Since the start of the 21st century, more than 3 out of 10 Nobel science laureates have left their birth countries to continue their research in another nation.
The international journal Nature on the 9th (local time) released an analysis showing that about 30% of the 202 Nobel laureates in physics, chemistry, and physiology or medicine since 2000 are immigrant scientists, sometimes crossing borders more than once.
The place where the most laureates stayed was, by far, the United States. Of the 63 immigrant laureates, 41 won the Nobel while continuing their research in the United States. This is largely due to the country becoming a hub of scientific research after World War II, backed by massive research funding and world-class universities.
Immigrant scientists also drew attention in this year's Nobel science prizes. Omar M. Yaghi, a University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) professor who won the chemistry prize, was born to a Palestinian refugee family in Jordan and moved to the United States in his teens. He became the first Nobel science laureate from Jordan.
In an interview with the Nobel Committee, Yaghi said, "Science is the greatest equalizing force in the world," and noted, "The spread of knowledge often comes from people who cross regions." He said, "Science allows us to talk to each other, and that cannot be stopped," adding, "An open society will encourage it."
Michel Devoret of Yale University and John Clarke of UC Berkeley, who received this year's physics prize, are from France and the United Kingdom, respectively, but are currently conducting research in the United States. Richard Robson of the University of Melbourne in Australia, who shared the chemistry prize with Yaghi, was born in the United Kingdom and is currently active in Australia.
It is nothing new for scientists who crossed borders to stand at the center of the Nobel stage. Albert Einstein, who won the 1921 Nobel Prize in physics, moved to the United States after Germany and Switzerland, and Marie Curie, who won the 1903 Nobel Prize in physics and the 1911 Nobel Prize in chemistry, left Poland and continued her research in France.
Ina Ganguli, a professor at the University of Massachusetts, told Nature, "Talent is born everywhere, but opportunity is not," explaining, "That is why we see many Nobel laureates who were born abroad."
But in recent years, this mobility in science has come under threat. In the United States, concerns are growing about a brain drain as President Donald Trump strengthens immigration policy and pushes for research funding cuts. Starting this year, the H-1B visa application expense widely used by foreign researchers has reached $100,000 (about 1.4 billion won), sharply increasing the burden on researchers. Australia is also capping the number of international students, and Japan is moving to reduce financial support for overseas graduate students.
Nature, meanwhile, said that France, Korea, and Canada are expanding scholarship and research support programs to attract U.S. researchers. Notably, the European Research Council (ERC) provides up to €2 million (about 3.28 billion won) in research funding to scientists who transfer their labs from the United States to Europe.
Caroline Wagner, an emeritus professor at Ohio State University, said, "Current U.S. policy will slow the pace of innovative research." Ganguli of the University of Massachusetts warned, "Just as many scientists from Germany and Russia migrated amid political change in the past, another wave of movement could occur."
Andre Geim, a 2010 Nobel physics laureate born in Russia who passed through Denmark and the Netherlands and is now conducting research in the United Kingdom, said, "If you stay in just one place, you miss half the opportunities," adding, "A new environment breeds new ideas." He said, "A country that closes its borders ultimately reduces its own opportunities for development."
References
Nature (2025), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-03247-6