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Having an inquisitive mind, I often surf the information superhighway otherwise known as the Internet and always come across interesting bits of information that tends to raise questions resulting in articles written for The Lang Report.

As this is a regular occurrence, I will be adding an ongoing category titled "Brain Food"  which I am sure my readers will find more than worthwhile.

Here's a little tidbit of information which is a sample of things to come,

Statistics have always fascinated me as numbers, like words, can tell a story through their interpretation and therein lies the key. We have all seen one politician rattling off an array of numbers in an effort to make their point, only to be followed by their adversary making a counter-point using the same figures. How is that possible?

Mark Twain wrote: "There are three kinds of lies:  lies, damned lies, and statistics." 

I remembered once reading about the extraordinary amount of  Nobel prizes won by people of Jewish ancestry compared to other population segments. I do have some theories as to why this is so but I will save them for a later article. Even though I was born Jewish myself, I am not making any judgments as to the superiority of Jews over any other group. I am merely publishing an existing statement of fact.

Read on and draw your own conclusions.....OK?

From a pool of 12 million Jews (0.2% of the world's population) which works out to 2 out of every 1,000 people there are 178 Nobel Prize winners

From a pool of 1.4 billion Muslims (20% of the world's population) which works out to 2 out of every 10 people there are 9 Nobel Prize winners

Based on these numbers, the Muslims represent 117 times the number of Jews! Based upon this 117:1 Muslim-to-Jewish ratio, one might expect the Muslims to have 24,920 Nobel Laureates, but have only 9.

Why do you think that is so? Thankfully the answer is not a simple one as it must take into account many factors. We will discuss these and more in a subsequent post.

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  1. 90 Comment(s)

  2. By Victor Gordon | Reply

    Can’t agree with your figures. I 1.4 million Muslims only produced 9 Nobel Prize winners how can that work out to 2 in every 10 people ?? The same applies to the Jews figure.

  3. By bob | Reply

    you should compare to the number of Christians in the world and how many Nobel prizes Christians have won as well.

  4. By Michael Lang | Reply

    Victor, if you visit you will find where I got the facts that I did. According to this website, there are 6 Moslem Nobel Prize winner versus 165 Jewish Nobel Prize winners.
    Do your own due dilligence and let me know what you come up with.
    They are astounding stats!

    Mike Lang

  5. By Michael Lang | Reply

    Bob, the point of the article was to illustrate the amazingly huge “ratio” of Nobel Prize winners within the Jewish community. I would be fairly certain that there are more christian Bobel Prize winners the Jewish winners. However when compairing “ratios” there is no contest!
    I invite you not to take my word for it and do your own research. Go to: and convince yourself of the truth.

    Mike Lang

  6. By elliot bell | Reply

    With some 4000 years of heavy emphasis on education in the home and common study of Torah and Talmud the “smart gene” grew stronger.

  7. By Mike Lang | Reply

    Elliot, short but profound! I was always fascinated by the overwhelming evidence of the Jewish intellect’s accomplishments and the reasons for it. Perhaps it is as simple as you say. More will be revealed as the Kabballah says.

    Mike Lang

  8. By Dave | Reply

    Because you all have your heads up your ass.
    Sitting here talking about how many noble prizes Jews have won.

    In 5000 years of history, you still haven’t figured out how to make people like you.

    Might not be as smart as you’d like to think.

  9. By Michael Lang | Reply

    Dave, the article’s purpose was not to convince anybody of the superiority of Jews but to point out the “facts” and try to understand the annomaly of them. Why is it so?
    It was meant to be an intellectual dialogue which obvious went way over your small-minded head.
    Do you have anything intelligent to add to better understand the issue.
    The category is “BRAIN FOOD” which means you have to bring your brain to the table.
    You, Dave obviously lost yours along the way and chose only to show your bigotry.
    Obvious for all to see…how does it feel?

    Mike Lang – Publisher

  10. By Dave | Reply

    I’m using facts too.
    Use your Jewish logic.

    Over thousands of years of Jewish history, other ethnic groups have came and went, Jews have moved in and out of other cultures, and the foreign cultures themselves have changed.

    But their are two constants that have not changed over thousands of years.
    1. The Jewish people.

    2. People hate you.

    After a 5000 year trial period, wouldn’t you be inclined to believe that this correlation might prove causation?

  11. By Michael Lang | Reply

    Dave, I am having difficulty understanding where you’re coming from. There is no denying that Jews have been persecuted throughout history and we can debate that another time however please remember that this argument started with the publication of facts…facts which I actually found to be intersting for their lopsidedness, which again, there is no denying.
    Your vibe, however seems to come from a place of hate.
    If people hate me for being a Jew, what does it say about them? That they are the product of 5000 years of history? What a cop out!
    You appear to be an intelligent guy so please, if you care to, help us understand your motivation…OK?


  12. By Dave | Reply

    It’s simple.

    If people consistently hate you, then it becomes less likely that there is something wrong with these individuals and more likely that there is something about you that is causing them to hate you.

    People generally don’t hate virtuous people.

    Given the knifes edge that Jewish society balances on, would it not be a good idea that Jews examine what they are doing to make people hate them?

    The stink of pride in this article might speaks to what I’m talking about.

