During the 1950s there were thirty Nobel Prizes awarded in the sciences. Of those, fourteen were won or shared by twenty-seven Americans. The Nobel Prize is widely considered to be the highest honor bestowed upon scientists and signifies worldwide recognition of their work.

1950: Physiology and/or Medicine, P. S. Hench and E. C. Kendall

1951: Chemistry, E. M. McMillan and G. T. Seaborg

1952: Physics, F. Bloch and E. M. Purcell; Medicine and/or Physiology, S. A. Waksman

1953: Medicine and/or Physiology, F. A. Lipmann

1954: Chemistry, L. C. Pauling; Physiology and/or Medicine, J. F. Enders, F. C. Robbins, and T. H. Weller

1955: Chemistry, V. du Vigneaud; Physics, W. E. Lamb, Jr., and P. Kusch

1956: Physics, W. B. Shockley, W. H. Brattain, and J. Bardeen; Physiology and/or Medicine, D. W. Richards, Jr., and A. F. Cournand

1957

1958: Physiology and/or Medicine, J. Lederberg, G. W.Beadle, and E...