Honorary Degrees
Nobel Laureates Holding Honorary Degrees from Gustavus Adolphus College
Gustavus Adolphus College has recognized over 100 winners of Nobel Prizes with honorary doctorates. Listed here, by year of visit, are those prizewinners who have been present on the Gustavus campus to accept an honorary degree from the College.
- 2023
Michael Young (Physiology or Medicine 2017) - Doctor of Science
- 2018
- Rattan Lal (member of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that received the Peace Prize, 2007)
- Leymah Gbowee (Peace 2011) - Doctor of Humane Letters
- 2013
- George Smoot III (Physics 2006) - Doctor of Science
- Samuel Ting (Physics 1976) - Doctor of Science
- Frank Wilczek (Physics 2004) - Doctor of Science
- 2010
- Derek Walcott (Literature '92) - Doctor of Humane Letters
- 2009
- Rajendra K. Pachauri (Peace '07) - Doctor of Science
- 2008
- Leon Lederman (Physics '97) - Doctor of Science
- 2007
- Steven Chu (Physics '97) - Doctor of Science
- 2006
- J. Michael Bishop (Medicine '89) - Doctor of Science
- 2005
- Jody Williams (Peace '97) - Doctor of Humane Letters
- Wolfgang Ketterle (Physics '01) - Doctor of Science
- 2003
- Oscar Arias Sánchez - Doctor of Laws
- 2002
- Eric R. Kandel - Doctor of Science
- 2001
- Günter Blobel - Doctor of Science
- Edmond H. Fischer - Doctor of Science
- Roald Hoffmann - Doctor of Science
- Sir Harold W. Kroto - Doctor of Science
- 2000
- Robert A. Mundell - Doctor of Humane Letters
- 1997
- Toni Morrison - Doctor of Humane Letters
- F. Sherwood Rowland - Doctor of Science
- 1995
- Philip W. Anderson - Doctor of Science
- Pierre-Gilles de Gennes - Doctor of Science
- 1994
- David Hubel - Doctor of Science
- Elie Wiesel - Doctor of Humane Letters
- 1992
- Baruj Benacerraf - Doctor of Science
- 1991
- William A. Fowler - Doctor of Science
- 1990
- Ilya Prigogine - Doctor of Science
- 1989
- Sheldon Lee Glashow - Doctor of Science
- 1986
- James Tobin - Doctor of Humane Letters
- 1985
- Salvador Luria - Doctor of Science
- 1984
- Herbert Simon - Doctor of Science
- 1982
- Sir Peter Medawar - Doctor of Science
- 1981
- Ragnar Granit - Doctor of Science
- Czeslaw Milosz - Doctor of Humane Letters
- George Snell - Doctor of Science
- Eugene Wigner - Doctor of Science
- 1980
- William N. Lipscomb Jr. - Doctor of Science
- Isaac Bashevis Singer - Doctor of Literature
- 1977
- Max Delbrück - Doctor of Science
- 1976
- Murray Gell-Mann - Doctor of Science
- 1975
- Christian Anfinsen - Doctor of Laws
- George Beadle - Doctor of Science
- Hans Bethe - Doctor of Science
- Felix Bloch - Doctor of Science
- Leon Cooper - Doctor of Laws
- Christian de Duve - Doctor of Laws
- Gerald Edelman - Doctor of Laws
- Charles Huggins - Doctor of Science
- Simon Kuznets - Doctor of Laws
- Willis Lamb Jr. - Doctor of Science
- Fritz Lipmann - Doctor of Science
- Robert Mulliken - Doctor of Science
- Lars Onsager - Doctor of Science
- Julian Schwinger - Doctor of Science
- Ernest Walton - Doctor of Science
- Thomas Weller - Doctor of Science
- Chen Ning Yang - Doctor of Science
- 1974
- Paul A. Samuelson - Doctor of Laws
- 1972
- Ulf S. von Euler - Doctor of Science
- George Wald - Doctor of Science
- 1971
- Norman Borlaug - Doctor of Humane Letters
- Alva Myrdal - Doctor of Divinity
- Gunnar Myrdal - Doctor of Humane Letters
- 1970
- Willard Frank Libby - Doctor of Science
- 1967
- Sir John Eccles - Doctor of Science
- 1966
- Charles Hard Townes - Doctor of Science
- 1963
- Carl D. Anderson - Doctor of Science
- Georg von Békésy - Doctor of Science
- Walter H. Brattain - Doctor of Science
- Melvin Calvin - Doctor of Science
- Carl F. Cori - Doctor of Science
- Andre F. Cournand - Doctor of Science
- Peter J. W. Debye - Doctor of Science
- Edward A. Doisy - Doctor of Science
- James Franck - Doctor of Science
- Dag Hammarskjöld - Doctor of Laws (posthumously)
- Philip S. Hench - Doctor of Science
- Robert Hofstadter - Doctor of Science
- Edward C. Kendall - Doctor of Science
- Polykarp Kusch - Doctor of Science
- Edwin M. McMillan - Doctor of Science
- Rudolf Mössbauer - Doctor of Science
- William P. Murphy - Doctor of Science
- Severo Ochoa - Doctor of Science
- Linus C. Pauling - Doctor of Science
- Emilio G. Segrè - Doctor of Science
- William B. Shockley - Doctor of Science
- Wendell M. Stanley - Doctor of Science
- Edward L. Tatum - Doctor of Science
- Arne Tiselius - Doctor of Science
- Harold C. Urey - Doctor of Science
- 1954
- Glenn T. Seaborg - Doctor of Science
- 1950
- Ralph J. Bunche - Doctor of Laws
In addition, the following Nobel Prize winners have been on campus as guests of the College but were not recognized with honorary degrees for various reasons.
- 2001
- Stanley B. Prusiner (Medicine '97) - could not be present on campus and delivered lecture by phone hook-up
- 2000
- Joseph E. Stiglitz (Economics '01) - visited before being named a laureate
- 1999
- Elizabeth Blackburn (Medicine '09) - visited before being named a laureate
- Jose Ramos-Horta (Peace '96) - honorary degree nomination not submitted to faculty
- 1986
- James Buchanan (Economics '86) - visited before being named a laureate
- 1978
- Tjalling C. Koopmans (Economics '75) - declined honorary degree
- 1976
- Steven Weinberg (Physics '79) - visited before being named a laureate
- 1923
- Bishop Nathan Soderblom (Peace '30) - visited before being named a laureate, nomination not submitted to faculty