  13. By Michael Lang | Reply

    OK Dave, it is now obvious to me that you are not intersted in a dialogue but more interested in justifying hate. I do suggest that you examine “the nature of hate” but I have little hope that you’ll do so.
    You’ve pigeon-holed me and there is no remedy for that.
    If you feel the need to get thet last word in, I will let you do so. After that, take it elsewhere and I wish you well.
    I will leave you with this. If you hate me (and you don’t even know me) then it is your hate…let me repeat, YOUR HATE provoked by what? Think about it.
    See ya………….

  14. By Dave | Reply

    Anyway, let me wrap this up.
    I don’t hate the Jews. I hate the people that use their parents as a source of pride rather than their own accomplishments and character. This article spoke to that peave of mine, and that’s why I bothered posting.

    But let me give you some insight into what I’m getting at.

    The Jews seem to be especially good at isolating themselves from their host societies.

    This isolation probably left them vulnerable to the public support that was needed for the holocaust.

    This isolation is going to land them in hot water again in the middle-east.

    And will continue to be a problem until they learn that it is better to be friends than strangers.

    I have a feeling there would be less murdered Jews if more of them had understood the concept of Win-Win.

    I have no doubt that Jews are the chosen people. But from what I know of scripture God doesn’t choose his people based on their strengths. Weaknesses better illustrate his message. I suspect the disciples were far from perfect for this reason.

    Romans 9-11 has some insight on this that you might appreciate. whether or not you believe in the new testament scripture is moot. These passages will provide insight on the interpretation of the term ‘chosen people’.
    The Jews are chosen not for any special characteristics, as your article could imply. They are chosen to spread the word of God to the world. Consider the location of the promised land and it might be easier to conclude the Jews were ‘chosen’ because they were best situated to spread God’s word.

    If the term ‘chosen people’ continues to fuel the pride of the Jews, then I suspect they will be subject to the same problems they have been dealing with through their history.

    Here’s a quote from Einstein you might appreciate.


  15. By Michael Lang | Reply

    Dave, thank you for presenting an intelligent argument even though i find fault with your premise.
    You spoke of being recognized for “their own accomplishment”…. Isn’t receiving the Nobel Prize an accomplishment given solely for acheivement. It is apolitical so if a person wins it….it is because they earned it. Not because of the ethnic persuasion.
    That was the whole crux of the initial article. it was merely a reprinting of the facts with no commentary other than to marvel at the anomaly.

    On another note…it is ironic that you mention Einstein as I published an article on him this morning….see The Lang Report’s front page!

    One last thing that I always found interesting. I once read of argument that states that the word “chosen” as it is used to infer that the Jews were somehow special and favored by god is not accurate.
    The translation is actually “choosing” inferring that a Jew has the free will or the power of “choice”!
    Interesting, huh?
    It is amazing how translation and editing can comepletely change the meaning of something, in this case “The Bible” and Talmudic scripture.
    That is one of the reasons why I have trouble with any book or books being hailed as the word og god.
    Do you know the story of how the books of the bible were assembled? As a writer I find it fascinating that an assortment of books written centuries ago, asssembled and edited by all sorts of people, each with their own agandas can can be held up as the word of god…or god inspired…or any other????
    Check out:
    Until then…thanks for the feedback.

    Mike Lang

  16. By Jacob | Reply

    Why not make your next article
    “Jewish Athlete’s… Why so few?”

  17. By Michael Lang | Reply

    Jacob, interesting topic. It is now on our publishing schedule and you will be able to see it soom.
    Thanks for the input.

    Mike Lang

  18. By James | Reply

    Michael, why do you feel the need to respond to people like Dave? Doesn’t it just aggravate you? Here’s what I say whenever I encounter some anti-Semite (there is no shortage) on the internet…they are using technology helped created by Jews to insult Jews. They must have miserable lives if they waste their time doing this. So, let them continue being pathetic, low-minded jerks while we continue to try and help the world scientifically, technologically, culturally, socially, and every other way Jews have contributed to mankind. Shalom.

  19. By Michael Lang | Reply

    Shalom James,

    I often debate whether to respond to those that betray their own prejudices or worse. Often it ends up being an exercise in futility as their bias tends to run deep.
    I do, however, have a responsibility to the Readers of The Lang Report that they may be clear about our principles and beliefs even it it causes additional controversey…especially if it causes more controversey!

    Mike Lang

  20. By andrew lee | Reply

    imagine how many jews throughout history would have won a nobel prize if they existed?including jesus;his deciples;etc etc .also consider how many jewish wouldabins were murdered by the nazi nuts?

  21. By Michael Lang | Reply

    Andrew, you pose a very interesting question to ponder. What if? That has been a question posed by historians and scholars, etc. concerning many issues that the holocaust impacted.
    However, even with the extermination of so many Jews, they still managed to outperform every of segment of every society.

    Michael Lang

  22. By andrew lee | Reply

    this guy david truly has the mind set of an antisemite.they always blame the victim rather than the perpetrator.the church has been blaming jews as christ killers for 2000 yrs.could that have had some impact?even today millions of religious christians are unaware that christ &his deciples&his family were jewish.its also true that most jew haters never even met one much less interacted with unwelcomed residents in foreign lands ,jews had no means to refute the many lies taught to them by their church,parents&even their it any wonder that israel is so important to the jewish people?

