The Nobel Prize has become synonymous with greatness. Only a select few of the highest achieving scientists, activists, writers, artists and other leaders in various fields around the globe have been recognized as recipients since the prize’s establishment in 1901.This year’s Nobel Prize went to 10 recipients, also called Laureates, in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and peace.
While there are no known members of the LGBTQ+ community that were selected this year, we’ve taken the opportunity to take a look back at ten LGBTQ+ individuals who have received the Nobel Prize since its inception.
Jane Addams
Jane Addams was the first woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize when she was recognized in 1931 for her activism in women’s suffrage and social work. Addams cofounded Hull House, which served as a home in Chicago for low income families, especially immigrants. She also helped to found the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in 1920.
Addams would most likely be labeled as a lesbian in today’s world: her documented partners were all women. Addams would refer to her partner of almost four decades, Mary Rozet Smith, as “My Ever Dear”, “Darling” and “Dearest One,” according to historian Lilian Faderman.
Vicente Aleixandre
Vicente Aleixandre was a Spanish poet who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1977. His poetry is considered some of the most influential from the writers of his time, with some of his work including “Passion of the Earth,” “Destruction or Love ” and “Shadow of Paradise,” among others. Aleixandre’s bisexuality was known among his close friends and colleagues. Although he never publicly divulged his sexual orientation he maintained a long-term relationship with fellow Spanish poet Carlos Bousoño.
Jacinto Benavente
Benavente was born August 12, 1866 in Madrid, Spain. One of the foremost Spanish dramatists of the 20th century, he was awarded the 1922 Nobel Prize in Literature “for the happy manner in which he continued the illustrious traditions of the Spanish drama.” He never married, and most historians believe he was gay, although he remained closeted because of the turbulent times he lived in, The author of more than 170 plays, among them “High Society,” “Saturday Night” and “The Lady of the House,” Benavente died in Madrid on July 14, 1954 at the age of 87.
Carolyn Bertozzi
American chemist and Stanford professor Carolyn Bertozzi was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2022 “for the development of click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry.” She currently studies a wide array of subjects, including examining the synthesis of chemical tools to see how glycans — cell surface sugars — affect cancer, inflammation, and viral infections like COVID-19.
Bertozzi is highly respected among LGBTQ+ scientists, and many point to her as an inspirational figure in their chosen career fields. “Growing up, I didn’t have any scientific role models that were women, let alone queer,” L Handy, a graduate student in Bertozzi’s lab says. “The Nobel Prize win for Carolyn not only symbolizes that queer female scientists do, in fact, exist but establishes that we are talented, valued, and … have the potential to be recognized for our accomplishments.”
Selma Lagerlöf
Born November 20, 1858 in Sweden, Selma Lagerlof published her first novel, “Gösta Berling’s Saga,” at the age of 33. She was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, which she was awarded in 1909. She wrote many titles, and was revered by the Swedish Royal family, who compared her writings to the works of Homer and Shakespeare, which led to global notoriety. Lagerlof was never married during her lifetime, but was known to have maintained close, personal relationships with another female writer, Sophie Elkan, and a creative advisor, Valborg Olander. While Lagerlof destroyed most of the correspondence she exchanged with her two female companions (same-sex relationships were illegal in Sweden at the time), the surviving letters with Olander revealed the romance the women shared. “Gösta Berling’s Saga” was made into a film (with Greta Garbo) and since its original publication has been translated and republished numerous times. Lagerlof died March 16, 1940.
Thomas Mann
German anti-Nazi writer Thomas Mann received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1929 for his works “Buddenbrooks” (1901), “The Magic Mountain” (Der Zauberberg, 1924), and his short stories.
Mann wrote of his sexuality constantly in his personal journals, detailing the feelings he had towards younger men. In fact, his work “Death in Venice” has obvious parallels to experiences Mann had in his own life.
Svante Pääbo
Swedish geneticist Svante Pääbo was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 2022 for his work “discoveries concerning the genomes of extinct hominins and human evolution.” Pääbo’s area of study focused on mapping out the genome of Neanderthals.
He disclosed his sexuality in his 2014 book “Neanderthal Man: In Search of Lost Genomes,” where he revealed he was bisexual. Pääbo has said he believed that he was gay until he met his wife, fellow geneticist Linda Vigilant. The two have co-authored many papers.
Maria Ressa
Maria Ressa is an openly lesbian Filipino-American journalist who was given the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 for “efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace.” She was also recognized as one of Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential Individuals of 2019,” along with other journalists who were working to combat misinformation and the stigma surrounding media.
Otto Warburg
Otto Warburg was a gay, Jewish doctor living in Germany at the peak of the Nazi regime, and he received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1930 prior to the regime’s takeover. He extensively studied cancer cells and their ability to metabolize and duplicate.
Warburg had a companion of over 50 years, Jacob Heiss, and their relationship often put them at risk during Adolf Hitler’s reign. Their home was located in Dahlem, a quiet neighborhood in the southwest corner of Berlin where other Nobel Prize winners lived.
Patrick White
Patrick White was a British-born Australian writer who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1973 for “an epic and psychological narrative art which has introduced a new continent into literature,” according to the award’s website. He lived with Emmanuel George “Manoly” Lascaris, his life partner, in Cairo, Egypt, before moving to Australia. They met while serving in World War II for the Royal Air Force.