Nobel Prize API

Official Nobel Prize API with no key: every prize and laureate since 1901 with categories, motivations, affiliations and biographical data. Tested examples.

No API key requiredCORS enabledHTTPSFree tier

Endpoint tested and returned HTTP 200 on 2026-08-20

What is the Nobel Prize API?

The Nobel Prize API is the official free API from the Nobel Prize organisation, providing every prize awarded since 1901 and every laureate, including category, motivation, institutional affiliation and biographical details.

This is the official source, published by the Nobel Prize organisation itself, and it covers the complete history from 1901 to the present across all six categories including the economics prize.

It has two complementary endpoints: `/nobelPrizes` is organised by award, showing who shared each prize, while `/laureates` is organised by person, showing everything an individual won. Which one you want depends on whether you are presenting prizes or people.

Quick facts

Base URL: https://api.nobelprize.org/2.1
Authentication: No API key required.
Rate limit: No published limit; the dataset is small and highly cacheable.
Pricing: Free official data.
CORS: Enabled — callable directly from browser JavaScript
Official docs: Read the docs

How to use the Nobel Prize API

Every request below was executed against the live API on 2026-08-20, and the response shown is the real body it returned — not an illustration.

1. Fetch Nobel Prizes

GET https://api.nobelprize.org/2.1/nobelPrizes?limit=1

curl

curl 'https://api.nobelprize.org/2.1/nobelPrizes?limit=1'

JavaScript (fetch)

const res = await fetch("https://api.nobelprize.org/2.1/nobelPrizes?limit=1");
if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`Request failed: ${res.status}`);
const data = await res.json();
console.log(data);

Python (requests)

import requests

res = requests.get("https://api.nobelprize.org/2.1/nobelPrizes?limit=1", timeout=20)
res.raise_for_status()
print(res.json())

Response — HTTP 200 (truncated)

{
  "nobelPrizes": [
    {
      "awardYear": "1901",
      "category": {
        "en": "Chemistry",
        "no": "Kjemi",
        "se": "Kemi"
      },
      "categoryFullName": {
        "en": "The Nobel Prize in Chemistry",
        "no": "Nobelprisen i kjemi",
        "se": "Nobelpriset i kemi"
      },
      "dateAwarded": "1901-11-12",
      "prizeAmount": 150782,
      "prizeAmountAdjusted": 10833458,
      "links": [
        {
          "rel": "nobelPrize",
          "href": "https://api.nobelprize.org/2/nobelPrize/che/1901",
          "action": "GET",
          "types": "application/json"
        }
      ],
      "laureates": [
        {
          "id": "160",
          "knownName": {
            "en": "Jacobus H. van 't Hoff"
          },
          "fullName": {
            "en": "Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff"
          },
          "portion": "1",
          "sortOrder": "1",
          "motivation": {
            "en": "in recognition of the extraordinary services he has rendered by the discovery of the laws of chemical dynamics and osmotic pressure in solutions",
            "se": "såsom ett erkännande av den utomordentliga förtjänst han inlagt genom upptäckten av lagarna för den kemiska dynamiken och för det osmotiska trycket i lösningar"
          },
          "links": [
            {
              "rel": "laureate",
              "href": "https://api.nobelprize.org/2/laureate/160",
              "action": "GET",
              "types": "application/json"
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "meta": {
    "offset": 0,
    "limit": 1,
    "cou

2. Fetch laureates instead of prizes

GET https://api.nobelprize.org/2.1/laureates?limit=1

curl

curl 'https://api.nobelprize.org/2.1/laureates?limit=1'

JavaScript (fetch)

const res = await fetch("https://api.nobelprize.org/2.1/laureates?limit=1");
if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`Request failed: ${res.status}`);
const data = await res.json();
console.log(data);

Python (requests)

import requests

res = requests.get("https://api.nobelprize.org/2.1/laureates?limit=1", timeout=20)
res.raise_for_status()
print(res.json())

Response — HTTP 200 (truncated)

{
  "laureates": [
    {
      "id": "745",
      "knownName": {
        "en": "A. Michael Spence",
        "se": "A. Michael Spence"
      },
      "givenName": {
        "en": "A. Michael",
        "se": "A. Michael"
      },
      "familyName": {
        "en": "Spence",
        "se": "Spence"
      },
      "fullName": {
        "en": "A. Michael Spence",
        "se": "A. Michael Spence"
      },
      "fileName": "spence",
      "gender": "male",
      "birth": {
        "date": "1943-11-07",
        "year": "1943",
        "place": {
          "city": {
            "en": "Montclair, NJ",
            "no": "Montclair, NJ",
            "se": "Montclair, NJ"
          },
          "country": {
            "en": "USA",
            "no": "USA",
            "se": "USA"
          },
          "cityNow": {
            "en": "Montclair, NJ",
            "no": "Montclair, NJ",
            "se": "Montclair, NJ",
            "sameAs": [
              "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q678437",
              "https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montclair,_New_Jersey"
            ],
            "latitude": "40.825930",
            "longitude": "-74.209030"
          },
          "countryNow": {
            "en": "USA",
            "no": "USA",
            "se": "USA",
            "sameAs": [
              "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q30"
            ],
            "latitude": "39.828175",
            "longitude": "-98.579500"
          },
          "continent": {
            "en": "North America",
            "no": "Nord-Amerika",
            "se": "Nordamerika"
          },
          "

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`limit`	integer	Optional	Results per page. `10`
`offset`	integer	Optional	Pagination offset. `20`
`nobelPrizeYear`	integer	Optional	Filter to a specific award year. `2020`
`nobelPrizeCategory`	string	Optional	che, eco, lit, pea, phy or med. `phy`
`format`	string	Optional	json or csv. `json`

Response fields

nobelPrizes[].awardYearstring: Year the prize was awarded.
nobelPrizes[].categoryobject: Category name in English, Norwegian and Swedish.
nobelPrizes[].laureatesarray: Who shared the prize, with their motivation and share.
nobelPrizes[].prizeAmountinteger: Prize money in Swedish kronor.
(laureates) knownName / birth / deathobject: Biographical details.
(laureates) nobelPrizes[].affiliationsarray: Institution the laureate was at when awarded.

What you can build with the Nobel Prize API

Build a Nobel Prize browser or timeline
Analyse award trends by country, institution or gender
Create educational resources on scientific history
Power quizzes and trivia about laureates

Common errors and how to fix them

Multilingual fields

Names and categories are objects keyed by language.

Fix: Read category.en rather than treating category as a string.

Missing laureates for some years

Prizes were not awarded during the World Wars.

Fix: Handle gaps; 1940-1942 have no awards in most categories.

Shared prizes

Up to three laureates can share one prize.

Fix: The laureates array has a portion field showing each share.

Nobel Prize API — frequently asked questions

Is the Nobel Prize API official and free?

Yes, it is published by the Nobel Prize organisation itself and requires no API key.

What is the difference between the prizes and laureates endpoints?

/nobelPrizes is organised by award and shows who shared each one; /laureates is organised by person and shows everything an individual won. Pick based on what you are displaying.

Does it include the economics prize?

Yes, as category `eco`. It is formally the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, awarded since 1969.

Why are some years missing?

No prizes were awarded in several categories during the World Wars, particularly 1940 to 1942. Those gaps are real, not data errors.

Tools that pair with this API

JSON Formatter

Format, beautify and minify JSON online with 2-space, 4-space or tab indentation. Sort keys alphabetically and catch syntax errors instantly — free and private.

CSV to JSON Converter

Convert CSV to a JSON array of objects online. Header-row detection, comma/semicolon/tab delimiters and pretty-printed output — 100% in your browser.

Nobel Prize is an independent third-party service and is not affiliated with ByteTools or ByteVancer. Details on this page were verified on 2026-08-20; always check the official documentation before relying on this API in production, as terms and limits can change.