  23. By Michael Lang | Reply

    Andrew, well said and very true!

    Michael Lang

  24. By David Goodman | Reply

    There have been a few interesting Davids down thru history.As regards immutable facts they speak for themselves and as for the reasons for
    them Abrahams choice of homehelp is probably relevent

  25. By David Goodman | Reply

    Hey Michael.Sorry I’m a slow reader.I note you have trouble accepting any book as the word of God. Got to admire your confidence but its a terribly high stakes game your up to bat in.Don’t know what the Torah or Talmud has to say about eternity but Websters dictionary reckons its a long time

  26. By Billie Jean | Reply

    I have read all the comments I see that the Jews do not like to be told that they are wrong even though they make mistakes they still do not acknowledge them. This will go on until they accept that they are wrong. To hide one truth you need to lie a million times. Muslims Jews can live side by side their problem was created by the so called christians. As long as you have a third party thowing oil over them you will always find those to ignite it. Among the Arabs there are those who made a lot of money from the conflict as well as from the Jews. You call yourselves Jews you call yourselves Muslims yet you are neither as non of you have understood the reasons for being here. Keep on killing each other until the Two messiah come. I say two, one would be the real one and the other false one. The war of truth and falsehood will take us there. It will be in our interest to call right is right and wrong is wrong even those who lead us today. I hope that I have not offended anyone. Lets be honest and dignified and point fingers at those who benefit from the misery of fellow humans. God is our best witness. The day will come those who side with evil will be made to answer !.

  27. By Billie Jean | Reply

    Now regards to the Nobel Prize winners we should salute them for their great acheivements. Most of them have been American Jews. Most of them saw hardship and suffering which made them strive and help the rest of mankind. Had any race suffered as much as the Jews they too would have become clever. Knowledge and money is the key motivation which we see all around us. Among the Muslims it has been the Iranian Shias who have suffered at the hands of Sunni rulers. They too have strived and went through suffering and produced great thinkers and scientists. I think when your survival depends upon Knowledge you are bound to exel in it. Look at history of the Jews in all centuries they were employed as advisers to the Muslims rulers. They held good positions. Thus they prospered through Knowledge. Muslims never hated them infact Jews are the only ones that they can share meat with. Their Khalifah Umar Al Khattab freed Jeruselem from the Christians went upto the temple mount which had been turned into a rubbish tip cleaned it with his bare hands. It was the crusaders who killed and burnt the Jews just as Hitler later repeated it. We will be judged by our intentions. Lastly how can anyone be a Jew or support the Jewish cause without accepting the Torah as word of GOD ? Mike Jews would have burnt you alive had you said that in Jeruselem !. If you think the Holy books are fabricated then why still be friends with the fabricators ? Why support them ? It does not fit you to say Shalom ! Shalom is for those worthy of following Gods commands not for those who think they know it all and radicule God’s words. Who are you trying to impress !.

  28. By Billie Jean | Reply










































  29. By Jad | Reply

    This comparison is unfair. The chinese amount to 20% of the world population but there aren’t many chinese Nobel laureates. Does that mean that the chinese have inferior intelligence? I don’t think so. People receive Nobel prizes for their contribution to 3 scientific fields and two humanetarian fields. In the scientific arena, scientists who live in the first world and have access to world class facilities are those who typically excel and deserve a Nobel prize. It is not a testimony of their intelligence as much as it is a manifestation of the serendipity of their birth place. Had the Nobel prize existed one thousand years ago when the Islamic empire was at its peak and Europe in the dark ages, I suspect the muslims would have swept all the prize categories for centuries. In the humanetarian arena, I suspect that the choice of those who are given the peace prize is highly politicized and those who are given the literature prize is highly subjective and definitely influenced by a western preference. Literature is by definition subjective and what I may like in an author is not necessarily what other may like. Therefore I will have to discount the two humanetrian categories as being meaningless as indicators of racial or ethnic superiority. In conclusion I hope the readers will agree with me that the fact that a certain race has a high number of Nobel prize winners today is by no means a true reflection of the superiority of that race but merely an artifact of being in the right place at the right time.

  30. By Bob S | Reply

    Billie Jean. If the topic is Nobel Prize winners, what does your one-sided propaganda have to do with the topic? You forget about the more than 1 million Israeli Arabs that live in peace within Israel’s borders, who are represented in the Knesset by their own elected representatives and have their own houses of worship (Mosques). These Israeli Arabs are descendents of Arabs that stayed out of the 1947, 1948 wars and did not leave in anticipation of the Israeli’s being driven “into the sea” and therefore kept their homes and land to this day. Those Arabs who voluntarily abandoned their land and chose the wrong side became refugees.

    How many synagogues and churches exist in our friend and ally country: Saudi Arabia? The answer is zero!

    During the first Gulf War when Americans were dying to protect the Saudis, the Saudis were concerned and therefore insured that no Americans were buried on their soil so that their land would not be “defiled” by non-Muslims.

    It is pretty clear that Islam’s plan is whole world subjugation and domination–the destruction of all religions except Islam, the elimination of the freedoms and quality of life we enjoy now. At that point there will be no Nobel Prize, no science, no modern civilization, no Lang Report and no progress (a la Taliban).

