The University of California has achieved a new milestone this year, setting a world record with four faculty members receiving Nobel Prizes in 2025. This marks the first time that four faculty from a single institution have been recognized in one year. With these latest honors, UC faculty have now received a total of 75 Nobel Prizes.
Three UC physicists were honored for their work in quantum computing, and a UC chemist was recognized for developing a new molecular architecture that can extract water from the air. Additionally, an alumnus of both UC San Diego and UCLA was acknowledged for research on preventing the immune system from attacking the body’s own tissues.
The laureates are currently in Stockholm to receive their medals during this week’s award ceremonies.
Andrea M. Ghez, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2020 and is a professor at UCLA, described the university’s environment: “At the University of California, we have the tools to look deep into the universe, and we’ve been able to bring something incredible into focus. We showed the world something that’s impossible to see directly and discovered more questions than answers.” Ghez used the Keck Observatory—co-owned by UC and CalTech—to gather evidence proving the existence of a supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way.
David Julius, awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 2021 and currently at UC San Francisco, highlighted UC’s collaborative atmosphere: “UC is a special place where people interact freely. There are other places I could have gone that could have given me more resources. What they couldn’t give me was the intellectual and collegial atmosphere, working with scientists who mentored me to be curious and active in the scientific community and to give back.” Julius’s work identified proteins responsible for sensing heat, cold, and pain—findings that may lead to nonaddictive pain medicines.
John Martinis, part of this year’s Nobel class for physics and emeritus professor at UC Santa Barbara, credited his training at Berkeley: “When I went to UC Berkeley, it was amazing to be taught by the top physicists in the world. And they were all experts in building the instruments that lead to scientific discovery.” His team demonstrated quantum behaviors in macroscopic systems—a step toward advanced technologies like quantum computers.
Randy Schekman, 2013 Nobel laureate for physiology or medicine at UC Berkeley, spoke about his educational path: “California’s master plan for higher education included the construction of new campuses large enough for the children of all the families of our state to enjoy the nation’s finest educational opportunities. I was a direct beneficiary of that investment.” Schekman’s research on protein transport within cells has enabled advances such as yeast-engineered insulin production.
Since Ernest O. Lawrence won its first Nobel Prize in 1939 for inventing the cyclotron, UC has continued its legacy as a leading institution for scientific discovery.
