By: Retave’s Research Desk Editor
The first Nobel Prize to be awarded to anyone born in the Asia-Pacific region went to a British army doctor. Ronald Ross won the 1902 prize in physiology or medicine for his work on malaria. He was born in 1857 in Almora, in the Himalayan foothills of what’s now India. Eleven years later, in 1913, Rabindranath Tagore became the first Asian laureate, with the literature prize.
By RETAVE’S count, 92 Nobel laureates have been born in Asia and the Pacific or have based their organisations there. More than half of them, 53, have won since 2000, and the newest is Kenso Soai of Tokyo University of Science, who shares this year’s chemistry prize.
Here’s the whole list, with the rule we used to build it.
How we built the list
Who counts as an Asia-Pacific laureate depends on the rule you pick, and different rules give different totals. RETAVE’S rule is simple: a laureate counts if they were born in what is today a country or territory in Asia and the Pacific. That takes in East, Southeast, South and Central Asia, Türkiye and the Arab states of West Asia, along with Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, so the region runs from Türkiye to Japan and across the Pacific. The list builds on the United Nations’ regional groupings and includes Taiwan. Organisations count if they’re based in the region.
Counting by birthplace means some names here won their prizes as citizens of other countries, and some well-known laureates honoured from the region aren’t on it, because they were born elsewhere. Both groups are noted below.
The region by the numbers
- 92 laureates: 90 individuals and 2 organisations
- Japan leads with 32 (31 people and Nihon Hidankyo), then China with 12, Australia with 10 and India with 9
- By prize: physics 22, physiology or medicine 20, chemistry 18, peace 18, literature 11 and economic sciences 3
- 11 women: Aung San Suu Kyi, Shirin Ebadi, Doris Lessing, Elizabeth Blackburn, Tawakkol Karman, Malala Yousafzai, Tu Youyou, Nadia Murad, Maria Ressa, Narges Mohammadi and Han Kang
- The first laureates from Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Sri Lanka, the Central Asian republics and the Pacific Island countries are still to come
All 92, country by country
Laureates are grouped by birthplace, using today’s borders, and listed by year.
Japan (32)
- Hideki Yukawa, Physics, 1949
- Sin-Itiro Tomonaga, Physics, 1965
- Yasunari Kawabata, Literature, 1968
- Leo Esaki, Physics, 1973
- Eisaku Sato, Peace, 1974
- Kenichi Fukui, Chemistry, 1981
- Susumu Tonegawa, Physiology or Medicine, 1987
- Kenzaburo Oe, Literature, 1994
- Hideki Shirakawa, Chemistry, 2000
- Ryoji Noyori, Chemistry, 2001
- Koichi Tanaka, Chemistry, 2002
- Masatoshi Koshiba, Physics, 2002
- Makoto Kobayashi, Physics, 2008
- Osamu Shimomura, Chemistry, 2008
- Toshihide Maskawa, Physics, 2008
- Yoichiro Nambu, Physics, 2008
- Akira Suzuki, Chemistry, 2010
- Shinya Yamanaka, Physiology or Medicine, 2012
- Hiroshi Amano, Physics, 2014
- Isamu Akasaki, Physics, 2014
- Shuji Nakamura, Physics, 2014
- Satoshi Omura, Physiology or Medicine, 2015
- Takaaki Kajita, Physics, 2015
- Yoshinori Ohsumi, Physiology or Medicine, 2016
- Kazuo Ishiguro, Literature, 2017 (born in Nagasaki)
- Tasuku Honjo, Physiology or Medicine, 2018
- Akira Yoshino, Chemistry, 2019
- Syukuro Manabe, Physics, 2021
- Nihon Hidankyo (organisation), Peace, 2024
- Shimon Sakaguchi, Physiology or Medicine, 2025
- Susumu Kitagawa, Chemistry, 2025
