FACTBOX: The Nobel prize for Physics

(Reuters) - In 1901 the very first Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Wilhelm Roentgen for his discovery of X-rays. In recent years, the prize has been awarded for both pioneering discoveries and groundbreaking inventions.

It has been awarded 102 times to 184 laureates between 1901 and 2008. John Bardeen was the only Nobel Laureate who was awarded the Nobel physics prize twice, in 1956 and 1972.

Here is a list of the previous 10 winners:

2009 Charles Kao (Britain, United States)

Willard Boyle (Canadian, United States)

George Smith (United States)

2008 Yoichiro Nambu (United States)

Makoto Kobayashi (Japan)

Toshihide Maskawa (Japan)

2007 Albert Fert (France)

Peter Gruenberg (Germany)

2006 John C. Mather (United States)

George F. Smoot (United States)

2005 Roy Glauber (United States)

John Hall (United States)

Theodor Haensch (Germany)

2004 David J. Gross (United States)

H. David Politzer (United States)

Frank Wilczek (United States)

2003 Alexei Abrikosov (Russia, United States)

Vitaly Ginzburg (Russia)

Anthony Leggett (Britain, United States)

2002 Raymond Davis (United States)

Masatoshi Koshiba (Japan)

Riccardo Giacconi (United States)

2001 Eric Cornell (United States)

Wolfgang Ketterle (Germany)

Carl Wieman (United States)

2000 Zhores I. Alferov (Russia)

Herbert Kroemer (United States)

Jack S. Kilby (United States)

1999 Gerardus 't Hooft (Netherlands)

Martinus Veltman (Netherlands)