Nobel Prizes and Wittgenstein Award
Eleven academics who were either researchers or teachers at the University of Vienna have been awarded a Nobel Prize, the most renowned international award in the field of science. The most recent Prizes were awarded to Anton Zeilinger in Physics (2022) and Emmanuelle Charpentier in Chemistry (2020). An art installation in the Aula of the University of Vienna pays tribute to these Nobel laureates.
The Wittgenstein Award, which comes with a prize money of 1.9 million euros, is the most highly endowed academic award in Austria. It is named after the Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. Since it was first awarded to Ruth Wodak in 1996, numerous academics from the University of Vienna have received this award, most recently Christa Schleper in 2022.
Nobel Prize Laureates
- Anton Zeilinger (2022, Physics)
- Emanuelle Charpentier (2020, Chemistry)
- Friedrich August von Hayek (1974, Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences)
- Konrad Lorenz (1973, Medicine)
- Otto Loewi (1936, Medicine)
- Viktor Franz Hess (1936, Physics)
- Erwin Schrödinger (1933, Physics)
- Karl Landsteiner (1930, Medicine)
- Hans Fischer (1930, Chemistry)
- Julius Wagner-Jauregg (1927, Medicine)
- Robert Bárány (1914, Medicine)
The Faculty of Medicine was part of the University of Vienna from the University’s foundation in 1365 until 2004, when the Medical University of Vienna was established according to the new Universities Act.
Recipients of the Wittgenstein Award
- Christa Schleper – Department of Functional and Evolutionary Ecology (2022)
- Monika Henzinger – Faculty of Computer Science (2021)
- Adrian Constantin – Faculty of Mathematics (2020)
- Michael Wagner– Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science (2019)
- Philipp Ther – Department of East European History (2019)
- Claudia Rapp – Department of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies (2015)
- Gerhard J. Herndl – Department of Marine Biology (2011)
- Markus Arndt – Faculty of Physics (2008)
- Christian Krattenthaler – Faculty of Mathematics (2007)
- Renée Schroeder* – Department of Microbiology, Immunobiology & Genetics (2003)
- Heribert Hirt* – Department of Plant Molecular Biology (2001)
- Peter Markowich – Faculty of Mathematics (2000)
- Andre Gingrich* – Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology (2000)
- Walter Schachermayer –Faculty of Mathematics (1998)
- Ruth Wodak* – Department of Linguistics (1996)
* no longer active at the University of Vienna.
