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Immigrant Nobel Prize Winners Keep Leading The Way For America

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Immigrants have been awarded nearly 40% of the Nobel Prizes won by Americans in Chemistry, Medicine and Physics since 2000. In 2019, two immigrants earned Nobel Prizes, one in chemistry and one in physics. That is consistent with recent history and shows how immigrants also make important noneconomic contributions to America, according to new research from the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP).

M. Stanley Whittingham, an immigrant born in the United Kingdom and a professor at Binghamton University in New York, won the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, sharing it with John Goodenough for their foundational work on lithium batteries, which “have revolutionized our lives and are used in everything from mobile phones to laptops and electric vehicles.” (Goodenough was born in Germany but he is not an immigrant, since his father, a famous theologian, was native-born.) 

“In the early 1970s, Stanley Whittingham . . . used lithium’s enormous drive to release its outer electron when he developed the first functional lithium battery . . . John Goodenough doubled the lithium battery’s potential, creating the right conditions for a vastly more powerful and useful battery,” according to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

James Peebles, born in Canada and a professor at Princeton University, received the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics for his research that created the “basis of our contemporary ideas about the universe.” The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences reported, “James Peebles was able to interpret traces [of ancient radiation] from the infancy of the universe and discover new physical processes.”

(Update: Two of the three U.S. winners of the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics announced on October 14, 2019, were immigrants, both professors at MIT, Abhijit Banerjee, born in India, and Esther Duflo, born in France. Both came to the United States as international students. Banerjee, Duflo and fellow American Michael Kremer were awarded the prize for “their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty.” Immigrants have been awarded 19 of 66, or 29% of the Nobel Prizes won by Americans in Economics, according to NFAP research.)

The National Foundation for American Policy research shows important scientific contributions by immigrants to America throughout the 20th century and over the past two decades:

•          “Between 1901 and 2019, immigrants have been awarded 35%, or 105 of 302, of the Nobel Prizes won by Americans in Chemistry, Medicine and Physics.

•          “These numbers could be considered an underestimate, since they do not include Nobel Prize winners who immigrated to America after receiving a Nobel Prize, such as Albert Einstein, Enrico Fermi and Niels Bohr.” Donna Strickland, who shared a 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics with immigrant Gérard Mourou, was not included as a U.S. recipient but she was an international student at the University of Rochester when she conducted her groundbreaking research.

•          “One can see the increasing influence and importance of immigrants on science in America over the past half century. Between 1901 and 1959, immigrants won 21 Nobel Prizes in Chemistry, Medicine and Physics but won 84 prizes in these fields – four times as many – between 1960 and 2019.

•          “Between “Between 1901 and 1959, only one immigrant to the United States (William Francis Giauque) won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, while between 1960 and 2019, 27 immigrants won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry.

•          “From 1901 to 1959, 9 immigrants to the United States won the Nobel Prize for (Physiology or) Medicine, but 29 immigrants were awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine from 1960 to 2019.

•          “In the Physics category, 11 immigrants won the Nobel Prize from 1901 to 1959, while 28 immigrants won the Nobel Prize for Physics between 1960 and 2019 . . . The pre-1960 immigrant (and U.S.) Nobel Prize total would have been lower if not for the many Jewish scientists who overcame significant restrictions against immigration in the 1930s and fled to the United States to escape European fascism.”

The research helps illustrate why immigration law matters. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 ended “national origins” quotas that prevented people from Asia and elsewhere from immigrating to the United States. Years later, the Immigration Act of 1990 raised the number of immigrants admitted annually to America, including on employment-based immigrant visas. That increased the number of international students interested in studying at U.S. universities and encouraged many more to make their careers in the United States.

Since 2017, Trump administration policies have focused on restricting the entry of immigrants and foreign nationals, including scientists and engineers. “Denial rates for H-1B petitions have increased significantly, rising from 6% in FY 2015 to 32% in the first quarter of FY 2019,” according to a National Foundation for American Policy analysis.

In response to U.S. immigration restrictions, other countries attract more international students and foreign-born scientists and engineers, according to research and news reports. Immigrants will continue to win Nobel Prizes in scientific fields. However, they may not win them in America.

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