IIASA and the Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prize is awarded to organizations and people whose contributions conferred the greatest benefit to humankind in the areas of Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, Literature, Peace, and Economic Sciences. IIASA scientists have been awarded the prize six times.

William D. Nordhaus 

IIASA alumnus William D. Nordhaus received the 2018 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his work integrating climate change into long-run macroeconomic analysis. Nordhaus was a research scholar in the IIASA Energy Program from 1974-1975. He was also a member of the US Committee for IIASA for numerous years.  


The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 

The 2007 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded jointly to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and former US Vice President Al Gore “for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change.” Ten IIASA scientists coauthored the IPPC’s Fourth Assessment Report.


Thomas Schelling 

Professor Thomas C. Schelling of the University of Maryland, who worked at IIASA in several research areas from 1994–1999, was awarded  the 2005 Nobel Prize in Economics jointly with Robert J. Aumann of the Hebrew University, “for having enhanced our understanding of conflict and cooperation through game-theory analysis.” He was one of the first to apply the ideas of game theory to international relations. 


Paul Crutzen 

Professor Paul J. Crutzen won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1995 for his work in atmospheric chemistry, particularly concerning the formation and decomposition of ozone. He has had a long-standing affiliation with IIASA, starting in the 1980s when he collaborated with IIASA Sustainable Development of the Biosphere Project. 


Lawrence Klein 

Professor Lawrence R. Klein was awarded the 1980 Nobel Prize in Economics "for the creation of econometric models and their application to the analysis of economic fluctuations and economic policies." He was a visiting scientist in the IIASA Systems and Decision Sciences Program in 1978, as well as serving on the Advisory Committee to the program.  


Tjalling Koopmans and Leonid Kantorovich

Professor Tjalling Koopmans and Professor Leonid Kantorovich jointly won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1975 for their contributions to the theory of optimum allocation of resources. They both joined IIASA in the 1970s to work with Professor George Dantzig, winner of the US National Medal of Science, to expand IIASA’s study of advanced systems science and methodology.


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Last edited: 03 December 2020

International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)
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