    I hope that the World will see and take action to prevent sending those of us who survive back to the Stone Age.

  31. By Michael Lang | Reply

    The response to this article has amazed me for reasons I chose to express in another article I just published in The Lang Report. You can read it at:

    Michael Lang

  32. By Ike | Reply

    On a TV discussion show, I once heard someone bring up the assertion that ‘the Jews’ perpetrated 9/11.
    The host’s comment was priceless:’Frankly, we’re just not that mechanically inclined!’
    ————————-just keeping it light, here.

  33. By Michael Lang | Reply

    HA,HA…..I’m all for keeping it light. Some of my best friends are wise asses.

    Mike Lang

  34. By Brad | Reply

    I want to respond to Jad’s comment above of August 6th, 2008.


    I would simply like to point out the faulty logic of this argument. Jad claims that the fact that a statistically higher proportion of Jews have won Nobel prizes is due to the fact that they reside/were born in the first world, rather then genetically superior intellect.

    If this argument were true, then how come other ethnicities with significant populations in the first world, have not won a similar proportion of Nobel prizes? For instance, how come Muslim Americans have not one a similarly large proportion of Nobel Prizes?

  35. By Shalom Freedman | Reply

    1) The best article on the subject of Jewish Nobel Prize winners was written by the non- Jewish scholar Charles Murray. He is also the world’s great expert on cultural achievement in general.
    2) It is regrettable that there are so many nutcase Anti- Semites on the world. A few just appeared on this site. It is not true as one of them claims that most Jewish Nobel Prize winners have been Americans though Jews have won around forty percent of American Nobel Prizes.
    3) The disproportionate contribution of Jews to the scientific medical and cultural life of Mankind as evidenced in Nobel Prize statistics is a fact of past and present. But it need not necessarily be true in the future, if a larger percentage of Jews decide to cut themselves off from the world of secular learning. Let’s hope that does not happen.

  36. By Michael Lang | Reply

    Shalom, thank you for your comment and mention of Charles Murray.
    Ironically, I had planned to do some follow articles on this subject because it has generated comments running the gamut and I too find it fascinating and worthy of further investigation.
    Look for these postings and most likely some re-publishing of some of Murray’s work as well.

    Michael Lang – Publisher

  37. By David | Reply

    Billie Jean has done an excellent job of research. Excellent at researching half the story. She neglects to list the vast number of incidents perpetrated by the Arabs and forgets to take into account that it was war, and a war that was started by several organized Arab national armies invading a state that was a day old and had no true national military organization and support from only one country in the entire world (Czechoslovakia). Also, yes, 700,000 Arabs were uprooted and kept in refugee camps. But these were people the invading armies told to leave while they wiped the new state off the map and could return home shortly. An equal number of Jews were forced out of Arab countries at the same time without recompense. They are mentioned in the UN calls for refugee returns but hardly anyone acknowledges them. As to refugee camps, for 20 years, they were on Arab controlled lands. Did the Egyptian and Jordanian hosts, or Saudi financiers offer to help them? No. After 1967, their literacy and economic standards went from the worst in the Arab world to the best. It’s a horrible situation, no doubt. But if two peoples start at the same point on a patch of sand and one lifts themselves up by the bootstraps and creates farmland and forests, and the other wallows in the mire, don’t blame the successful one.

  38. By Mikkel Nielsen | Reply

    To answer the question of “why so many.”

    Jewish people accounted for 98% of professorial jobs. If a grad student discovered something, it would simply be accredited to the principal investigator. My PI is in fact Jewish.

    Mikkel Nielsen

    Copenhagen, Denmark

  39. By Fisher | Reply

    Let’s not kid ourselves here about why Jews are disproportionately represented as Nobel noblemen. I’m not trying to undermine our dizzying level of achievement, but the Nobel prize is anything BUT apolitical. We’re all aware of the participation that the less honorable side of the Jewish world population has in political movements meant only to undermine and exploit the political structures and societies that they infiltrate for the sake of power alone. No matter how small that segment of our population may be, they’re well organized and very powerful and probably have little or no actual devotion to the political rhetoric that they back. They work for, what they believe, to be the good of Jewry. With that in mind, take a look at the Norwegian Nobel Committee. It’s composed, completely, of POLITICIANS! Do you really think that this prize is apolitical? That merit cannot be manufactured to a certain extent? Now take a look at Norwegian and Swedish politics (which are a corrupt joke). Oh, did I mention that we control their newspapers and media?

    We’re talking about a committee that awarded Menachem Begin. Begin is a sicko. A vocal Jewish Supremacist. A hate-machine awarded the Nobel Prize after he handed over the Sinai Peninsula in an obvious PR campaign. I’m an academic who works in a field populated by many other Jews as a university populated by many other Jewish scholars. The Nobel topic comes up annually and a few of us are able to admit that the prize is a huge joke. Let’s not kid ourselves, alright? And please don’t behave like the silly nationalists you probably claim to have nothing in common with by attributing “achievements” to yourself that you had absolutely nothing to do with, by proxy.

  40. By Mr. Feldman | Reply

    There is an “air” of superiority in the article. As easy as it is to pass of Dave as an anti-semite, I believe that one of the reasons why we have been persecuted for so long has to do with our lack of humility… which is very much in God’s character. Pride is an ugly trait and it prevents us from seeing our own faults, which is the biggest reason that keeps us apart from the God we have chosen.

