10 Nobel Prize Winners Who Will Inspire Your Students

The prestigious Nobel Prize is the mark of excellence in many fields of endeavor. While your students might not relate to obscure economic theories, lofty literature, or subatomic particles, they will be inspired by the impact and dynamic real-life stories of these ten outstanding Nobel Prize winners.

Nobel Prizes: Global Recognition of Excellence

The winners of the Nobel Prizes in physics, chemistry, physiology/medicine, literature, economics, and peace are announced prior to November 15 every year. Here are ten unforgettable Nobel Prize winners and their stories of perseverance and personal triumph.

1. Marie Curie (Physics, 1903; Chemistry, 1911)

Although she won her Nobel Prizes over 100 years ago, Marie Curie's story is still inspirational today. Despite being born in a time and place where women were not encouraged to pursue higher education, Maria Salomea Sklodowska—who started calling herself ''Marie'' when she left Russian-controlled Poland for France in 1891—was not going to let her extraordinary intellect and talent for science go to waste. Pierre Curie, a French physicist, soon became Marie's partner in work and marriage. Together, the pair discovered two new elements: polonium (named after Marie's home country) and radium, collaborating until his death in 1906.

To help France in World War I, Curie learned everything she could about X-ray technology—a fairly new idea without great support from the military establishment—believing that it could be used to diagnose wounded soldiers. She trained medical professionals—including many women—to use her fleet of mobile X-ray units, nicknamed petites curies (''little Curies''). Using this portable equipment, they were able to facilitate the surgical removal of shrapnel and bullets in casualties and save many lives.

Sadly, Marie Curie became the victim of her own work with radiation. Her exposure ultimately resulted in her death from leukemia.

2. Winston Churchill (Literature, 1953)

Over 50 years after his death, Winston Churchill is still well-known as a military and political leader. He was one of the most important figures in World War II.

In his long and distinguished political career, Churchill often spoke publicly. Although his speech was affected by an impediment known as a lateral lisp, he didn't shy away from delivering powerful oratories with his distinctive voice.

Churchill's voice also shone through his prolific writings. He later wrote important works such as a 6-volume memoir of World War II and a collection of his speeches, called Into Battle, which was released as Blood, Sweat and Tears in the United States. In 1953, Churchill won the Nobel Prize in Literature, ''for his mastery of historical and biographical description as well as for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values.''

3. Aung San Suu Kyi (Peace, 1991)

The 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi was born in Myanmar in 1945. Her politician father, who was instrumental in gaining Myanmar's independence, was assassinated when she was only two years old. Although the country was no longer under British rule, intense conflict among ethnic groups meant ongoing violence and strife.

In her twenties, Suu Kyi left Myanmar to travel; while abroad, she studied, married, and gave birth to two sons. In 1988, Suu Kyi came home to look after her dying mother and found a country ravaged by a military dictatorship. Suu Kyi spoke out publicly against the oppressive government and formed the National League for Democracy. As a result, she was arrested in 1989 and stayed under house arrest for 15 of the next 20 years. While still under house arrest, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. Separated from her family for many years, Suu Kyi last saw her husband in 1995, two years before his death from cancer.

Eventually, after suffering decades of oppression and personal sacrifice, Suu Kyi became the First State Counselor of Myanmar; this position, which she still holds, is roughly equivalent to prime minister. In addition to her counselor post, she is currently the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of the President's Office.

4. Rigoberta Menchú Tum (Peace, 1992)

Rigoberta Menchú Tum was born into an indigenous Mayan family in Guatemala. Her young life was marred by violence. While she was growing up, several of Menchú's family members were harassed, kidnapped, tortured, and killed by government military forces. Her mother and her brother, Patrocinio, were among the victims.

After leaving Guatemala for Mexico to escape the violence in her village, Menchú encountered groups who wanted to improve relations between native peoples and governments. Although she had every right to be bitter about the terrible treatment her family had received, Menchú worked to foster peace between governments and indigenous peoples, striving for social justice.

Menchú served as a negotiator between guerrillas and governmental authorities and later became a United Nations ambassador to indigenous peoples. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992.

5. John Forbes Nash, Jr. (Economics, 1994)

Mathematician John Forbes Nash, Jr. was recognized with the Nobel Prize in Economics for his work in games theory. He is known for a decision-making concept called the ''Nash equilibrium.''

While in his thirties, Nash was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and underwent periods of institutionalization. His story came to prominence with the release of the feature film A Beautiful Mind, based on Sylvia Nasar's biography of the same name.

Nash's tenacity in the face of mental illness makes him one of the most inspirational Nobel Prize winners. Knowing his story challenges people to look past the unfair stigma associated with schizophrenia to appreciate the achievements of a noteworthy individual.

