The Nobel Prizes: So male?

For over a hundred years, men have dominated the Nobel Prizes. And even as women have entered public life, men continue to win most of the prizes. Why?

The last of 2017’s Nobel Prizes was announced today, with Richard Thaler, the pathbreaking behavioural economist, receiving the prize in economics. He joined 10 other men and one organisation as this year’s batch of laureates. Hover over the dots to learn more about the winners. The group does not include a single woman. It makes you wonder — is that normal? Let’s go back in time to find out. Scroll

Last year, 11 men won Nobel Prizes. Among them were the Colombian politician Juan Manuel Santos, who negotiated a peace treaty to end his country’s civil war, and the legendary American musician Bob Dylan. But again, the Nobel judges did not find any women worthy of the prize. There is an old saying: two is a coincidence, three is a trend. So how about the year before? Scroll

In 2015, two women — the Ukranian writer Svetlana Alexievich and the Chinese chemist Youyou Tuwon — won Nobel Prizes. They were joined by eight men and one organisation. Scroll

Let’s do a quick tally: in the last three years, two of the winners have been organisations, two have been women, and 29 have been men. That's about 6%, 6% and 88%, respectively.

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If we take a slightly longer view — all winners since the turn of the century — we get similar results: 8 organisations 4%, 19 women 9%, and 189 men 87%. Scroll