2009 Nobel Prizes

The 2009 Nobel Prizes were awarded by the Nobel Foundation, based in Sweden. Six categories were awarded: Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, Peace, and Economic Sciences.^[1]

Nobel Week took place from December 6 to 12, including programming such as lectures, dialogues, and discussions. The award ceremony and banquet for the Peace Prize were scheduled in Oslo on December 10, while the award ceremony and banquet for all other categories were scheduled for the same day in Stockholm.^[2][3]

Prizes

Physics

Awardee(s)
	Charles K. Kao (1933–2018)	Chinese British	"for groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication"	[4]
	Willard S. Boyle (1924–2011)	Canadian	"for the invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit—the CCD sensor"
	George E. Smith (b. 1930)	American

Chemistry

Awardee(s)
	Venkatraman Ramakrishnan (b. 1952)	British American	"for studies of the structure and function of the ribosome"	[5]
	Thomas A. Steitz (1940–2018)	American
	Ada E. Yonath (b. 1939)	Israeli

Physiology or Medicine

Awardee(s)
	Elizabeth H. Blackburn (b. 1948)	Australia United States	"for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase"	[6]
	Carol W. Greider (b. 1961)	United States
	Jack W. Szostak (b. 1952)	Canada United States

Literature

Main article: 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature

Awardee(s)
	Herta Müller (b. 1953)	Germany Romania	"who, with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, depicts the landscape of the dispossessed"	[7]

Peace

Main article: 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

Awardee(s)
	Barack Obama (born 1961)	United States	"for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."	[8]

Economic Sciences

Awardee(s)
	Elinor Ostrom (1933–2012)	United States	"for her analysis of economic governance, especially the commons"	[9]
	Oliver E. Williamson (1932–2020)		"for his analysis of economic governance, especially the boundaries of the firm"

Controversies

Peace

Main article: Nobel Prize controversies § Peace

The Peace Prize's awarding to Obama drew widespread criticism on several counts. Polling data on American sentiments regarding its conferment were mixed, and several pointed out that Obama had only served nine months in the White House prior to receiving the prize and therefore it was undeserved or, at least, premature.^[10] Opinion across the world, among citizens of different countries as well as many heads of state, was divided.^[11] Many, such as those in the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times, saw it less as a celebration of Obama and more so a critique of the presidency of George W. Bush.^[12][13] Peter Beinart of the Daily Beast called the decision a "farce"; Noam Chomsky said: "In defense of the committee, we might say that the achievement of doing nothing to advance peace places Obama on a considerably higher moral plane than some of the earlier recipients".^[14][15] Some called the Nobel Foundation no longer credible.^[16][17]

Later, through Obama's terms as president, public opinion among Americans regarding his deservingness for the prize waned.^[18][19] Critics continued to cite the War on Terror as an indictment of his award's citation.^[20][21] Some even called for it to be rescinded or returned.^[22] Geil Lundestad, the former director of the Nobel Foundation up until 2014, said in his 2015 memoir that Obama failed to live up to the Nobel Committee's expectations.^[23][24]