The College counts six Nobel Prize winners among its alumni.
2015 - Sir Angus Deaton (1945- ) joined Fitzwilliam as an undergraduate in 1964, undertook his PhD here, and was a Fellow of the College from 1972 to 1976. He is an Honorary Fellow of the College. He is Dwight D. Eisenhower Professor of International Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, and Professor of Economics and International Affairs at the Department of Economics, Princeton. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics – The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, 2015 – for his analysis of consumption, poverty, and welfare.
2001 - Joseph Stiglitz (1943- ) was born in Indiana and came to Fitzwilliam College in 1965 as a Fulbright Scholar. He became a professor at Yale and Professor of Economics and Finance at Columbia University. Stiglitz (with George Akerlof and Michael Spence) was awarded the 2001 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel for their analyses of markets with asymmetric information. He is an Honorary Fellow of the College.
1984 - César Milstein (1927-2002) joined Fitzwilliam College in 1958 from the University of Buenos Aires, researching a second PhD (obtained in 1961) and working in the Cambridge Department of Biochemistry. The 1984 Nobel Prize (shared with Georges Köhler and Nils Jerne) was for the discovery of the principle for the production of monoclonal antibodies.
1945 - Sir Ernst Boris Chain (1906-1979) was a German refugee and biochemist, whose PhD studies were made possible by a Fitzwilliam House maintenance grant. Chain completed this second PhD at Cambridge in 1935, and a subsequent collaboration with Howard Florey led to the world’s first practical antibiotic drug. The 1945 Nobel Prize was awarded (to Chain, Florey and Alexander Fleming) for the discovery of penicillin and its curative effect in various infectious diseases.
1937 - Albert von Szent-Györgyi (1893-1986) came to Fitzwilliam College from Hungary as a PhD student in 1928; and received his PhD in 1929. He received the 1937 Nobel Prize for his discoveries in connection with the biological combustion process with special reference to vitamin C and the catalysis of fumaric acid.
1932 - Charles Sherrington (1857-1952) joined Fitzwilliam as an undergraduate to study Physiology in 1879, continued his studies at Gonville and Caius, and went on to be elected an FRS in 1893. The 1932 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded jointly to him and Edgar Adrian (later Chancellor of the University) for discoveries regarding the functions of neurons.
Image of Nobel Medal: © ® The Nobel Foundation - photo: Lovisa Engblom.