Why do Jews win so many Nobel prizes?

The numbers are crazy.

Why do Jewish scientists win so many Nobel prizes?

They make up just 0.2% of the world’s population, yet they’ve received 22% of all Nobel Prizes. Per capita, a Jewish person is 110 times more likely to win a Nobel than anyone else.

Is it culture? Education? Genetics? Something else?

Let’s start by looking at the stats, because they're impressive. Nobel Prizes are given in Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, Literature, Peace, and Economics. Jews have won 216 out of 965 awards ever given. In just the United States, Jews represent 2% of the population but have earned 27% of all American Nobel Prizes awarded in the 20th century.

And the number of Jews from New York City who've won Nobels is over 12 times the total from China, a country of 1.5 billion people. One high school — the Bronx High School of Science — has produced eight Jewish Nobel laureates, surpassing many nations.

But Jewish intellectual dominance isn't new or random. Before WWII, Jews won about 8-10% of Nobels. Afterward, that figure doubled. Adolf Hitler inadvertently sparked this boom by forcing brilliant minds like Albert Einstein to flee Nazi Germany, enriching American and British universities.

Culturally, Jewish tradition emphasizes education, critical thinking, and debate. The Torah is the Jewish holy book made up of the first five books of the Hebrew scriptures. But the word Torah literally means “teaching,” and Jewish culture encourages intellectual curiosity. Nobel physicist Isidor Rabi said that instead of asking what he learned each day, his mother asked him, "Did you ask a good question today?" This subtle shift shaped his scientific mindset.

History also played a role. Excluded from owning land or joining guilds, Jews historically moved into intellectually demanding professions — medicine, law, finance — fields which later became pipelines for Nobel-level achievements. Sociologist Thorstein Veblen argued that this outsider status also sparked a questioning, innovative approach that challenged societal norms.

Geography matters, too. Jewish Nobel success is mostly Western. In countries lacking elite universities, like Russia or the Middle East, Jewish achievements are much less considerable. When Jews migrated to countries prioritizing higher education, particularly the U.S., their accomplishments soared.

Genetic explanations have been proposed — Ashkenazi Jews reportedly have higher average IQs, potentially due to centuries in cognitively demanding professions. Over generations, maybe you just get smarter people. But it's tough to find serious academics with the cojones to talk about race and IQ. These are landmines, and even if you're right, your career is always a step away from exploding. For someone like me trying to research it, I found either very politically correct oatmeal or outright racists.

Some critics suggest favoritism by Nobel committees, but these committees are predominantly non-Jewish Scandinavians. And the selection process is secretive and highly decentralized, making it difficult to manipulate. If there were a systematic bias in favor of Jews, we'd see erratic patterns, not a steady, century-long overrepresentation. Also, for many years, Jews faced overt discrimination.

Lise Meitner, a Jewish physicist in Nazi Germany, co-discovered nuclear fission, leading to nuclear power and the atomic bomb. But when the Nobel Prize was awarded, it went to her male, non-Jewish collaborator, Otto Hahn — while she got nothing. Even Albert Einstein’s relativity theory was initially dismissed by some European physicists because of antisemitism.

Networking effects, however, are real. Groups often mentor and support their own, creating self-sustaining cycles of success.

Ultimately, Jewish Nobel dominance isn’t any one factor – it’s a combination of culture, history, opportunity, geography, and networking.

– Ken

PS: Want more, with a dashing host? Here’s my video which goes deeper …