Nobel Prizes
Since the beginning of the 20th Century, these prizes have charted the world's greatest medical advances. Of the 98 Nobel Prizes awarded for Physiology or Medicine, 75 were directly dependant on research from animals. In a further 4 instances no animal experiments were performed by the prize winner, but the discovery relied on crucial data obtained from animal studies by other research groups.
Title  |
Date |
Scientist(s) | Animal(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Serum therapy, especially in its application against diphtheria. | 1901 | Emil von Behring | Rat, Rabbit, Guinea pig, Cow, Horse |
| Research on malaria | 1902 | Ronald Ross | Pigeon, Other or unspecified birds, Other invertebrate |
| The physiology of digestion | 1904 | Ivan Pavlov | Dog |
| Transmission and treatment of tuberculosis | 1905 | Robert Koch | Mouse, Rat, Guinea pig |
| The structure of the nervous system | 1906 | Camillio Golgi, Santiago y Cajal | Mouse, Rabbit, Cat, Dog, Other or unspecified birds, Reptiles |
| The role played by protozoa in causing disease | 1907 | Alphonse Laveran | Mouse, Rat, Dog, Pig, Cow, Horse, Primates, Other or unspecified birds, Reptiles, Other fish |
| Immunity in infectious diseases | 1908 | Ilya Mechnikov, Paul Ehrlich | Mouse, Guinea pig, Primates, Other or unspecified birds, Other invertebrate |
| Cell chemistry and the contents of the nucleus | 1910 | Albrecht Kossel | Other or unspecified rodents, Guinea pig, Other or unspecified birds |
| Suture of blood vessels | 1912 | Alexis Carrel | Rabbit, Cat, Dog |
| Discovery of anaphylaxis | 1913 | Charles Richet | Guinea pig, Dog, Other invertebrate |
| Discoveries relating to immunity | 1919 | Jules Bordet | Rabbit, Guinea pig, Horse |
| Capillary motor regulation | 1920 | August Krogh | Rabbit, Guinea pig |
| Metabolism and the production of heat in muscles | 1922 | Archibald Hill, Otto Meyerhof | Frog |
| The discovery of insulin | 1923 | Frederick Banting, John MacLeod | Rabbit, Dog, Pig, Cow, Other fish |
| The electrocardiogram | 1924 | Willem Einthoven | Dog, Frog |
| Discovery of the nematode Spiroptera carcinoma | 1926 | Johannes Fibger | Rat, Nematode worm |
| Investigations on typhus | 1928 | Charles Nicolle | Mouse, Rat, Guinea pig, Other or unspecified mammals (non-rodent/non-primate), Primates, Other or unspecified birds |
| The importance of dietary vitamins | 1929 | Christiaan Eijkman, Frederick Gowland Hopkins | Mouse, Rat, Chicken |
| Electrical activity in neurons | 1932 | Charles Sherrington, Edgar Adrian | Cat, Dog, Frog |
| The role of chromosomes in heredity | 1933 | Thomas Hunt Morgan | Drosophila (fruit fly) |
| Treatment of pernicious anaemia | 1934 | George Whipple, George Minot, William Murphy | Dog |
| The 'organiser effect' in embryonic development | 1935 | Hans Spemann | Frog, Other amphibians |
| The discovery of neurotransmitters | 1936 | Henry Dale, Otto Loewi | Cat, Frog |
| Regulation of respiration | 1938 | Corneille Jean Francois Heymans | Dog |
| The discovery of the antibacterial agent Prontosil | 1939 | Gerhard Domagk | Mouse, Rabbit, Guinea pig |
| The discovery of vitamin K | 1943 | Henrik Dam, Edward Doisy | Chicken |
| The functions of single nerve fibres | 1944 | Joseph Erlanger, Herbert Gasser | Cat, Frog |
| The discovery of penicillin | 1945 | Alexander Fleming, Ernst Chain, Howard Walter Florey | Mouse |
| Production of mutations by x-rays | 1946 | Hermann Muller | Drosophila (fruit fly) |
| The metabolism of carbohydrates | 1947 | Gerti Cori, Carl Cori, Bernardo Houssay | Rat, Rabbit, Dog, Frog, Other amphibians |
| The discovery of DDT | 1948 | Paul Muller | Other invertebrate |
| Organisation of the brain and surgical treatment of psychosis | 1949 | Walter Rudolph Hess, Egas Moniz | Cat |
| Structure and function of adrenal hormones | 1950 | Edward Kendall, Tadeus Reichstein, Philip Hench | Rat |
| Yellow fever vaccine | 1951 | Max Theiler | Mouse, Primates, Chicken |
| The discovery of streptomycin | 1952 | Selman Waksman | Mouse, Guinea pig, Chicken |
| The citric acid cycle | 1953 | Hans Krebs, Fritz Lipmann | Pigeon |
| Culture of the polio virus | 1954 | John Enders, Thomas Weller, Frederick Robbins | Mouse, Primates |
| The action of oxidative enzymes | 1955 | Axel Theorell | Horse |
| The development of drugs that block the action of biological amines | 1957 | Daniel Bovet | Rabbit, Dog |
| The discovery of acquired immunological tolerance | 1960 | Frank Burnet, Peter Medawar | Mouse, Cow |
| The mechanics of the inner ear | 1961 | Georg von Békésy | Guinea pig, Frog |
| The generation of action potential in nerves | 1963 | John Eccles, Alan Hodgkin, Andrew Huxley | Squid |
