Called the “father of radioactivity,” he was elected a member of the French Academy of Sciences, where he remained a prominent figure. Further important posts he held during his life include those in the Accademia dei Lincei and the Royal Academy of Berlin. After a life marked by achievement, Becquerel died in Le Croisic.
Pierre and Marie Curie also each received one-quarter of the prize.
Pierre Curie (1859–1906)
1903 Physics
In recognition of the extraordinary services they have rendered by their joint researches on the radiation phenomena discovered by Professor Henri Becquerel.
Working with his brilliant wife, Marie, Pierre Curie proved he was a man with a fierce intelligence and great capacity for work. He not only shared the task of “investigating the phenomenon of radiation discovered by Becquerel” with his wife — for which they received the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics — the two also shared an intimate personal life.
Pierre Curie was born in Paris on the May 15, 1859. His father, a doctor, educated him at home until he entered the faculty of sciences at the Sorbonne. In 1878 he obtained a licentiate degree and continued at the Sorbonne as a demonstrator in the physics laboratory until 1882, when he became supervisor of all practical work in the Physics and Industrial Chemistry Schools. Finally obtaining his doctorate in sciences in 1895, Curie started lecturing in physics, and five years later he became a professor at the Faculty of Sciences. In 1904 he took on the role of titular professor.
Curie made his first discovery two years after obtaining his licentiate degree. In 1880, working with his brother Jacques, he discovered piezoelectric effects, the name given to a phenomenon observed in anisotropic crystals. The studies he carried out on the properties of crystals then led him to reflect on the general symmetry of physical phenomena, and in 1894 he formulated what is now known as the Curie principle, a symmetry principle that allowed scientists to predict the possibility or impossibility of numerous phenomena. A year later, Pierre discovered that below a certain temperature, which is still known as the Curie point, ferromagnetism is transformed into paramagnetism.
In 1895, after repeated proposals, Maria Sklodowska, a woman who had a great love of physics, finally accepted Pierre’s hand in marriage. From then on the couple did all their research together. Deeply interested in Becquerel’s discovery of radioactivity, the pair went on to discover polonium and radium after separating and measuring all the elements contained in pitchblende. The world recognized this achievement in 1903 with the Nobel Prize in Physics. Unfortunately, due to Pierre and Marie’s ill health, which they blamed on the effects of prolonged exposure to radiation, the couple was unable to attend the ceremony. The monetary value of the Nobel Prize was important in helping the Curie family with their expenses and allowed them to offset the high costs of their research.
The Curies had two girls, Irène and Eve, the first of whom followed in her parents’ footsteps and, along with her husband Frédéric Joliot, received the 1935 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Pierre Curie was struck and killed by a horse-drawn carriage on April 19, 1906, in Paris.
Henri Becquerel also received half the prize, and Marie Curie one-quarter.
Ivan Pavlov (1849–1936)
1904 Physiology or Medicine
In recognition of his work on the physiology of digestion, through which knowledge on vital aspects of the subject has been transformed and enlarged.
Ivan Petrovich Pavlov was born in Ryazan, Russia, into a religious family. Following in the footsteps of his father, a parish priest, and his grandfather, a sacristan, the young Pavlov began his studies in the church school and continued them at the local seminary. However several influential teachers, including a renowned Russian physiologist, inspired the young Pavlov with a passion for scientific knowledge. Under their influence, he abandoned his religious studies in 1870 to study science.
After obtaining a bachelor’s degree in the natural sciences, Pavlov decided to pursue his interest in physiology and enrolled in the Academy of Medical Surgery in Saint Petersburg, where he graduated with distinction. Pavlov remained in the institution on a fellowship while also acting as director of the physiology laboratory. In 1890 he was invited by the Institute of Experimental Medicine in Saint Petersburg to administer the Department of Physiology, a position he accepted and held until the end of his life.
Pavlov contributed to the understanding of the heart and circulatory system, but it was his work in the physiology of digestion that earned him the 1904 Nobel Prize in Medicine. To this day his work is associated with the concept of the conditioned reflex, which he demonstrated through an unconventional experiment; having previously associated the ring of a bell with the appearance of food, he trained a hungry dog to salivate at its sound.
Pavlov also enjoyed a fulfilling private life with his family. In 1881 he married a teacher who was a friend of the famous writer Dostoyevsky. A woman of firm character, she was admired by her husband and dedicated her life to the home, their four children and religion.
Pavlov was not afraid of defending his ideas, even when his words were directed at the most important figures in his country. In 1922, as Russia struggled with its revolution, Pavlov asked Lenin’s permission to transfer his laboratory abroad. Lenin refused and instead offered to increase the amount of food available to him, to which Pavlov boldly responded, “I will not accept these privileges unless they are given to all my collaborators as well.”
Two years later he again brought himself into the spotlight when sons of parish priests were expelled from the Military Medical Academy in Saint Petersburg, where he lectured on physiology. He resigned from his post saying, “I am also the son of a priest, and if they are expelled, then so am I!”
Throughout his life, Ivan Pavlov received numerous honors, among them an honorary doctorate from Cambridge University and acceptance into the Order of the Legion of Honour from the Medical Academy of Paris.
Robert Koch (1843–1910)
1905 Physiology or Medicine
For his investigations and discoveries in relation to tuberculosis.
Born in Clausthal, Germany, Robert Heinrich Hermann Koch was expected to become a shoemaker, but he showed methodical persistence and intelligence from a very early age. To the surprise of his parents, at five he taught himself to read by studying newspapers, and it became evident that he was destined to be more than a shoemaker. Koch’s distinctive drive and ambition led him to study medicine in the hope of becoming a doctor.
In high school he showed a great aptitude for biology and developed a desire to travel, which confirmed his early ambitions. In 1862 he enrolled at the University of Göttingen to study medicine. When he finished his studies four years later he practiced medicine in various places around Germany until 1870, when he volunteered for the Franco-Prussian War.
After the war Koch realized that his vocation lay in a different field,