    God is the highest… He has no need to defend Himself or show how He is the highest. The more one is in tune with God’s character, the more people around them will be drawn by the light that the individual emits. There is no need to prove to the world who we are. God knows. Even though the article is hidden with “facts,” the heart behind the article was not in a good place when written.

  41. By Michael Lang | Reply

    Mr. Feldman, you speak of humiltiy which I concur is an attractive quality and character asset that should be cultivated, in my opinion.

    It does always seem contradictory to speak of humility and then claim to know so much about what god wants….to think that you know what’s best for the world. WHAT ARROGANCE!

    Michael Lang

  42. By Fisher | Reply

    Yet he says nothing to the probability that the Nobel “prize” is most likely an “honor” of bureaucracy that is purchased with far greater frequency than it is achieved. I fear that ours is a people who, now all too often, use their organized will and power to purchase their acclaim, and because of that, their modern cultural identity.


  43. By Gabe | Reply

    Kind of late to this, so I don’t know if it’ll be read, but I just wanted to point out that Dave made an interesting point (amid lots of stuff I disagree with) that hasn’t been addressed:

    Dave said “I hate the people that use their parents as a source of pride rather than their own accomplishments and character.”

    To which Michael Lang responded “You spoke of being recognized for ‘their own accomplishment’â€¦. Isnâ€™t receiving the Nobel Prize an accomplishment given solely for acheivement.”

    I believe this misses the point. Dave was saying that *Michael* has no reason to be proud since *Michael* has not won a Nobel prize. Dave’s argument was that Michael shouldn’t be proud for things others have done; rather pride should be found in one’s own accomplishments and character.

    Hence, the response that the Nobel prize is offered on merit misses the mark. The people who carried out the research and won the prize have good cause to be proud of their accomplishment. Someone else who happens to share some arbitrary characteristic with them does not, whether it’s ethnic heritage, first name, height, or whatever.

    I’m 6′ tall. Would it make any sense for me to vicariously enjoy recognition for Nobel prizes by other people 6′ tall?

    It’s an interesting point Dave raised, and to be clear I’m not entirely sure I agree with it. I post this simply because I think his point was misinterpreted and didn’t get the treatment it deserved.

  44. By Michael Lang | Reply

    Gabe, I decided to respond so you would know that your efforts what not for naught.
    I understand you reasoning and do not disagree except for one thing.
    I believe it is one thing if I lived and “felt pride” vicariously through the efforts of others however that is not where I personally come from.
    It is more akin to feeling joy when the Miami Dolphins win a football game. Did I have anything to do with their win….no! But I do get excited and boast to friends of the win. Yes!
    I feel pride in being a Jew from a cultural perspective as I am actually a “Bright” by definition. (You can read about it in an article published today on TLR)
    So when I read the Nobel prize stats I feel the same as if “my team” won.
    Get it?
    Are Jews smarter, as a cultural group, then other groups? I’ll let you draw your own conclusions.
    In the mean time…YEA Jews!

    Michael Lang

  45. By George | Reply

    It’s interesting to note that 11% of all Nobel prizes have gone to people with Scottish heritage. The reason is the same as why Jews have had a disproportionate share: a culture of well-rounded education, inquiry, and above all, a desire to observe the world first, and explain it second. Many groups, especially religious groups but also national or ethnic cultures, are more concerned with obedience, and validation of beliefs. When your tendency is to validate something you already believe, you are not going to draw new conclusions: you are not going to move in the direction of a Nobel prize. Jews are very decentralized and individualistic in exactly how and what they believe but do care about family and community and humanity (“healing the world”), and they do place a very strong priority on good thinking and observation. Scots invented many things we take for granted (think of Adam Smith, David Hume, Andrew Carnegie, James Watt, the inflated tire, asphalt, raincoats, much more), because they basically invented modern liberal arts education, believing that if people know about and share as much as possible, they can move knowledge forward, and that civilization and knowledge can progress (this was not a common view before the Scottish Enlightenment).

  46. By George | Reply

    Regarding comments on why so few Jewish athletes, it’s not true. When Jews were mostly confined to urban spaces, they excelled in basketball and a number of them were on pro teams. Think Red Auerbach and others. They helped establish modern techniques of defense and hard passing. There were also many Jewish football players in the 30s and 40s and one of them, a quarterback on the Brooklyn Dodgers football team, helped make the passing game a big part of pro football. You can find examples in other sports as well–boxing, baseball (Sandy Koufax is the more famous one), others. No one would claim some hugely pivotal role for Jews, just that they have done well and enjoyed sports, and those who only notice the Woody Allen stereotypes aren’t really paying attention.

  47. By 8039 | Reply

    I think you forgot to mention that Ashkenazi Jews are the ones who won most of these awards. Askenazi those being from Eastern Europe like Poland and Russia. And some in Western Europe like Germany.

    Ashkenazi jews are also considered the people with highest average IQ’s

  48. By coco wawa | Reply

    if there is an award for killing crimes bad invents the jews definitely will won them all and thats their story in life to destroy others so that they can get nobels and earn more money!!! im not envying them !!! but truly i feel bad for their luck to be an example for other people so that we can be better people any way do u know people why hitler didnot kill all jew when he was able to do that in hours?????????????????????????
    he said…i wanted to leave some alive so that you will know why i was killing them.!