6. Aaron Ciechanover (Chemistry, 2004)

Aaron Ciechanover grew up in war-torn Israel as a self-described juvenile delinquent. Aaron's much-older brother, Joseph, raised him after he was orphaned, encouraging Aaron to abandon his immature antics and devote himself to his studies. Aaron became a medical student at Hebrew University at age 18, fulfilling his military service requirement at the same time. Shortly after his graduation in 1973, Aaron served as a navy surgeon who operated on casualties in the Yom Kippur War. To the surprise of many who knew him, Aaron abandoned his surgical career just six months after the war. As a researcher, he started looking into an unpopular subject: how the body disposes of proteins it no longer needs.

Aaron focused on what he characterized as the ''garbage-collecting system'' of the body. He and research partners Irwin Rose and Avram Hershko discovered how a known protein molecule called ''ubiquitin'' regulates the destruction of used-up proteins. Without this action, inflammation, neurological and muscular diseases, and even cancer can result.

Ciechanover's work has been used for practical applications, such as developing anti-cancer drugs. That path has led to discoveries that deepen our understanding of human physiology—and could potentially improve the health of millions.

7. Malala Yousafzai (Peace, 2014)

Pakistani blogger Malala Yousafza was an inside voice during the Taliban takeover in her country. In 2009, when she was only 11 years old, Malala began blogging for the BBC about everyday life in Taliban-occupied Pakistan. Her father, a teacher, ran a local school for girls. Malala spoke out against the new rules that would deny education to females.

By 2012, 15-year-old Malala had become a celebrity for her views—and a target. She was shot along with two other girls and critically wounded while riding the bus home from school.

Miraculously, Malala survived. She started the Malala Fund, a non-profit that builds schools and works to ensure education for girls throughout the world. She also co-wrote a book about her experiences called I Am Malala. Two years after her near-fatal ordeal, Malala became the youngest Nobel Peace Prize for her advocacy of universal education.

8. Kailash Satyarthi (Peace, 2014)

Kailash Satyarthi won the Nobel Prize the same year as Malala Yousafzai. Satyarthi has been fighting against the exploitation of children since 1980. He left a well-paying job as an electrical engineer to speak for exploited children. In 1986, the Child Labor Prohibition and Regulation Act was passed in India, largely as a result of Satyarthi's efforts.

Satyarthi's work brought the concept of ethical consumption to the public consciousness. In 1998, Satyarthi walked in the Global March against Child Labor, a social action he initiated to bring the world's attention to the horrors of forced child labor.

In 2017, Satyarthi undertook a 12,000-mile march through India, with the goal of encouraging the creation of laws protecting children against sex trafficking, sexual abuse, and rape. In addition to Satyarthi's efforts to end child labor and trafficking, he is an advocate for children's education.

9. Esther Duflo (Economics, 2019)

Esther Duflo's economic research has improved our understanding of poor communities in Africa and India. Rather than focusing on large-scale, international economic interactions, Duflo and her colleagues looked at those who were struggling economically and how the decisions of governments and pharmaceutical companies affected their access to education and healthcare.

According to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which administers the Nobel Prize in Economics, the joint work of Duflo and her colleagues has directly improved education for ''more than five million Indian children.'' With her fellow economists, Abhijit Banerjee and Michael Kremer, Duflo has also shown how certain critical medicines could be priced so that indigent populations would benefit from them.

Esther Duflo is only the second woman to win the Nobel Prize in Economics. She hopes that her win will inspire many women to achieve greatness in their fields and be recognized for their accomplishments.

10. John B. Goodenough (Chemistry, 2019)

As of 2019, John B. Goodenough is the oldest Nobel laureate ever. For decades, his inventions—such as rechargeable lithium-ion batteries and improved random access memory (RAM) for computers—have changed the everyday life of millions of people across the planet.

In 1948, after he'd completed his service as a U.S. Army meteorologist, Goodenough continued his formal education at the University of Chicago. One of his instructors was John A. Simpson, who had worked on the Manhattan Project. Rather than encouraging Goodenough, Simpson chided him, telling Goodenough that he was already too old to achieve anything ''significant'' in physics. At the time, Goodenough was about 26 years old; it wasn't until he was nearly 60 years old that he would invent the rechargeable lithium-ion battery (1979).

Goodenough spent much of his career improving the performance and safety of the compact, ubiquitous powerhouses that give life to our smartphones, tablets, laptops, and even electric automobiles. At age 97, the most senior of all Nobel Prize winners continues to work in his lab on new and safer technologies, such as all-solid-state batteries.