- Kenso Soai, Chemistry, 2026
China (12)
- Walter H. Brattain, Physics, 1956 (born in Amoy, now Xiamen)
- Chen Ning Yang, Physics, 1957
- Tsung-Dao Lee, Physics, 1957
- The 14th Dalai Lama, Peace, 1989 (born in Taktser, in today’s Qinghai province)
- Edmond H. Fischer, Physiology or Medicine, 1992 (born in Shanghai)
- Daniel C. Tsui, Physics, 1998
- Gao Xingjian, Literature, 2000
- Charles K. Kao, Physics, 2009
- Ei-ichi Negishi, Chemistry, 2010 (born in Changchun)
- Liu Xiaobo, Peace, 2010
- Mo Yan, Literature, 2012
- Tu Youyou, Physiology or Medicine, 2015
Australia (10)
- William Lawrence Bragg, Physics, 1915 (born in Adelaide)
- Howard Florey, Physiology or Medicine, 1945
- Frank Macfarlane Burnet, Physiology or Medicine, 1960
- John Eccles, Physiology or Medicine, 1963
- Aleksandr Prokhorov, Physics, 1964 (born in Atherton, Queensland)
- John Cornforth, Chemistry, 1975
- Peter Doherty, Physiology or Medicine, 1996
- Barry Marshall, Physiology or Medicine, 2005
- Robin Warren, Physiology or Medicine, 2005
- Elizabeth Blackburn, Physiology or Medicine, 2009
India (9)
- Ronald Ross, Physiology or Medicine, 1902 (born in Almora)
- Rudyard Kipling, Literature, 1907 (born in Bombay, now Mumbai)
- Rabindranath Tagore, Literature, 1913
- C. V. Raman, Physics, 1930
- Har Gobind Khorana, Physiology or Medicine, 1968 (born in Raipur)
- Amartya Sen, Economic Sciences, 1998
- Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Chemistry, 2009
- Kailash Satyarthi, Peace, 2014
- Abhijit Banerjee, Economic Sciences, 2019
Türkiye (4)
- Giorgos Seferis, Literature, 1963 (born in Smyrna, now Izmir)
- Orhan Pamuk, Literature, 2006 (born in Istanbul)
- Aziz Sancar, Chemistry, 2015
- Daron Acemoglu, Economic Sciences, 2024 (born in Istanbul)
Iran (3)
- Shirin Ebadi, Peace, 2003
- Doris Lessing, Literature, 2007 (born in Kermanshah)
- Narges Mohammadi, Peace, 2023
Pakistan (3)
- Abdus Salam, Physics, 1979
- Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Physics, 1983 (born in Lahore)
- Malala Yousafzai, Peace, 2014
South Korea (3)
- Charles J. Pedersen, Chemistry, 1987 (born in Busan)
- Kim Dae-jung, Peace, 2000
- Han Kang, Literature, 2024
New Zealand (3)
- Ernest Rutherford, Chemistry, 1908
- Maurice Wilkins, Physiology or Medicine, 1962
- Alan MacDiarmid, Chemistry, 2000
Bangladesh (2)
- Grameen Bank (organisation), Peace, 2006
- Muhammad Yunus, Peace, 2006
Timor-Leste (2)
- Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, Peace, 1996
- José Ramos-Horta, Peace, 1996
Taiwan (1)
- Yuan T. Lee, Chemistry, 1986
Myanmar (1)
- Aung San Suu Kyi, Peace, 1991
Vietnam (1)
- Le Duc Tho, Peace, 1973 (declined the prize)
Philippines (1)
- Maria Ressa, Peace, 2021
Indonesia (1)
- Willem Einthoven, Physiology or Medicine, 1924 (born in Semarang, Java)
Yemen (1)
- Tawakkol Karman, Peace, 2011
Iraq (1)
- Nadia Murad, Peace, 2018
Lebanon (1)
- Ardem Patapoutian, Physiology or Medicine, 2021 (born in Beirut)
Jordan (1)
- Omar M. Yaghi, Chemistry, 2025 (born in Amman)
Born here, honoured elsewhere
Plenty of names above won as citizens of other countries, or did their prize-winning work abroad. Aleksandr Prokhorov, born in Atherton, Queensland, shared the 1964 physics prize as a Soviet physicist for work on lasers and masers. Walter Brattain, born in Xiamen to American parents, shared the 1956 physics prize for the transistor. Rudyard Kipling, born in Bombay, won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1907 as a British writer.
