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Toni Morrison -

One of the most important and influential American writers in history, Toni Morrison received her much-deserved Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993 for her 1987 masterpiece novel ‘Beloved,’ which follows a family of formerly enslaved African Americans and their life in the aftermath of the Civil War.

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Toni Morrison -

Morrison was also known as an accomplished lecturer and teacher, and held positions in numerous American universities, such as Princeton. The eloquently written official motivation given by the Nobel Foundation read, “... who in novels characterized by visionary force and poetic import, gives life to an essential aspect of American reality.”

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Rita Levi-Montalcini -

The Italian neurologist Rita Levi-Montalcini was presented the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1986 for her discoveries in the nature of cells, how they divide, and how they can deviate over time, leading to the discovery and definition of the nerve growth factor, or NGR.

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Rita Levi-Montalcini -

This work was revolutionary in our understanding of how ailments such as tumors, dementia, and physical deformities occur and act. Levi-Montalcini lived to be 103 years old, making her the longest-living Nobel Laureate.

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Marie Curie -

Marie Curie was the first woman in history to win the Nobel Prize, this in 1903 with her husband Pierre, and in 1911 she made history again by becoming the first person to win the coveted prize twice. She is still the only woman to be named Nobel Laureate twice.

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Marie Curie -

In 1903, Marie Curie, along with Pierre, was honored for her discovery of spontaneous radiation, giving birth to the field of radiography and coining the term radioactivity. In 1911, her further study into the nature of radioactive materials, specifically plutonium, won her the prize again, this time as a solo winner.

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Mairead Corrigan and Betty Williams -

Mairead Corrigan and Betty Williams, two women from Northern Ireland, founded the Northern Ireland Peace Movement in 1976, at the height of the Troubles. The pair banded together after witnessing three of Corrigan’s nephews perish in an armed conflict in Belfast, and they felt they had no other option but to do everything in their power to put a stop to the violence. A year later, they were both awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts.

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Mairead Corrigan and Betty Williams -

Although the organization was woefully short-lived, they managed to rally thousands of citizens from all corners of Ireland and Northern Ireland in numerous peace marches during 1976 and 1977. Even after they lost their support and funding, the pair continued to organize on a more local level within their neighborhoods.

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Rigoberta Menchú Tum -

K'iche'-Guatemalan indigenous rights leader Rigoberta Menchú Tum received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992 for her astounding work towards reconciliation in her country between indigenous groups and the Guatemalan government.

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Rigoberta Menchú Tum -

Four years later, in 1996, Tum successfully brokered a peace deal between the two sides. She would later go on to become an ambassador for indigenous groups around the world, especially in the Western Hemisphere.

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Françoise Barré-Sinoussi -

Françoise Barré-Sinoussi’s work in virology helped salvage the fate of an entire generation, and was instrumental in curbing the destruction of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s. Barré-Sinoussi was finally awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for her important work in 2008.

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Françoise Barré-Sinoussi -

During the first moments of the AIDS crisis, no one was sure what caused the lethal immunodeficiency, until the French virologist discovered the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in the swollen lymph glands of her patients, and it was proven that HIV was the cause of AIDS. This discovery was a game changer in the fight against AIDS.

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Gertrude B. Elion -

Gertrude B. Elion, a native of New York City, was driven to a life of medicine and research after watching her grandfather suffer and eventually succumb to cancer. She revolutionized the development methods for pharmaceuticals, and received her Nobel Prize in 1988.

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Gertrude B. Elion -

Using these new methods, Elion and her team produced a new line of drugs to help fight leukemia, and saved the lives of countless children who were struggling with the ailment. Elion’s discoveries also led to improvements in the fight against malaria, among other diseases.

