Nobel Prize in Medicine winners quiz (50 questions)
Vaccines, antibiotics, scans and gene science all began with someone asking a good question. Match the winner to the discovery and read the story behind it.
About this quiz: the people, prizes and dates were checked against official and reference sources, and the stories are retold in makekite's own words with the help of AI. If you spot a mistake, please tell us on the contact page.
50 multiple-choice questions, with the answer explained after each one.
Answer each question, see why, and beat your best score.
All 50 questions and answers
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- Emil von Behring won the first Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, in 1901, for work on serum therapy against which disease?
- Smallpox
- Measles
- Diphtheria
- Polio
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Diphtheria. Von Behring's serum therapy opened a new way to treat illness and gave doctors a weapon against a disease that killed many children.
- Ronald Ross won in 1902 for working out how which disease enters the body? He was born in Almora, India.
- Typhoid
- Malaria
- Plague
- Cholera
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Malaria. Ross entered the Indian Medical Service in 1881 and began studying malaria in 1892. His research showed how the disease is transmitted.
- Robert Koch won in 1905 for discoveries relating to which disease, which is caused by a bacterium?
- Cholera only
- Rabies
- Whooping cough
- Tuberculosis
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Tuberculosis. Koch's methods helped establish that specific germs cause specific diseases.
- Santiago Ramón y Cajal and Camillo Golgi shared the 1906 prize for work on the structure of what?
- The heart
- The eye lens
- The skin
- The nervous system
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The nervous system. Their research helped explain how nerve cells are built.
- Ivan Pavlov won in 1904 for his work on the physiology of what?
- Hearing
- Digestion
- Breathing
- Vision
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Digestion. The Russian scientist's research on digestion is the Nobel citation, though he is also remembered for studying conditioned reflexes.
- Paul Ehrlich and Élie Metchnikoff shared the 1908 prize for their work on what?
- Immunity
- Digestion
- Hearing
- Heredity
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Immunity. They explored how the body defends itself against disease, from two different directions.
- Frederick Banting and John Macleod won in 1923 for the discovery of which hormone, used to treat diabetes?
- Thyroxine
- Adrenaline
- Oestrogen
- Insulin
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Insulin. Banting was Canadian and worked in Toronto. Insulin has helped millions of people with diabetes.
- Christiaan Eijkman and Frederick Hopkins shared the 1929 prize for discovering what kind of nutrients?
- Minerals
- Vitamins
- Enzymes
- Proteins
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Vitamins. Their work showed that the body needs small amounts of special substances to stay healthy.
- Karl Landsteiner won in 1930 for discovering what in human blood?
- Platelets
- White blood cells
- The blood groups
- Red blood cells
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The blood groups. Knowing a patient's blood group makes blood transfusions much safer.
- Which Australian-born scientist shared the 1945 prize with Alexander Fleming and Ernst Chain for the discovery of penicillin?
- John Eccles
- Howard Florey
- Frank Macfarlane Burnet
- Peter Doherty
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Howard Florey. Florey was born in Adelaide. Fleming noticed in 1928 that mould on a bacteria culture plate had created a bacteria-free circle around itself.
- Max Theiler won in 1951 for discoveries concerning which disease and how to combat it?
- Influenza
- Malaria
- Yellow fever
- Typhoid
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Yellow fever. His research led to a way to protect people against the disease.
- Selman Waksman won in 1952 for discovering streptomycin. What was special about it?
- It was a pain reliever
- It was the first vaccine
- It cured the common cold
- It was the first antibiotic effective against tuberculosis
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It was the first antibiotic effective against tuberculosis. Before streptomycin, doctors had few tools against tuberculosis.
- Enders, Weller and Robbins won in 1954 for showing that poliomyelitis viruses can grow in what?
- Pure oxygen
- Cultures of tissue
- Sea water
- Dry ice
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Cultures of tissue. This became an important step on the road toward a vaccine against polio.
- Which scientists, with Maurice Wilkins, won the 1962 prize for the structure of DNA?
- Rosalind Franklin and Dorothy Hodgkin
- James Watson and Francis Crick
- Linus Pauling and Max Perutz
- Frederick Sanger and Paul Berg
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James Watson and Francis Crick. Their discovery of the double helix structure explained how genetic information can be copied.
- Har Gobind Khorana, born in Raipur, India, shared the 1968 prize for interpreting what?
- The blood groups
- The immune system
- The human heart
- The genetic code
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The genetic code. He shared it with Marshall Nirenberg and Robert Holley. Their work showed how the DNA code is used to build proteins.
- Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet, born in Traralgon in Australia, shared the 1960 prize for the discovery of what?
- Acquired immunological tolerance
- Blood groups
- Penicillin
- Insulin
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Acquired immunological tolerance. He worked at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne. He shared the prize with Peter Medawar.