  49. By DF | Reply

    OK– coco wawa wins the Nobel for the nuttiest raving lunatic incomprehensible comment by someone who must have had help working the computer because what can be understood from that word salad betrays an IQ not much greater than the average broken household appliance.

    Meanwhile, thanks all for a fascinating discussion. Jews have made phenomenal and remarkable achievements in the face of waves of unrelenting hostility. To the anti-Semites who want to know why the world hates the Jews, I submit that, unlike the other cultures today and throughout history, Jews have celebrated the achievements of others and extended a hand — even to their enemies — to help them gain such achievements. No other culture on the face of the earth can say the same — except that great experiment we call America. And so you have a convergence where not only do Americans and Jews each win a disproportional number of Nobels but American Jews win the highest percentage yet.
    People hate those who expose their foibles, even when they expose them only by their very existence. Anti-Semites seem filled with hate, but those who hate others for the mere fact of their existence are merely telegraphing their shame at being inferior to the human race. Some haters are even smart enough to know this, but all haters have the innate sense to feel it. They are to be pitied.

  50. By Michael Lang | Reply

    DF, thanks for restoring some semblance of sanity to The Lang Report. I wasn’t sure if I was going to respond to the earlier comment as I didn’t think that anything I might say would penetrate the ignorance, bias and whatever other deficiency the writer suffers from.
    So thanks for taking the initiative because your comment was right on the money.
    Keep coming back to TLR as we need more readers like yourself.

    Mike Lang

  51. By Ralph | Reply

    As a Jew I must agree that it is one’s own accomplishments that maketh the man, not those of his neighbours (or ancestors). However I do think it is due to centuries of fostering a scholarly bent that has made Jews excel in academia. As for other fields of human endeavour, I am not sure though I would like to know. As for the neo-nazi above who resents the stats does he also deny that most pro basketball players are black – maybe he IS black and would like to BE a pro basketball player!!!

  52. By Ephraim | Reply

    you wanna know why people hate us. we were the first monotheistic religion, belief in only on god. Christianity and islam both came out of judiasm so to deny that they both try to undermine the jews. WE have gone through so much hate and pain yet we not only survive we flourish. First was the ancient egyptians, the babylonians,the persians, the assyrians,the greeks,the romans, the crusaders, the many kingdoms of medeivel europe,the nazis, and now the moslems. Now tell me how things turned out for the many of the groups. They are gone, but us who they tried to kill, persecute, and convert are here contributing to the world

  53. By Sheen | Reply

    Well, I can tell you, that as a highly intelligent non jew, who has highly intelligent non-jewish friends and relatives, I find prizes of this sort insulting. Insulting because I know that other people accomplish so much in this world, and do so much, and so much of their brilliance goes unaccounted for. Not everyone has it in their genes to seek recognition for their actions, or to move beyond the workshops in their homes where they discover and learn how things work. There is brilliance in every facet of humanity, and to award prizes to any facet, is ignorance. In due time all accomplishments today will be trivial, and in due time it will be realised that all understanding is inevitable. Then the true meaning of life will be apparent, it is not to know how the world works, but how to exist peaceably. How to survive without degrading ourselves into murderers, how to live and love life without standing on the shoulders of others.

  54. By david brown | Reply

    Being academically clever is no substitute for being compassionate and moral. Stealing Palestinian land and committing genocide shows intellect has it’s shortcomings. If you go back far enough you will see the Arabs have contributed greatly to civilization as well. This blog is racist.

  55. By david brown | Reply

    The ancient Jews are also gone. The romans morphed into the Italians, The Persians in to the Iranians. and so on. And the Muslims are alive and very much kicking. Islam is the fastest growing religion on Earth Judaism evolved from earlier pagan religions. There is nothing new under the Sun. And certainly no such thing as a superior race as you are insinuating .

  56. By sos | Reply

    why not compare the number of people killed by jews and the whole world.

  57. By david brown | Reply

    Why compare the number of people killed by anyone? Are you saying that the race that killed the most, are superior or inferior? 9 million people were killed by King Leopold in the Congo. The Nazis sent 3 million Communists to the death camps. It is estimated that over 10 million slaves died while in captivity. No one race has a monopoly on suffering

  58. By Tom Prendergast | Reply

    I have always been confused and bemused, in equal measure, by the concept of Jewishness. If it is a religion then how can secular Jews be called Jews at all? If it is an ethnicity then why are there Sephardic, Ashkenazic and Mizrachi Jews who are obviously racially different. It is also disregarding the huge contribution Muslim scientists made to Astronomy, Maths and Medicine at a time when Europe was still barely more than barbarians.

  59. By Tom Prendergast | Reply

    Another question that begs to be answered is why, if the Jews in Germany were so clever, did they allow themselves to be shipped off to concentration camps? Apart from the Warsaw Ghetto there was very little resistance and virtually none in Germany itself.

  60. By mjp | Reply

    look at the numbers again, it’s 1.4 BILLION… these figures are correct and come from an in depth study, in a book entiled 100 Years of Nobel Laureates pub. in 2003.

