This article was originally published on 5 October 2026 in the Kurier, which is the German language Wikipedia newletter. Bluerasberry translated it with Claude Sonnet 5.5, then reviewed and edited it for clarity.

It's Nobel Prize week again! The nerdiest of topics and people suddenly find themselves, from one moment to the next, basking in a brief spell of well-deserved fame and attention. Journalists scramble for a quick way into the subject. The curious need something to chew on, if only to get an inkling of what this is all about. Our encyclopedic job is to calmly supply the necessary information. But did we recognize these people's relevance? Did anyone gather the information here? Every year, it's a real challenge all over again: a piece of information nobody knew was urgently needed is suddenly requested in huge numbers. The encyclopedic moose test par excellence.

Whether we can deliver depends on the commitment of those who have worked on the people in question, and on the relevant subject areas, over the past years. Traditionally, the question is, "Which Wikipedia language versions already have biographies of the new laureates ready at the moment of the Nobel Prize announcement?" Can the German-language Wikipedia version repeat its successes of recent years by having the most biographies in advance? And then there is the other question: who created the most articles in the German language version, and thereby becomes the bearer of the Wikipedian Nobel Prize of the German-language Wikipedia? For anyone wondering which biographies might still need creating in a hurry, a look at the Nobelpreisträgerprojekt (Nobel laureate project) by Ephraim33 is recommended.

After ten Nobel laureates, the final standings are:

A further 31 language versions have one hit each.

On de:wp, the ten articles were created by the following users:

• The Medicine Nobel Prize went to Peter Hegemann (12 language versions), Georg Nagel (9) and Karl Deisseroth (17). Many of the traditionally strong language versions delivered reliably, so after day one there is a broad leading pack at the start. Ukrainian (uk) delivered in full too, and already has as many hits at the outset as it managed in the whole of last year. Ironically, Nagel, the trickiest Lemma of the three, produced a hit for the tiny Manx (gv) Wikipedia. On de:wp, all three articles were created by Drahreg01 in 2011 and 2012, who thus goes into a lonely lead. The Nobelpreisträgerprojekt is bearing fruit after 15 years.

• The Nobel Prize in Physics went to Francis Halzen (8). Several big language versions came up empty, fr: and zh: among them, so the front of the field thinned out considerably. It: and tr: were able to join the fray. In de:, the article was created back in 2015 by the sadly deceased Claude J.

• The Nobel Prize in Chemistry went to Henri Kagan (11) and Kensō Soai (3). Kagan was still known to a larger field, though uk: could no longer keep up and has now dropped out of the leading group as well. Soai then proved a tough nut to crack, and only de:, en: and ja: managed it. The classic picture is back: de: and en: sharing the lead. Astonishing is the complete miss by zh:, which now falls well behind. Only ja: is still within touching distance of the top. On de:wp, the articles were created by Ephraim33 in 2007 ("for my Nobel laureate project") and Claude J in 2016.

• The Nobel Prize in Literature went to Anne Carson (30). With 30 language versions, she was well known in the Wikipedia universe. All the larger language versions had something on her and ticked off the Pflichtübung (compulsory exercise) with aplomb. Only tr: looked pale and loses a bit of ground. The revision history goes back to 2002; the import to de: and the German-language article trace back to Talinee in 2013.

• The Nobel Peace Prize went to Navanethem Pillay (37). With an article in 37 language versions, you'd think everyone would be on board. But no. Of all versions, it's ja:, until now in third place, that misses out, so the leading pair of de: and en: pulls away. Uk:, be:, ko: and tr: also drop back without a hit. On de:wp, the article was created as early as 2008 by Schweißer, who has sadly been inactive since 2010.

• The Alfred Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences made Robert Ernest Hall (6) and Michael Woodford (11) happy. Here too, de: and en: delivered reliably and cross the finish line together with a Traumnote (dream score, or straight A's) of 10 out of 10. Several others came away completely empty-handed, though, so the chasing pack was reshuffled once more. Fr: and zh: fell well short of last year's results. Pl: and uk: also went without hits, while the Arabic versions closed the gap. On de:wp, the articles were created by Ephraim33 in 2009 ("for my Nobel laureate project") and Sicherlich in 2008.

• Fazit (conclusion): after only second place last time, de: was back to full marks this year. And quite convincingly so: the most recently created article dates from 2016. It shows how steady work pays off. As every year, the sheer breadth of our project is a joy, not only in terms of topics but also in the language versions involved, which show that people from every corner of the world, with the most varied cultural and political backgrounds, contribute something to this treasure trove of knowledge. All that remains is the Kür (free skate): crowning this year's winner on de:wp. The Wikipedian Nobel Prize 2026 for German Wikipedia goes to Drahreg01, with three created articles. Congratulations! – O2