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Wangari Muta Maathai -

Wangari Muta Maathai was a woman of many firsts. She was the first woman in East or Central Africa to earn a doctorate, the first female professor in the history of Kenya, and, in 2004, became the first African woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

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Wangari Muta Maathai -

One of her greatest feats was spearheading the Green Belt Movement, a grassroots organization of mostly women that fought deforestation in Kenya and surrounding countries. Maathai’s movement was a massive success, and resulted in the planting of over 30 million trees in Africa.

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Tawakkol Karman -

Journalist Tawakkol Karman has spent her life risking persecution and violence in the name of women’s rights and freedom of the press in her home country of Yemen. In 2005, she co-founded the Women Journalists Without Chains organization and worked tirelessly organizing protests and demonstrations against the oppressive Yemeni government.

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Tawakkol Karman -

During the Arab Spring, Karman became the face of the Yemeni uprising, and has been relentless in her resistance work even after numerous arrests and countless death threats. In 2011, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her unflinching dedication to the full liberty of women everywhere and her non-violent struggle for democracy.

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Leymah Gbowee -

Leymah Gbowee was also awarded the Peace Prize in 2011. Gbowee was instrumental in ending the 14 year-long civil war in her home country of Liberia, helping unite the Muslim and Christian women of her nation.

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Leymah Gbowee -

In true grassroots fashion, Gbowee led a small demonstration of women in a fish market every day, collecting money for a peace delegation, until she finally created the Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace. Gbowee and her delegation went to the hotels where the never-ending peace talks were being held and formed a human wall around the conference hall, physically preventing the negotiators from leaving until an agreement was met. An official peace agreement was signed just weeks later.

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Jane Addams -

Jane Addams, born in Cedarville, Illinois, in 1860, became the first woman from the United States to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931. Her work as a social worker, political activist, and feminist gained her international respect.

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Jane Addams -

Perhaps the most impactful work of her life was the founding of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, where she acted as international president, and worked with diplomats and politicians around the globe to broker peace treaties between rival powers.

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Nadia Murad -

Nadia Murad, an Iraqi citizen belonging to the Yazidi religious minority, had her hometown of Kojo destroyed by ISIS when they were at the height of their power in 2014. Murad, along with numerous other young women and girls, was abducted, kept as a slave, and placed under constant threat of death.

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Nadia Murad -

After enduring these hellish conditions, Murad was able to escape to Germany in 2015. From here, Murad shared her story with the world and brought attention to the unspeakable sexual violence that was occurring in her country and around the world. A year later, she was the first person to be named the Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking by the United Nations. In 2012, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her work.

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Rosalyn Sussman Yalow -

Rosalyn Sussman Yalow was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1977 for her revolutionary work in the development of RIA, or radioimmunoassays, a technology that allows doctors to track and measure tiny amounts of hormones and other substances within the body’s systems.

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Rosalyn Sussman Yalow -

Yalow immediately put her revolutionary work to use by tracking insulin in the bloodstreams of people with type 2 diabetes, and proved that the ailment was caused by a misuse of insulin, rather than a lack of it.

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Aung San Suu Kyi -

Aung San Suu Kyi founded the National League for Democracy, or NLD, in Burma/Myanmar in 1988, after the military junta took power a year earlier. Although the NLD won the democratic election in 1990, the military refused to relinquish power, and Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize a year later.

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Aung San Suu Kyi -

In 2015, she was elected as the leader of Myanmar, but proceeded to ruin her reputation by going back on her policies of acceptance and non-violence and enacting a campaign of violence and oppression against the Muslim Rohingya minority. It has been called a genocide by numerous human rights organizations.

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Mother Teresa -

Mother Teresa, known as  Saint Teresa of Calcutta since her canonization in 2016, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her lifetime of work and dedication to helping the less fortunate of the world.

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Mother Teresa -

In 1949, Mother Teresa organized the Order of the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India, where she led a large and productive campaign of caring for the sick and elderly, building orphanages, and other sorts of humanitarian ventures.

Sources: (The Nobel Prize Organization) (Stacker) (Britannica)

See also: Inspirational women who changed history

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