  61. By mrs | Reply

    Michael, you are asking an excellent question. Many famous people have asked that question, or another, related question: How is it possible that the Jewish people exist altogether? For more information, visit

    or, see below, part of this article:

    “Many scholar, historian and writers have noticed this and remarked about it.







  62. By Paul Walker | Reply

    I praise God for the Jewish people, for out of them came Jesus Christ, my Messiah. As a christian I am well aware of being a branch grafted into the family of God, of which Israel is the root stock… read Romans 11 people.

  63. By Leslie | Reply


    Perhaps people hate us because we are so smart :)

  64. By Julian | Reply

    Firstly a little about myself. My mother was of irish scottish background and my father was of jewish irish background. I was brought up a Catholic. With a jewish (central European) surname my background was questioned by bigoted people when I was a kid.

    But as the years go by, all I see that divides humanity is religion. What unites us is love of music, food, art and culture of peoples.
    As a species we have a long way to go in developing societies to the point where religion is no longer regarded as something that is needed. The idea we need religion to tell us what is right or wrong is extremely questionable.

    With the ever increasing awareness of mental health issues, governments are not turning to religions to solve the problem, nor are religious leaders claimimg abilities to fix the problem. It is medical health professional, psychologists and psychiatrists who are tacking these issues.

    We are still burdened with the need to believe in a deity. But as our knowledge of who we are as a species, and our place in the universe increases, we are left with the sense of how insignifcant we are, but also how precious.

    There are cultural and genetic influences and factors that govern intellectual development. No doubt these have a big bearing on why there are many jewish nobel prize winners.

    You could use those factors to argue why Muslims have few nobel prize winners. Surprisingly the chinese and japanese have few winners too, considering their population size, and in the case of japan, their technological advancement.

  65. By steve | Reply

    The point of what the author is saying is that In proportion to society as a whole jewish people have a larger percentage , roughly 25 percent of achievements in the Nobel Peace prizes in Medicine, Science, and other critical areas of accomplishments that have helped the human race. The Jews representIn the the US and Israel and the whole world there are only roughly 25 million. Why do the Jews represent 25-35% of the discoveries and awards? If the Jews were not eliminated in the Holocaust, think about it, it is conceivable that every disease affecting mankind might have been cured from aids cancer you name it. You would not see one telethon on TV. What do you think of them apples????

  66. By steve | Reply

    That is an interesting comment. Why if the Jews were so smart did they get shipped off to the concentration camp. Well, I’m a Jew and not so bright. I built my own business, but that doesn’t make me any smarter than you. If 20 soldiers in the middle of the night came to your house tonight, that’s assuming you are intelligent as well. Now, the 20 soldiers had machine guns and a tank waiting outside or maybe they decided not to bring one. You could handle that I bet. It would be a bonus that night for you. Use your head. What would you do even if this happened tonight in the United States because of whatever religion you are. How about your wife and kids? Your parents and all your relatives have 20 soldiers at their door. Now your whole family is taken and put on trains, Better yet The reason the Jews were killed is because they had to much influence in what was going on in Germany , they were the Brains of Germany. When Hitler came to power he wanted it his way, so, he killed the jews to get rid of them. Does this make sense or are you more intelligent than I or am I more stupid than you? If the Jews were alive today from the Holocaust all your relatives who passed away from disease may be alive today from all all that were killed. You might of been able to live till your 100 without any sickness and your kid’s kid’s Think about it. Pretty Interesting thought when the Jews put their minds to things instead of whistling the day away.

  67. By Alex | Reply

    What about the Nobel prize committee? If it is Jewish that would explain the phenomenon.

  68. By Xavier | Reply

    As a non Jewish person (in fact, i never met any Jew in my life), i think that, above all, being Jew is being part of a unique culture, no matter the religious beliefs or genetic inheritance. I’m not an expert on the matter, but i believe that the IQ is highly influenced by factors such as education, that are tightly attached to the culture. And the Jewish culture emphasizes literacy, more than any other culture.

  69. By bernie from Planck's | Reply

    Jacob, Let me tell you why there are so few Jewish Athletes:  teams owners rarely want to play.

  70. By scott | Reply

    If you read this you will find that it is mostly political:

    Also you have to ask yourself if they are so ‘smart’ why don’t they lead the list of great inventors. Quite simply: they don’t. So logical sense tells me this Nobel prize nonsense is political. Enter the prize for Obama and hello…

    I get so tired of Jewish supremacism. But of course you will reverse it as you always do and call me ant “anti-semite”. Last I checked, khazars are not semitic, (but palestinians are). I don’t care though, I say most Jews are supremacists and this editorial fits it perfectly even if subtle.

