In December 2025, the IIR published its annual report on Immigrant Nobel Prize Laureates. This year, the report focused on Displaced Nobel Laureates in the 20th and 21st Century.
Since the award’s inception in 1901, approximately nine percent of foreign or U.S. foreign-born Nobel Laureates were displaced or voluntarily moved, due to facing acts of violence or persecution. U.S. foreign-born Nobel Laureates who were displaced emigrated to the United States (34%), England (12%), France (10%), Switzerland (7%), and 13 other countries (37%). Additionally, 36 percent of U.S. foreign-born displaced Nobel Laureates earned their PhD or studied at an educational institution in the United States.
Over time, displaced Laureates who fled conflict and international students who found a home in U.S. universities, made significant contributions to science, literature, and peace. Foreign-born U.S. Laureates now comprise 15 percent of all Nobel Laureates, illustrating how openness to global talent has strengthened U.S. research and innovation.
To read this year’s Nobel Laureate report and to read past IIR reports, click here.