Laureates for the Pulpit

Nobel Prizes for Preachers

Laureates for the Pulpit

Each October the Nobel committees name the work they judge to have mattered most. This site explains that work in plain terms for pastors: what was found, how to say it accurately, and where it meets preaching and teaching in the Wesleyan tradition.

Entries

How an entry is built

In plain terms
The discovery, without the research paper.
Say it accurately
Lines that are tempting from the pulpit, each paired with what the science supports.
For preaching
Points of contact with Scripture. Each is marked one of two ways. A Likeness borrows an image from the science and proves nothing by it. An Instance is a true story that is itself a case of what the text describes.
On the Wesleyan shelf
Where John Wesley handled the same matter, with the primary text named so you can read it yourself.

The last ten years

Prizes in physics, chemistry, medicine, economics and literature since 2016. Entries are being written; those that are ready are linked.

2026

Physics
Francis Halzen The IceCube observatory and high-energy neutrinos from deep space. Read the entry
Medicine
Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann, Georg Nagel Light-gated ion channels and optogenetics. Read the entry

2025

Physics
John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret, John M. Martinis Quantum tunnelling and fixed energy levels in an electric circuit big enough to hold. Read the entry
Chemistry
Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson, Omar M. Yaghi Metal–organic frameworks, crystals built with large spaces for gases and other chemicals to flow through. Read the entry
Medicine
Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell, Shimon Sakaguchi Regulatory T cells and the gene Foxp3, which keep the immune system from attacking the body’s own tissues. Read the entry
Economics
Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion, Peter Howitt How new knowledge and the constant replacement of old products by better ones have kept economies growing for two centuries. Read the entry
Literature
László Krasznahorkai Novels of collapse and terror, told in long unbroken sentences, that still hold out for beauty and the power of art. Read the entry

2024

Physics
John Hopfield, Geoffrey Hinton The artificial neural networks behind modern machine learning.
Chemistry
David Baker, Demis Hassabis, John Jumper Designing new proteins by computer and predicting protein shapes with AI.
Medicine
Victor Ambros, Gary Ruvkun MicroRNA, a small molecule that tunes which genes are active.
Economics
Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, James Robinson How a society’s institutions shape whether it prospers.
Literature
Han Kang South Korean novelist of historical trauma and the fragility of human life.

2023

Physics
Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz, Anne L’Huillier Flashes of light short enough to follow electrons moving.
Chemistry
Moungi Bawendi, Louis Brus, Aleksey Yekimov Quantum dots: particles so small that their size sets their colour.
Medicine
Katalin Karikó, Drew Weissman The modified mRNA that made the COVID-19 vaccines possible.
Economics
Claudia Goldin Two centuries of women’s work and pay, and why gaps persist.
Literature
Jon Fosse Norwegian playwright and novelist who gives voice to the unsayable.

2022

Physics
Alain Aspect, John Clauser, Anton Zeilinger Experiments proving that entangled particles stay linked across distance.
Chemistry
Carolyn Bertozzi, Morten Meldal, Barry Sharpless Click chemistry: snapping molecules together simply, even inside living cells.
Medicine
Svante Pääbo Reading the genomes of Neanderthals and other extinct human relatives.
Economics
Ben Bernanke, Douglas Diamond, Philip Dybvig Why banks exist, why they fail, and why their failure deepens a crisis.
Literature
Annie Ernaux French memoirist of class, shame and memory.

2021

Physics
Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann, Giorgio Parisi Modelling Earth’s climate, and finding order in disordered systems.
Chemistry
Benjamin List, David MacMillan Small organic molecules used as catalysts to build one mirror-image form of a compound.
Medicine
David Julius, Ardem Patapoutian The receptors by which we feel heat, cold and touch.
Economics
David Card, Joshua Angrist, Guido Imbens Using natural experiments to find cause and effect in the labour market.
Literature
Abdulrazak Gurnah Tanzanian-born novelist of colonialism and the refugee’s fate.

2020

Physics
Roger Penrose, Reinhard Genzel, Andrea Ghez That black holes must form, and the giant one at the centre of our galaxy.
Chemistry
Emmanuelle Charpentier, Jennifer Doudna CRISPR gene editing.
Medicine
Harvey Alter, Michael Houghton, Charles Rice The discovery of the hepatitis C virus.
Economics
Paul Milgrom, Robert Wilson Auction theory and the design of new kinds of auction.
Literature
Louise Glück American poet of austere, personal lyric.

2019

Physics
James Peebles, Michel Mayor, Didier Queloz The theory of the cosmos after the Big Bang, and the first planet found around a sun-like star.
Chemistry
John Goodenough, Stanley Whittingham, Akira Yoshino The lithium-ion battery.
Medicine
William Kaelin, Peter Ratcliffe, Gregg Semenza How cells sense and adapt to the oxygen available.
Economics
Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo, Michael Kremer Field experiments to learn what actually reduces poverty.
Literature
Peter Handke Austrian writer of linguistic invention; a contested award.

2018

Physics
Arthur Ashkin, Gérard Mourou, Donna Strickland Optical tweezers, and a way to make very short, intense laser pulses.
Chemistry
Frances Arnold, George Smith, Gregory Winter Directed evolution: breeding enzymes and antibodies in the laboratory.
Medicine
James Allison, Tasuku Honjo Releasing the immune system’s brakes to treat cancer.
Economics
William Nordhaus, Paul Romer Bringing climate change and technological innovation into the economics of long-run growth.
Literature
Olga Tokarczuk Polish novelist of border-crossing as a form of life. Awarded in 2019.

2017

Physics
Rainer Weiss, Barry Barish, Kip Thorne The first detection of gravitational waves.
Chemistry
Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank, Richard Henderson Cryo-electron microscopy: seeing biological molecules frozen in action.
Medicine
Jeffrey Hall, Michael Rosbash, Michael Young The molecular clock behind the daily rhythm of living things.
Economics
Richard Thaler Behavioural economics: how real people depart from rational choice.
Literature
Kazuo Ishiguro British novelist of memory, self-deception and loss.

2016

Physics
David Thouless, Duncan Haldane, Michael Kosterlitz Strange states of matter explained by the mathematics of shape.
Chemistry
Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Fraser Stoddart, Ben Feringa Machines built from single molecules.
Medicine
Yoshinori Ohsumi Autophagy: how cells break down and recycle their own parts.
Economics
Oliver Hart, Bengt Holmström Contract theory: how agreements are designed when interests differ.
Literature
Bob Dylan New poetic expression within the American song tradition.