| The metabolism of fatty acids and regulation of cholesterol | 1964 | Konrad Bloch, Feodor Lynen | Rat |
| Causes and treatment of tumours | 1966 | Peyton Rous, Charles Huggins | Rat, Rabbit, Dog, Chicken |
| The physiology of vision | 1967 | Haldan Hartline, George Wald, Ragnar Granit | Rat, Guinea pig, Cat, Crustaceans, Frog, Reptiles |
| The role of the genetic code in protein synthesis | 1968 | Robert Holley, Marshall Nirenburg, Gobind Khorana | Rat, Guinea pig, Frog |
| The storage, release and inactivation of neurotransmitters from nerve endings | 1970 | Bernard Katz, Ulf von Euler, Julius Axelrod | Mouse, Rat, Rabbit, Cat, Dog, Cow |
| The mechanism of hormone action | 1971 | Earl Sutherland | Rat, Rabbit, Dog, Other or unspecified birds |
| Chemical structure of antibodies | 1972 | Rodney Porter, Gerald Edelman | Rat, Guinea pig, Goat |
| Organisation of social behaviour patterns | 1973 | Konrad Lorenz, Nikolaas Tinbergen, Karl von Frisch | Chicken, Other or unspecified birds, Other invertebrate |
| The structural and functional organisation of cells | 1974 | Albert Claude, George Palade, Christian de Duve | Mouse, Rat, Guinea pig |
| Interactions between tumour-viruses and genetic components of the cell | 1975 | Renato Dulbecco, Howard Temin, David Baltimore | Mouse, Horse, Primates, Chicken |
| New principles governing the behaviour, spread and causes of disease | 1976 | Carlton Gadjusek, Baruch Blumberg | Primates |
| Hypothalamic hormones | 1977 | Roger Guillemin, Andrew von Schally, Rosalyn Yalow | Mouse, Rat, Hamster, Guinea pig, Pig, Sheep, Other or unspecified mammals (non-rodent/non-primate) |
| The CAT scan | 1979 | Godfrey Hounsfield, Allan Cormack | Pig |
| Processing of visual information by the brain | 1981 | Roger W.Sperry, David H. Hubel, Torsten N. Wiesel | Cat, Primates |
| Discovery of prostaglandins | 1982 | Bengt I. Samuelsson, John R. Vane, Sune K. Bergstrom | Rabbit, Guinea pig, Sheep |
| Techniques of monoclonal antibody formation | 1984 | Niels K. Jerne, Georges J.F. Kohler, Cesar Milstein | Mouse, Rat |
| Nerve growth factor and epidermal growth factor | 1986 | Rita Levi-Montalcini, Stanley Cohen | Mouse, Other or unspecified mammals (non-rodent/non-primate), Chicken |
| Principles for drug treatment | 1988 | Sir James W. Black, Gertude B. Elion, George H. Hitchings | Rat, Guinea pig, Cat, Dog |
| Cellular origin of retroviral oncogenes | 1989 | J. Michael Bishop, Harold E. Varmus | Chicken |
| Organ transplantation techniques | 1990 | Joseph E. Murray, E. Donnall Thomas | Mouse, Rabbit, Dog |
| Recording from membrane ion channels (patch clamp) | 1991 | Erwin Nehar, Bert Sakmann | Rat, Frog |
| Regulatory mechanism in cells | 1992 | Edmond H. Fischer, Edwin G. Krebs | Mouse, Rabbit |
| Genetic control of early structural development | 1995 | Edward B. Lewis, Christiane Nusslein-Volhard, Eric F. Wieschaus | Drosophila (fruit fly) |
| Immune-system detection of virus-infected cells | 1996 | Peter C. Doherty, Rolf M. Zinkernagel | Mouse |
| Discovery and characterisation of prions | 1997 | Stanley B. Prusiner | Mouse, Mouse (knockout/GM), Hamster |
| Nitric oxide as a signalling molecule in the cardiovascular system | 1998 | Ferid Murad, Louis Ignarro, Robert Furchgott | Rat, Rabbit |
| Signal transduction in the nervous system | 2000 | Eric, Kandel, Paul Greengard, Arvid Carlsson | Mouse, Rat, Rabbit, Guinea pig, Snails |
| Regulators of cell cycle | 2001 | Leland Hartwell, Timothy Hunt, Paul Nurse | Other invertebrate |
| Genetic regulation of development and programmed cell death | 2002 | John Sulston, Robert Horvitz, Sydney Brenner | Nematode worm |
| MRI | 2003 | Peter Mansfield, Paul Lauterbur | Rat |
| Odour receptors and the organisation of the olfactory system | 2004 | Richard Axel, Linda Buck | Mouse, Rat, Drosophila (fruit fly) |
| Discovery of H. pylori and its role in gastric and peptic ulcer disease | 2005 | Barry Marshall, Robin Warren | Gerbil, Pig |
| RNA interference | 2006 | Andrew Fire, Craig Mello | Nematode worm |
| Knockout mice & gene targeting | 2007 | Mario Capecchi, Martin Evans, Oliver Smithies | Mouse (knockout/GM) |
| The role of HPV and HIV in causing disease | 2008 | Harald zur Hausen, Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, Luc Montagnier | Mouse, Mouse (nude), Sheep, Horse, Goat |
| Chromosome protection by telomeres and telomerase | 2009 | Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak | Mouse, Frog |
| The development of in vitro fertilization | 2010 | Robert G. Edwards | Mouse |
| Discoveries around innate and adaptive immunity | 2011 | Jules Hoffman, Bruce Beitler and Ralph Steinmann | Mouse |
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