Since the first Nobel Prize was awarded in 1901, the prizes have given public recognition to the world's greatest medical advances. According to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, the Nobel Prizes are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind.".

Of the 114 Nobel Prizes that have been awarded for research into Physiology and Medicine, more than 80% have involved animal testing.  

You can view a list of all Nobel Prize winning research that involved animal testing and which species were used at animalresearch.info

 

Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine: Facts

 

114

Nobel prizes have been awarded between 1901 and 2023
 

227

people have become Nobel Laureates

 

101

Prizes used animals in their research

 

Which animal species have been used in Nobel Prize research?

The table below details the animal species that have appeared most often in Nobel Prize winning research. Please note that some research projects used multiple species. Want to know which animal species were used for a specific Nobel Prize project? Go to animalresearch.info
 

Animal Species	Number of Nobel Prizes
Mice	40
Rats	31
Guinea pigs	20
Dogs	18
Rabbits	18
Frogs	13
Cats	10
Birds	10
Cows	10
Flies	10
Monkeys	9
Horses	8

Read our in-depth breakdown of the animal research behind recent Nobel Prizes

For more facts and figures on animal research and Nobel Prizes go to animalresearch.info

For more general facts and figures on Nobel Prizes go to nobelprize.org