- Which Australian scientist shared the 1963 prize with Alan Hodgkin and Andrew Huxley for discoveries about how nerve cells fire and are inhibited?
- Peter Doherty
- John Eccles
- Howard Florey
- Barry Marshall
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John Eccles. The three were honoured for discoveries concerning the ionic mechanisms involved in excitation and inhibition in the nervous system.
- Godfrey Hounsfield and Allan Cormack shared the 1979 prize for developing what scanning method?
- Endoscopy
- Ultrasound
- Computed tomography (CT)
- Radiotherapy
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Computed tomography (CT). CT scans combine many X-ray images to build up detailed pictures of the inside of the body.
- Barbara McClintock won the 1983 prize on her own for discovering what?
- Antibiotics
- Mobile genetic elements
- A hormone
- A virus
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Mobile genetic elements. She had studied maize genes at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Her ideas were ahead of her time.
- Köhler, Milstein and Jerne shared the 1984 prize for discoveries about the immune system, including the principle for producing what?
- Insulin
- Monoclonal antibodies
- Vaccines for polio
- Antibiotics
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Monoclonal antibodies. Monoclonal antibodies are now used in many tests and treatments.
- Rita Levi-Montalcini and Stanley Cohen won in 1986 for discovering growth factors, including one for what kind of cells?
- Blood cells
- Skin cells
- Nerve cells
- Bone cells
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Nerve cells. Their discovery of nerve growth factor helped explain how cells grow and develop.
- James Black, Gertrude Elion and George Hitchings won in 1988 for discovering important principles for what?
- Vaccination
- Nutrition
- Drug treatment
- Surgery
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Drug treatment. Their work led to the design of new medicines using an understanding of how cells work.
- Peter Doherty, an immunologist born in Brisbane, shared the 1996 prize with Rolf Zinkernagel for discoveries about what?
- How the immune system recognises virus-infected cells
- How bones heal
- How eyes see colour
- How blood vessels grow
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How the immune system recognises virus-infected cells. The citation says their discoveries concerned the specificity of the cell-mediated immune defence.
- Furchgott, Ignarro and Murad won in 1998 for discoveries about which simple molecule as a signalling molecule in the cardiovascular system?
- Carbon dioxide
- Nitric oxide
- Helium
- Oxygen
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Nitric oxide. It showed that a simple gas can carry messages in the blood vessels.
- Paul Lauterbur and Peter Mansfield won in 2003 for discoveries that made which kind of scan possible?
- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
- PET
- X-ray
- Ultrasound
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Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). MRI produces detailed images of soft tissues without using X-rays.
- Two Australians, Barry Marshall and Robin Warren, won the 2005 prize for discovering that which bacterium causes stomach ulcers?
- E. coli
- Salmonella
- Helicobacter pylori
- Streptococcus
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Helicobacter pylori. The citation notes the bacterium's role in gastritis and peptic ulcer disease. Marshall was born in Kalgoorlie and spent much of his childhood in Perth.
- Andrew Fire and Craig Mello won in 2006 for discovering 'RNA interference'. What does it do?
- Stops bleeding
- Makes new viruses
- Silences genes
- Copies genes
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Silences genes. It is a process by which cells can switch off particular genes.
- Harald zur Hausen shared the 2008 prize for discovering that which virus causes cervical cancer?
- Hepatitis B
- Human papilloma virus (HPV)
- Epstein-Barr virus
- Herpes simplex
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Human papilloma virus (HPV). This discovery helped lead to vaccines against the virus. The other half went to Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier for discovering HIV.
- Elizabeth Blackburn, born in Hobart, Tasmania, shared the 2009 prize for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by what?
- Insulin
- Ribosomes
- Telomeres
- Hormones
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Telomeres. She shared it with Carol Greider and Jack Szostak. Telomeres are protective caps at the ends of chromosomes.
- Robert Edwards won in 2010 for the development of which treatment that has helped millions of couples have children?
- Kidney dialysis
- In vitro fertilisation (IVF)
- Heart bypass
- Blood transfusion
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In vitro fertilisation (IVF). IVF involves fertilising an egg outside the body.
- Gurdon and Yamanaka shared the 2012 prize for discovering that what can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent?
- Viruses
- Proteins
- Mature cells
- Bones
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Mature cells. Their work showed that grown-up cells can be returned to an early state in which they can develop into many types of cells.
- Tu Youyou, born in Ningbo, China, won half of the 2015 prize for discovering a drug against which disease?
- Malaria
- Diabetes
- Cancer
- Tuberculosis
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Malaria. The drug is artemisinin. The other half went to William Campbell and Satoshi Ōmura for a therapy against infections caused by roundworm parasites.
- James Allison and Tasuku Honjo won in 2018 for discovering a way to treat cancer by helping which part of the body?
- The nervous system
- The bones
- The digestive system
- The immune system
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The immune system. Their discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation allows the body's own defences to attack tumours.
