The Only 5 People Ever to Win Two Nobel Prizes

Since 1901, the Nobel Prizes have been awarded to more than 900 individual men and women. The number who have won twice is small enough to count on one hand: five. No one has ever won three.

Each of the five double laureates broke the record in a different way, and each "double" tells its own story about how rare true repetition is at the summit of human achievement.

1. Marie Curie — Physics 1903, Chemistry 1911

The first person to do it, and still the only person to win in two different sciences. Her 1903 Physics prize (shared with Pierre Curie and Henri Becquerel) honoured the discovery of radioactivity; her 1911 Chemistry prize, won alone, honoured the discovery of the elements polonium and radium. She achieved both while being refused membership of the French Academy of Sciences because she was a woman.

"Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less."

— Marie Curie

2. Linus Pauling — Chemistry 1954, Peace 1962

The only person to win two unshared Nobel Prizes, and the only one to pair a science prize with the Peace Prize. Chemistry honoured his work on the nature of the chemical bond; the Peace Prize honoured his campaign against atmospheric nuclear testing — awarded on the day the Partial Test Ban Treaty entered into force.

3. John Bardeen — Physics 1956, Physics 1972

The only double laureate in physics. His first prize was for co-inventing the transistor, the device on which all modern electronics is built; the second for the theory of superconductivity. A famous anecdote from the 1956 ceremony is that Bardeen left two of his children at home so as not to interrupt their studies; the King of Sweden gently scolded him, and Bardeen promised to bring them "next time." He kept the promise.

4. Frederick Sanger — Chemistry 1958, Chemistry 1980

The only person to win the Chemistry prize twice. First for determining the structure of insulin, proving that proteins have a defined sequence; then for inventing the DNA-sequencing method that carries his name and made the Human Genome Project possible. He described himself, with typical modesty, as "just a chap who messed about in a lab."

5. Karl Barry Sharpless — Chemistry 2001, Chemistry 2022

The first person in over forty years to join the club. Sharpless won his first Chemistry prize for chirally catalysed oxidation reactions, and his second, twenty-one years later, for founding "click chemistry" — a way of snapping molecules together like seatbelt buckles that now underpins drug development.

The near-misses and the asterisks

Two organisations have also won multiple times — the Red Cross three times, the UN refugee agency twice — but among individuals the wall at "two" has held for more than a century. Albert Einstein, who arguably deserved several, received exactly one, and not for relativity but for the photoelectric effect.

The record that towers above all of these belongs to a household rather than a person: the Curie family collected five Nobel Prizes across two generations, a story remarkable enough that we tell it separately.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AFjGrVVXuvU" title="Marie Curie: A Life of Sacrifice and Achievement" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen loading="lazy"></iframe>

Watch: Marie Curie: A Life of Sacrifice and Achievement

Fittingly, the double-laureate list may soon need updating — modern science is more collaborative than ever, and the committees now spread credit more widely. That only sharpens the achievement of the five who did it: they repeated the unrepeatable.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many people have won two Nobel Prizes?

Exactly five individuals: Marie Curie, Linus Pauling, John Bardeen, Frederick Sanger and Barry Sharpless. No one has ever won three.

Who is the only person to win Nobels in two different sciences?

Marie Curie — Physics in 1903 and Chemistry in 1911. No one has matched that combination since.

Has any organisation won multiple Nobel Prizes?

Yes. The International Committee of the Red Cross has won the Peace Prize three times, and the UN refugee agency twice.