Oct 7, 2021 - Science
The Nobel's persistent diversity problem
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This year's Nobel Prizes in physiology or medicine, physics and chemistry all went to men.
The big picture: A lack of diversity persists among those awarded science's top prize.
- 25 of 767 Nobel Prizes awarded in science and economics have gone to women in the history of the prize. (Axios first published this chart four years ago.)
- W. Arthur Lewis, who won the prize in economics in 1979, remains the only Black recipient in the sciences or economics.
Between the lines: "This is a problem much larger than simply bias on the part of the Nobel selection committees — it's systemic," chemist Marc Zimmer wrote last year.
Go deeper: Hard Truths: Race and science in America (Axios)
Editor's note: This story was corrected to reflect the total number of prizes awarded in the sciences and economics is 767 not 387.