- Kaelin, Ratcliffe and Semenza won in 2019 for discovering how cells sense and adapt to the availability of what?
- Salt
- Sugar
- Water
- Oxygen
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Oxygen. Their work explains how cells adjust when there is more or less oxygen around.
- Alter, Houghton and Rice won in 2020 for discovering which virus?
- Zika virus
- Influenza virus
- Hepatitis C virus
- Hepatitis A virus
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Hepatitis C virus. The discovery made blood tests and new medicines against hepatitis C possible.
- David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian won in 2021 for discovering receptors for what two senses?
- Balance and sleep
- Sight and hearing
- Taste and smell
- Temperature and touch
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Temperature and touch. Their work explained how heat, cold and pressure are turned into signals in the nervous system.
- Svante Pääbo won in 2022 for his discoveries about the genomes of what?
- Ancient plants
- Dinosaurs
- Whales
- Extinct hominins and human evolution
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Extinct hominins and human evolution. He studied DNA from ancient remains to learn how modern people are related to Neanderthals.
- Katalin Karikó, born in Szolnok, Hungary, and Drew Weissman won in 2023 for discoveries that made which kind of vaccine possible?
- Plant-based vaccines
- Inhaled vaccines
- Live-virus vaccines
- mRNA vaccines
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mRNA vaccines. The discovery laid the foundation for effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 during the pandemic that began in early 2020.
- Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun won in 2024 for the discovery of what tiny molecule that regulates genes?
- microRNA
- Haemoglobin
- Chlorophyll
- Insulin
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microRNA. Their discovery showed a new layer of control over how genes are switched on and off.
- Brunkow, Ramsdell and Sakaguchi won in 2025 for their discoveries concerning what?
- Bone growth
- Blood clotting
- Peripheral immune tolerance
- Vision
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Peripheral immune tolerance. Peripheral immune tolerance is how the immune system avoids attacking the body's own tissues.
- Deisseroth, Hegemann and Nagel won the 2026 prize for discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and what technique?
- Genomics only
- Cryogenics
- Radiology
- Optogenetics
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Optogenetics. Optogenetics uses light to control cells, especially nerve cells.
- How many times was the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine awarded between 1901 and 2026, according to the Nobel Prize website?
- 235
- 100
- 117
- 126
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117. It was awarded 117 times to 235 laureate awards. The prize was not awarded in every year.
- Joseph Murray and E. Donnall Thomas won in 1990 for discoveries about what kind of medical treatment?
- Heart surgery
- Radiotherapy
- Dialysis
- Organ and cell transplantation
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Organ and cell transplantation. Their work made transplantation of organs and cells a practical treatment for human disease.
- Capecchi, Evans and Smithies won in 2007 for introducing specific gene modifications in which animals?
- Monkeys
- Fish
- Sheep
- Mice
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Mice. The method used embryonic stem cells and is a key way to study how genes work and how diseases develop.
- Beutler, Hoffmann and Steinman won in 2011 for discoveries about the activation of what?
- Heartbeat
- Sleep
- Innate and adaptive immunity
- Digestion
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Innate and adaptive immunity. Their discoveries concerned the activation of innate immunity and the role of dendritic cells in adaptive immunity.
- Brenner, Horvitz and Sulston won in 2002 for discoveries about organ development and what cell process?
- Programmed cell death
- Photosynthesis
- Cell division only
- Muscle contraction
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Programmed cell death. They studied a tiny worm to learn how cells are born and how some are programmed to die.
- Jules Bordet won in 1919 for discoveries relating to what?
- Blood groups
- Insulin
- Immunity
- Vitamins
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Immunity. The Belgian scientist's discoveries relating to immunity built on the work of earlier winners such as Ehrlich and Metchnikoff.
- Niels Finsen won in 1903 for treating which disease with concentrated light rays?
- Tuberculosis of the lungs
- Lupus vulgaris (a skin disease)
- Malaria
- Scurvy
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Lupus vulgaris (a skin disease). The citation recognises his contribution to the treatment of diseases, especially lupus vulgaris, with concentrated light radiation.
- In 1928 Alexander Fleming noticed something unexpected growing in a bowl of bacteria. What was it?
- A strand of silk
- A new kind of coral
- A crystal of salt
- A mould that stopped the bacteria growing
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A mould that stopped the bacteria growing. That mould led to penicillin. Fleming shared the 1945 prize with Howard Florey and Ernst Chain, who helped turn the discovery into a medicine.
- Willem Einthoven, born in Semarang on the island of Java, won in 1924 for discovering the mechanism of which hospital test?
- The blood pressure cuff
- The thermometer
- The X-ray
- The electrocardiogram (ECG)
Show answer
The electrocardiogram (ECG). An ECG records the electrical activity of the heart. Einthoven worked at Leiden University in the Netherlands.