- 2009 - Charles K. Kao, Willard S. Boyle, George E. Smith
- 2008 - Yoichiro Nambu, Makoto Kobayashi, Toshihide Maskawa
- 2007 - Albert Fert, Peter Grünberg
- 2006 - John C. Mather, George F. Smoot
- 2005 - Roy J. Glauber, John L. Hall, Theodor W. Hänsch
- 2004 - David J. Gross, H. David Politzer, Frank Wilczek
- 2003 - Alexei A. Abrikosov, Vitaly L. Ginzburg, Anthony J. Leggett
- 2002 - Raymond Davis Jr., Masatoshi Koshiba, Riccardo Giacconi
- 2001 - Eric A. Cornell, Wolfgang Ketterle, Carl E. Wieman
- 2000 - Zhores I. Alferov, Herbert Kroemer, Jack S. Kilby
- 1999 - Gerardus 't Hooft, Martinus J.G. Veltman
- 1998 - Robert B. Laughlin, Horst L. Störmer, Daniel C. Tsui
- 1997 - Steven Chu, Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, William D. Phillips
- 1996 - David M. Lee, Douglas D. Osheroff, Robert C. Richardson
- 1995 - Martin L. Perl, Frederick Reines
- 1994 - Bertram N. Brockhouse, Clifford G. Shull
- 1993 - Russell A. Hulse, Joseph H. Taylor Jr.
- 1992 - Georges Charpak
- 1991 - Pierre-Gilles de Gennes
- 1990 - Jerome I. Friedman, Henry W. Kendall, Richard E. Taylor
- 1989 - Norman F. Ramsey, Hans G. Dehmelt, Wolfgang Paul
- 1988 - Leon M. Lederman, Melvin Schwartz, Jack Steinberger
- 1987 - J. Georg Bednorz, K. Alex Müller
- 1986 - Ernst Ruska, Gerd Binnig, Heinrich Rohrer
- 1985 - Klaus von Klitzing
- 1984 - Carlo Rubbia, Simon van der Meer
- 1983 - Subramanyan Chandrasekhar, William A. Fowler
- 1982 - Kenneth G. Wilson
- 1981 - Nicolaas Bloembergen, Arthur L. Schawlow, Kai M. Siegbahn
- 1980 - James Cronin, Val Fitch
- 1979 - Sheldon Glashow, Abdus Salam, Steven Weinberg
- 1978 - Pyotr Kapitsa, Arno Penzias, Robert Woodrow Wilson
- 1977 - Philip W. Anderson, Sir Nevill F. Mott, John H. van Vleck
- 1976 - Burton Richter, Samuel C.C. Ting
- 1975 - Aage N. Bohr, Ben R. Mottelson, James Rainwater
- 1974 - Martin Ryle, Antony Hewish
- 1973 - Leo Esaki, Ivar Giaever, Brian D. Josephson
- 1972 - John Bardeen, Leon N. Cooper, Robert Schrieffer
- 1971 - Dennis Gabor
- 1970 - Hannes Alfvén, Louis Néel
- 1969 - Murray Gell-Mann
- 1968 - Luis Alvarez
- 1967 - Hans Bethe
- 1966 - Alfred Kastler
- 1965 - Sin-Itiro Tomonaga, Julian Schwinger, Richard P. Feynman
- 1964 - Charles H. Townes, Nicolay G. Basov, Aleksandr M. Prokhorov
- 1963 - Eugene Wigner, Maria Goeppert-Mayer, J. Hans D. Jensen
- 1962 - Lev Landau
- 1961 - Robert Hofstadter, Rudolf Mössbauer
- 1960 - Donald A. Glaser
- 1959 - Emilio Segrè, Owen Chamberlain
- 1958 - Pavel A. Cherenkov, Il´ja M. Frank, Igor Y. Tamm
- 1957 - Chen Ning Yang, Tsung-Dao Lee
- 1956 - William B. Shockley, John Bardeen, Walter H. Brattain
- 1955 - Willis E. Lamb, Polykarp Kusch
- 1954 - Max Born, Walther Bothe
- 1953 - Frits Zernike
- 1952 - Felix Bloch, E. M. Purcell
- 1951 - John Cockcroft, Ernest T.S. Walton
- 1950 - Cecil Powell
- 1949 - Hideki Yukawa
- 1948 - Patrick M.S. Blackett
- 1947 - Edward V. Appleton
- 1946 - Percy W. Bridgman
- 1945 - Wolfgang Pauli
- 1944 - Isidor Isaac Rabi
- 1943 - Otto Stern
- 1942 - The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section
- 1941 - The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section
- 1940 - The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section
- 1939 - Ernest Lawrence
- 1938 - Enrico Fermi
- 1937 - Clinton Davisson, George Paget Thomson
- 1936 - Victor F. Hess, Carl D. Anderson
- 1935 - James Chadwick
- 1934 - The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section
- 1933 - Erwin Schrödinger, Paul A.M. Dirac
- 1932 - Werner Heisenberg
- 1931 - The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section
- 1930 - Sir Venkata Raman
- 1929 - Louis de Broglie
- 1928 - Owen Willans Richardson
- 1927 - Arthur H. Compton, C.T.R. Wilson
- 1926 - Jean Baptiste Perrin
- 1925 - James Franck, Gustav Hertz
- 1924 - Manne Siegbahn
- 1923 - Robert A. Millikan
- 1922 - Niels Bohr
- 1921 - Albert Einstein
- 1920 - Charles Edouard Guillaume
- 1919 - Johannes Stark
- 1918 - Max Planck
- 1917 - Charles Glover Barkla
- 1916 - The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section
- 1915 - William Bragg, Lawrence Bragg
- 1914 - Max von Laue
- 1913 - Heike Kamerlingh Onnes
- 1912 - Gustaf Dalén
- 1911 - Wilhelm Wien
- 1910 - Johannes Diderik van der Waals
- 1909 - Guglielmo Marconi, Ferdinand Braun
- 1908 - Gabriel Lippmann
- 1907 - Albert A. Michelson
- 1906 - J.J. Thomson
- 1905 - Philipp Lenard
- 1904 - Lord Rayleigh
- 1903 - Henri Becquerel, Pierre Curie, Marie Curie
- 1902 - Hendrik A. Lorentz, Pieter Zeeman
- 1901 - Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen
