The other Jewish achievers in 2020

It’s the season of the Jewish Achiever Awards, but Jews also came out winners in this year’s Nobel Prize. This isn’t surprising.

Jews comprise a mere 0.2% of the world’s population (15 million out of 7.6 billion). By that criterion alone, one would expect one Nobel for every 500 awarded, or put another way, just one prize every 40 years. Yet Jews, which includes those with either one or two Jewish parents, have won very close to 200 Nobels or 22% of all awards since they first were made in 1901. This amounts to 110 times the number expected based purely on population size.

In Rishon LeZion, one can visit the Nobel Prize Laureates Boulevard, Tayelet Hatnei Pras Nobel.

There have been predictions that such Jewish “dominance” is unlikely to endure, perhaps due to prizes being won in the future by more and more scientists from the Far East and Asia. For now, that hasn’t happened, although it’s likely that more will be won from those emerging scientific powerhouses.

The prizes are awarded in six categories, namely physiology or medicine, physics, chemistry, literature, economic sciences, and peace. This year, four Jews were among the 12 laureates – 33%!

Jewish awards in 2020 included the Nobel Prize in Literature, awarded to Louise Glück for “her unmistakable poetic voice”. She is also a former United States poet laureate. The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine went to Harvey Alter, aged 85, who shared the prize with two others for his discovery of the Hepatitis C virus, which is a cause of cirrhosis and hepatocellular cancer. The Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences went to Paul Milgrom, who shared the prize with his former mentor, Robert Wilson, for their research on auction theory. The Nobel Prize in Physics went to Sir Roger Penrose, aged 89, for his research on black holes. The prize was shared with two others. Sir Roger is an atheist, but his maternal grandmother, born in Russia, was Jewish, which, according to halacha, makes him Jewish. He told the Jerusalem Post that while he may be considered Jewish from a religious point of view, he doesn’t consider himself as such.