The curious history of Nobel prizes: from lighthouses to gravitational waves

Physics World Weekly Podcast

Next week, the winners of the 2025 Nobel Prize for Physics will be revealed. In the run-up to the announcement I’m joined in this podcast by my colleague Matin Durrani, who has surveyed the last quarter century of Nobel prizes and picked his top five physics prizes of the 21^st century – so far.

We also look back to two early Nobel prizes, which were given for very puzzling reasons. One was awarded in 1908 to Gabriel Lippmann for an impractical colour-photography technique that was quickly forgotten; and the other in 1912 to Gustaf Dalén for the development of several technologies used in lighthouses.

Our predictions

It’s a mug’s game, we know, but we couldn’t resist including a few predictions of who could win this year’s physics Nobel. Perhaps a prize for quantum algorithms could be announced on Tuesday, so stay tuned.

And finally, we round off this episode with a fun Nobel quiz. Do you know how old Lawrence Bragg was when he became the youngest person to win the physics prize?

Articles mentioned in this podcast:

“Nobel prizes you’ve never heard of: how a Swedish inventor was honoured for a technology that nearly killed him”

“Nobel prizes you’ve never heard of: how an obscure version of colour photography beat quantum theory to the most prestigious prize in physics”

“Inside the Nobels: Lars Brink reveals how the world’s top physics prize is awarded”

This podcast is supported by American Elements, the world’s leading manufacturer of engineered and advanced materials. The company’s ability to scale laboratory breakthroughs to industrial production has contributed to many of the most significant technological advancements since 1990 – including LED lighting, smartphones, and electric vehicles.