UC Nobel Prize Haul Sets Record, System Says

"Five faculty members and researchers affiliated with the University of California system won a Nobel Prize this year, setting what the system says is a world record. The faculty won Nobel Prizes in medicine, physics and chemistry. The winners for physics and chemistry currently work in the system, while the university is also counting Frederick Ramsdell, who graduated from UC San Diego and UCLA and was part of the group awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in medicine."

"UC officials added in the release that breakthroughs recognized by the Nobel Prize committee were supported with "decades of federal investment." The National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, the National Security Agency and the Department of Defense all supported the research that led to new molecular structures that can harvest water or store toxic gases, breakthroughs in quantum technology, and improved treatments for autoimmune diseases."

""Today, that support is at risk as federal research funds are frozen or cut, and as the administration's proposed budget reductions threaten to slow the very discoveries that keep the United States at the forefront of global leadership," the release says."

Five University of California faculty and researchers won Nobel Prizes this year across medicine, physics and chemistry, marking a system record. UC counts 49 Nobel laureates who were affiliated at the time they won, the most of any institution. Winners in physics and chemistry currently work within the UC system; Frederick Ramsdell, a UC San Diego and UCLA alumnus, was part of the group awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in medicine. Federal agencies including NIH, NSF, DOE, NSA and DOD supported the research behind advances in molecular structures, quantum technology and autoimmune treatments. Federal funding freezes and proposed budget cuts threaten continued research progress.

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