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Where Do Nobels Come From?

After the Nobel Prizes were established, many of the awards went to European researchers, but since World War II, the US has won at least a Nobel Prize a year, the Guardian's Ian Sample writes.

Of science Nobel laureates, 183 were born in the US and 280 American institutions have been affiliated with a prizewinner. The UK has been home to 68 science laureates, Germany to 65, and France to 30, as this map from the Guardian charts out.

Of course, Sample says, "[a]s with stocks and shares, past performance is not an indicator of future results," adding that other countries, especially in Asia, are investing in scientific research. "But [they are] unlikely to wipe the US from the winners' table just yet," he adds.

What is changing is the age of the laureates — they are getting older. And women beginning to be included, though only 17 women have won in the more than 100-year history of the prize. "The balance may be shifting a touch: nearly a third of women winners were honored since 2000," Sample says. "But this is a mountain that remains to be moved."