The Nobel Prize is an international prize awarded annually since 1901 for achievements in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace. An associated prize in Economic Sciences has been awarded since 1969."Nobel Prize" (2007), in Encyclopædia Britannica, accessed 14 November 2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: Nobel Prizes have been awarded to over 800 individuals.
Africans have received awards in all five of the Nobel prize categories: Peace, Physics, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Chemistry. The first Black African recipient, Albert Luthuli, was awarded the Peace Prize in 1960 and the first White African who received the prize was Max Theiler in 1951 for Physiology or Medicine. The most recent recipient, Abdulrazak Gurnah, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2021.
A notable recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize is Nelson Mandela (1918–2013) the first democratically elected president of South Africa, who played a key role in the repeal of apartheid laws. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 alongside President F.W. de Klerk.
Two African laureates, Anwar Sadat of Egypt in 1978 and F.W. de Klerk of South Africa in 1993, were presidents of their countries at the time they were awarded the Nobel Prize. Sadat was honored along with Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin for their efforts to reach a peace agreement between their two countries. DeKlerk was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with Nelson Mandela, who led the ANC but was not president of South Africa until 1994.
Laureates Year Image Name Country Category Comment 1951 Max Theiler Physiology or Medicine First White African to win a Nobel Prize 1957 (born in Algeria) Literature First White African to win a Nobel Prize in Literature 1960 (born in Zimbabwe) Peace First Black African to win a Nobel Prize 1978 First Egyptian and North African to win a Nobel Prize 1979 Allan M. Cormack Physiology or Medicine 1982 Aaron Klug Chemistry 1984 Peace 1985 Claude Simon (born in Madagascar) Literature 1986 First Black African person to win the Nobel Prize for Literature 1988 Naguib Mahfouz First Egyptian and North African to win a Nobel Prize in Literature 1991 Nadine Gordimer First White African woman to win a Nobel Prize 1993 Peace 1993 F. W. de Klerk 1997 Claude Cohen-Tannoudji (born in Algeria) Physics 1999 Ahmed Zewail Chemistry First Egyptian and North African to win a Nobel Prize in Chemistry. 2001 Peace 2002 Sydney Brenner Physiology or Medicine 2003 J. M. Coetzee Literature 2004 Peace First Black African woman to win a Nobel Prize 2005 Mohamed ElBaradei 2007 Doris Lessing (born in Iran) Literature 2008 J. M. G. Le Clézio (born in France) Literature 2011 Peace 2011 2012Serge Haroche (born in Morocco)Physics 2013Michael LevittChemistry 2015 Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet Peace 2018 Denis Mukwege 2019 Abiy Ahmed Peace 2021 Abdulrazak Gurnah Literature
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