In addition, it was the first time that "meteorology" in his field of research was eligible for the Physics Prize, which surprised everyone involved.

Researchers in the spotlight for chemistry awards

So far, eight people from Japan have received the Chemistry Prize.



There are many other Japanese researchers who have achieved results that are considered "Nobel Prize-level", so there are high expectations that they will receive the Chemistry Prize every year.



Among them, Dr. Makoto Fujita, Distinguished Professor of the University of Tokyo, has been highly evaluated both in Japan and overseas for his research on the phenomenon called "self-organization," in which molecules spontaneously bind to each other.



▽ Dr. Susumu Kitagawa, a special professor at Kyoto University, is attracting worldwide attention for the synthesis of materials that can store specific gases called "porous metal complexes."



In addition, Chubu University Specially Appointed Professor Mitsuo Sawamoto has established a method called "precision radical polymerization" that connects a large number of molecules so that they have the desired structure and function, and has influenced the development of new materials in a wide range of fields. I am giving

Literary Award: Focus on Haruki Murakami and Yoko Tawada

So far, two Japanese have won the Literature Award.



Haruki Murakami, whose works have been translated into more than 50 languages ​​and read all over the world, attracts attention every year.

So far, he has won multiple overseas awards, such as the Czech "Franz Kafka Prize" and the Danish "Andersen Literary Prize", and every year, the bet to predict the winner is made by the British "bookmaker". He is one of the "strong contenders".



Ms. Yoko Tawada, who has lived in Germany for many years and has written novels in Japanese and German, is also attracting attention as she was selected for the Translated Literature category of the American National Book Award in 2018.

20 winners since 2000 All 3 awards in natural sciences

So far, 28 Japanese have received the award, including those who have acquired American citizenship. Of these, 20 have been awarded since 2000, all of which have three awards in the natural sciences, second only to the United States. I'm here.



Attention will be paid to whether this will be the second year in a row that he will win the Physics Prize, following Yoshiro Manabe, who won the Physics Prize last year.



The Nobel Prize award ceremony and banquet are expected to be held in Stockholm, Sweden in December this year, and last year's winners who were unable to attend due to the new coronavirus will be invited.

Past winners 28 in total, including those with U.S. citizenship

As of last year, 28 Japanese have won the Nobel Prize, including those who acquired American citizenship.



The first Japanese to win the Nobel Prize was 73 years ago, in 1949, shortly after the war, when Mr. Hideki Yukawa won the Physics Prize.



After that, Shinichiro Tomonaga won the Physics Prize in 1965, Yasunari Kawabata won the Literature Prize in 1968, Leo Ezaki won the Physics Prize in 1973, and former Prime Minister Eisaku Sato won the Peace Prize in 1974. Did.



In 1981, Kenichi Fukui became the first Japanese to receive the Chemistry Prize, and in 1987, Susumu Tonegawa became the first Japanese to receive the Physiology or Medicine Prize. ▽ Kenzaburo Oe won the Literature Award.



Until 1999, only eight Japanese were awarded Nobel Prizes for about 100 years.



However, this situation has changed significantly since 2000.



Starting with Mr. Hideki Shirakawa in 2000, Mr. Ryoji Noyori in 2001 and Mr. Koichi Tanaka in 2002, this is the third year in a row that a Japanese has won the Chemistry Prize.



In 2002, when Tanaka won the Chemistry Prize, ▽ Masatoshi Koshiba won the Physics Prize, making it the first time that two people have won in the same year.



In 2008, Yoichiro Nambu, Makoto Kobayashi, and Toshihide Maskawa won the Physics Prize at the same time. Four people won this year alone.



In 2010, Akira Suzuki and Eiichi Negishi won the Chemistry Prize, and in 2012, Shinya Yamanaka won the Physiology or Medicine Prize.



In 2014, Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano, and Shuji Nakamura won the Physics Prize.



In 2015, Mr. Satoshi Omura won the ▽Physiology/Medicine Prize, and Mr. Takaaki Kajita won the ▽Physics Prize.



Furthermore, in 2016, Mr. Yoshinori Ohsumi was awarded the Physiology or Medicine Prize, becoming the second Japanese person to receive the award for three consecutive years.



In recent years, four years ago in 2018, Tasuku Honjo won the Physiology or Medicine Prize, and in 2019, Akira Yoshino won the Chemistry Prize.



Last year, Yoshiro Manabe won the Physics Prize.



According to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, the number of laureates up to last year was 28, which is the seventh in the world after Switzerland.



Also, since 2000, 20 Japanese have won the three prizes in the natural sciences since 2000, the second highest number after the United States.



On the other hand, among the six categories of the Nobel Prize, only the economics prize has no Japanese winner.