The same holds across the wider region. Giorgos Seferis, born in Smyrna, won the 1963 literature prize as a Greek poet. Edmond Fischer, born in Shanghai, shared the 1992 medicine prize for work at the University of Washington in the United States, and Doris Lessing, born in Kermanshah, won the 2007 literature prize as a British writer.
Honoured from the region, born elsewhere
The reverse happens too. These laureates aren’t in the count because they were born outside the region, but each is closely tied to it:
- Patrick White, Literature, 1973, an Australian novelist born in London
- Mother Teresa, Peace, 1979, born in Skopje and an Indian citizen
- Yasser Arafat, Peace, 1994, the Palestinian leader, born in Cairo
- Rolf Zinkernagel, Physiology or Medicine, 1996, a Swiss immunologist who shared the prize with Peter Doherty for work the pair did together in 1973 at the Australian National University’s John Curtin School of Medical Research in Canberra
- Brian Schmidt, Physics, 2011, born in the United States and based at the Australian National University
- Richard Robson, Chemistry, 2025, born in the United Kingdom and based at the University of Melbourne
A growing list
The pace is picking up. More than half of the region’s 92 laureates, 53 of them, have won since 2000, and the region has had a laureate in each of the last four years, with Japan in each of the last three. On that trend, this list will keep growing, and the next name could come from a country celebrating its very first laureate.
Malaysia’s own Nobel story is already underway. A Penang-born doctor, Dr Wu Lien-teh, was nominated for the medicine prize in 1935, and Part 3 of this series tells his story.
Further Reading
- From the supermarket to Stockholm: Kenso Soai wins Asia-Pacific’s 2026 Nobel, and Japan makes it three years running
- Has a Malaysian ever been nominated for a Nobel Prize? From a Penang plague fighter to today’s rising researchers
- Malaysia’s Play for Research Prestige: What the Higher Ed Blueprint and the R&D Policy Both Bet On
Sources
- Al Jazeera. (2026, October 12). Nobel economics prize awarded to Robert Hall and Michael Woodford. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/12/nobel-economics-prize-awarded-to-robert-hall-and-michael-%E2%81%A0woodford
- Australian Academy of Science. (n.d.). 1996 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. https://science.org.au/learning/general-audience/history/nobel-australians/1996-nobel-prize-physiology-or-medicine
- Bernama. (2024, February 8). Former Senate President Adam Kadir nominated for Nobel Prize in Literature. https://www.bernama.com/en/general/news.php?id=2268983
- Nobel Prize Outreach. (n.d.). All Nobel Prizes. Retrieved October 23, 2026, from https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/lists/all-nobel-prizes/
- Science Council of Japan. (2025, October 10). Statement on the award of the 2025 Nobel Prizes to Dr. Shimon Sakaguchi and Dr. Susumu Kitagawa. https://www.scj.go.jp/ja/head/pdf/20251010en.pdf
- Tokyo University of Science. (2026, October 8). Professor Emeritus Kenso Soai awarded 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. https://www.tus.ac.jp/en/news/archive/20261007_3541.html
- United Nations Statistics Division. (n.d.). Standard country or area codes for statistical use (M49). Retrieved October 23, 2026, from https://unstats.un.org/unsd/methodology/m49/
- Wikipedia. (2026a). Biographies used to confirm birthplaces: Ronald Ross, Willem Einthoven, Walter Houser Brattain, Alexander Prokhorov, Charles J. Pedersen, Ei-ichi Negishi, Rolf M. Zinkernagel, Brian Schmidt, Edmond H. Fischer, Giorgos Seferis, Doris Lessing. Retrieved October 23, 2026, from https://en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia. (2026b). List of Nobel laureates by country. Retrieved October 23, 2026, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nobel_laureates_by_country
