Quiz: Know Your Nobels

Princeton added to its illustrious Nobel Prize history in early October when Frances Arnold ’79 was selected as a 2018 honoree in chemistry.

Test your knowledge of alumni and faculty Nobel laureates with these questions, inspired by stories in the PAW archives.

Scroll down for answers.

1. The Compton Effect: Which of these three brothers was the first alumnus to win a Nobel in physics, “for his discovery of the effect named after him”?

A. Karl T. Compton *1912

B. Wilson M. Compton *1915

C. Arthur H. Compton *1916

2. Silver Screen: Five years before A Beautiful Mind and Russell Crowe made John Nash *50 a household name, the movie Infinity featured Matthew Broderick as this Nobel-winning physicist.

A. Albert Einstein

B. Richard Feynman *42

C. Eugene Wigner

3. Annus Mirabilis: Three Princeton faculty won Nobels in 1993: physicists Russell Alan Hulse and Joseph Hooton Taylor Jr.; and this creative-writing professor.

A. Toni Morrison

B. Philip Roth

C. Nadine Gordimer

4. Wait a Second: Which physicist was the first person to win the Nobel Prize twice, sharing the honor in 1956 (transistor effect) and 1972 (theory of superconductivity)?

A. Clinton Davisson *1911

B. John Bardeen *36

C. Robert Hofstadter *38

5. Missing Piece: Of the six Nobel categories, which is the only one that has never had a Princeton alumni laureate?

A. Physiology or Medicine

B. Peace

C. Literature

6. Interdepartmental: Since 2000, the economics Nobel honorees have included three Princeton graduate alumni. Which of the three received his Ph.D. in mathematics, not economics?

A. James Heckman *71

B. Lloyd Shapley *53

C. Oliver Hart *74

ANSWERS: 1. C; 2. B; 3. A; 4. B; 5. A; 6. B.