The Nobel Prizes are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to Mankind."
This list encompasses laureates of the Nobel Prize who were citizens of the Soviet Union or Russia at the time of receiving the award, or at another time during their life. Of note is that Mikhail Sholokhov is the only citizen of the Soviet Union who received approval from the Soviet government to receive their Nobel Prize in literature.[1] During the Soviet period, all other Nobel Laureates in literature or peace (except Gorbachev) were dissidents or exiles.[1]
Metchnikoff shared the 1908 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine with German physician and scientist Paul Ehrlich.[4] Both subjects were awarded for their works regarding immunity.[4]
After Pasternak announced acceptance of the prize, the government of the Soviet Union then threatened Pasternak of not being allowed into back into the country if he left to accept it.[7]
Landau was awarded for his "pioneering theories for condensed matter, especially liquid helium."[8] He was unable to attend the ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden to receive the prize personally, due to a car accident.[8] Rolf Sulman, the Swedish ambassador in the Soviet Union at the time presented the award to Landau in Moscow in 1962.[8]
Alferov shared the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physics with Jack S. Kilby and Herbert Kroemer, both American physicists, for "basic work on information and communication technology".[11]