2026 Nobel Prize announcements begin with Medicine as prize fund rises to 12 million kronor
The 2026 Nobel Prize announcements begin in Stockholm on 5 October with the award for Physiology or Medicine, kicking off a week of prize presentations marked by a 9% increase in monetary value to 12 million Swedish kronor.
Science announcements open Nobel week
The 2026 Nobel Prize announcement series begins on 5 October at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm with the award for Physiology or Medicine. Announcements for Physics and Chemistry will follow on 6 and 7 October, leading into Literature on 8 October and Peace on 9 October. The prizes mark 125 years since their initial presentation in 1901 under the will of Alfred Nobel. Prize funds for 2026 have increased by 9% to 12 million Swedish kronor per discipline, equivalent to roughly 1.1 million euros or 1.2 million dollars. A 50-member Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institutet selects the medicine recipient, with secretary Thomas Perlmann placing the direct phone calls to the laureates ahead of the public statement.
- Physiology or Medicine prize announced in Stockholm
- Physics prize announced
- Chemistry prize announced
- Literature prize announced
- Peace prize announced in Oslo
- Economic Sciences prize announced
Scientific contenders and therapeutic research
Medical discussions surround developments in glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor therapies, which form the basis for treatments against type 2 diabetes and obesity. Researchers Svetlana Mojsov, Joel Habener, Lotte Bjerre Knudsen, and John Eng are cited among prospective candidates for their work on the peptide hormone. Other medical contenders include Emmanuel Mignot and Masashi Yanagisawa for discoveries on orexin and narcolepsy, alongside Carl June for chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapies. In Physics, candidate topics include light-controlling materials associated with Federico Capasso, atomic clocks, quantum information, and superconductivity. Chemistry prospects span lipid nanoparticles used in vaccines, optogenetics, and DNA sequencing technologies.
Nominations for Peace and Literature
The Norwegian Nobel Committee will present the Peace Prize in Oslo from a slate of 287 nominated candidates. Potential honorees include the International Space Station for continued Russian and American scientific cooperation, Save the Children alongside Ukrainian activist Mykola Kuleba, and Sudan's Emergency Response Rooms. The Committee to Protect Journalists is also among the nominees, following 129 reporter deaths recorded in 2025. The announcement follows the 2025 prize awarded to María Corina Machado, who later presented her medal to Donald Trump after the US president claimed he deserved recognition.
The acting director of the Peace Research Institute of Oslo, Haakon Gjerløw, evaluated the context surrounding this year's decision.
After last year's prize, maybe they're seeking a less controversial situation this year.
The Literature Prize, scheduled for 8 October, includes frequently discussed authors such as Can Xue, Haruki Murakami, Gerald Murnane, Thomas Pynchon, and Margaret Atwood.
Institutional records and award rules
Nobel Foundation statutes mandate that all nomination records and deliberations remain confidential for 50 years. Since 1901, committees have presented 633 awards to 990 individuals and 28 organizations. Women account for between 67 and 68 recipients (roughly 6.7% to 6.9% of all individual winners), with more than half of those honors awarded over the last two decades. Malala Yousafzai remains the youngest laureate, receiving the Peace Prize in 2014 at age 17, while Marie Curie remains the sole recipient of prizes across two separate scientific fields. The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences, established in 1968, will conclude the 2026 announcements on 12 October.
