Pati, Patni aur Nobel - The #NobelCouples

The latest Nobel Prize in Economics went to the husband-wife duo of Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, alongwith Michael Kremer who played the role of a third wheel to perfection.

There have been 5 other couples who have won a Nobel for their contributions to science and society, while most others think that they deserve a Nobel Peace Prize just for not killing their significant other. :)

Here are some fun facts about couples who won Nobel prizes.

1) There have been 5 instances before, where a husband and wife have won a Nobel.
AbhiTher (or is it AbSther?) is the sixth!

2) Marie Curie and Pierre Curie were the first couple to get a Nobel together. They won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 for their work on radioactivity.
Marie was also the first woman to win a Nobel. She went on to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1911 for the discovery of radium and polonium. She is only one of two people who have won Nobel prizes in 2 different sciences. (Linus Pauling is the other!)

2) The next couple to win a Nobel prize happened to be the Curies' elder daughter Irene Joliot-Curie and her husband Frederic Joliot. They won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1935 for their discovery of artifical radio-activity.
Talk about carrying forward the family legacy. "Beti padhao, Nobel jeetao",  anyone?



3) There's been only one couple where both husband and wife have won a Nobel in different sciences. And with different partners. (Phew!)

Gunnar Myrdal won a Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 1974. His wife Alva Myrdal won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1982

4) And last, and definitely not the least, Sheldon Cooper and Amy Farrah Fowler are the only fictional couple (I guess) to have won a Nobel together. They won the Nobel Prize in Physics for their discovery of super asymmetry. 

If you want to read up on the rest for some serious couple goals, go here!