  71. By Nalliah Thayabharan | Reply

    Centuries ago, after the decline of the Roman Empire, Muslims in Spain worked along with Jews in developing literature, science, music and art. Together, they translated classical Greek texts into Arabic. This task later helped Europe move out of the Dark Ages and into the Renaissance. Arab and Persian scholars like Zakariā ye Rāzi, Alī ben-Nāfi, Yaqūb ibn-Tāriq, Ibn-an-Nafis, Mūsā al-Khwārizmī, Abd-al-Malik ibn-Zuhr, Takiyuddin, Ghazali and Ibn Rushd contributed to the mankind including Arabic numerals, the digit "zero", architecture, music, art, etc. 
    While the cultural domain in the Middle East was overwhelmingly Persian, the major development of the Arab culture took place in Spain and, by coincidence, also the main Jewish settlement of that period. Jews flourished under Arab rulers.  
    Jews were expelled from settlement in Spain five hundred years ago. Under Turkish rulers the Arab world collapsed, the Arabic culture declined and the Arab scientific development ceased. Since beginning of the 1700s the number of Jewish scholars in science and arts is in constant increasement in Europe and subsequently in the North America. The current Arab culture has lots of natural resources to exploit.  Also the current Arab culture is insular and poor in intellectual life. The current Jewish culture is entirely opposite to the current Arab culture. A culture that fostered and prized intellectualism is always created out of need and opportunity.  
    Muslims began challenging the power of their religious leaders. Muslim intellectuals lost in their challenge of their religious power. Mullahs declared a Fatah that anyone who challenged them should be put to death. The intellectuals folded and Arab culture stayed frozen for the last five hundred years. During the inquisition time the science was on very poor level in Christian countries too. Separation of social life and religion boosted the science and education in Christian countries. Modern life means embracing science and technology but Muslims can’t even agree to adopt scientific lunar calendar. When the religion and social life are separated, it opens the way to free discussions which produce the better and faster way to embrace science and technology. Religious leaders in most Muslim countries have monopolized the spiritual and the metaphysical in a way that disrupts scientific progress in those countries. Science, knowledge and education can only flourish in a culture that won't recognize any taboos and constantly doubts creeds of all sorts. The Nobel laureates cannot grow from cultures where the religious leaders have ultimate control over intellectual quests. It is very difficult for great scientific minds to exhaust their potential in countries due to the  lack of religious and intellectual freedom. 
    The countries where restrictions for the religious life are not very strict, the population is highly educated. Bangladesh and Indonesia combined do not publish half as many research papers annually as Malaysia. 
    The lack of political pluralism accounts for part of the lack of education among Muslims.  Muslim countries are stifled under secular prowestern backward, divisive dictatorial authoritarian repressive western-supported regimes that want to keep Muslims weak, divided and backward. 
    Iran is the only sizable Muslim country that is free from Western meddling. Iran has more than ten times the average world growth in scientific publications. Iran launched Kavoshgar4 to space with biocapsule intended to carry a monkey to space, paving the way for human space flight. Iran has its own supercomputer, national operating system, world leading nanotechnology, biotechnology, launched own satellites to space, makes own automobiles, builds own aircrafts.
    Muslims should look at their corrupt religious and political leaders who hijacked their beautiful culture in order to stay in power. This was the problem not only five hundred years ago, now too.

  72. By Michael K. | Reply

     Jesus said "You will be hated by everyone because of me." and "If you belonged to the world it would love you as its own but i have CHOSEN you out of the world, that is why it hates you." How then can a Christian conclude that the Jews are responsible for the hatred they received? Paul the first apostle confirms that the Jews remain Gods chosen people even to this day.  "Did God rejected his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. God did not reject his people whom he foreknew". Only the evil doers are responsible for the evil they commit. To rationalize murder by concluding that the Jews somehow deserved it is to take sides with satan himself who is the author of evil. The persecution of the Jews makes much more sense if you recognize the fact that the Jews were Gods first chosen people and continue to be so to this day. In fact Jesus and the apostles were all Jewish and died as Jews. Gods enemy, satan or we can just call it evil if you dont believe in a personal evil, has always been jealous of Gods greatest creation and from the beginning of time he tried to destroy mankind who is the object of Gods affection. His motive was jealous hatred as God gave his children the authority that once belonged to him. People who are under satans influence hate because of jealousy, and with so many Jewish noble prize winners, and the fact that the Jews remain Gods chosen people to this day, it stands to reason why there is so much hatred towards them. 

  73. By oren | Reply

    You can not deny the statistics of the nobel prize winners. there are some very smart jews out there.
    But that does not mean that if you are jewish you are most likely to be smart. Actualy as a jew myself and as an israeli I can tell you that almost everybody I know personaly is jewish (I do also know a few arabs). I do know a few very smart jews but most of them are very stupid like any other nationality in the world.

  74. By dereya | Reply

    Conguratlation to all Jew for your conturabution about the knowledge and the new civilasation like the invention of Computer, Google, Microsoft and more………….

  75. By Dmitry | Reply

    Michael, your calculation may need some rethinking. Consider chances of an uneducated person (without a college degree) to win a Nobel prize? These are likely close to zero. Now to be fair to other nations, one would have to calculate your ratios base on total number of college grads, rather than total population. I would speculate that the gap would then shrink somewhat, as it is well known that the Jews are more likely to send (even force :-)) their kids through college. This, incidentally, may also explain the disproportionate amount of Ashkenazim among the Nobel Jews. Sforadim didn't have the tradition (nor opportunity) for college education.

  76. By Norm Galston | Reply

    Heeey Dave…
    "In 5000 years of history, you still haven’t figured out how to make people like you."
    It only took me 2 minutes to figure out that I don't like you…What's your excuse, Putz????
    Stormin' Norm

  77. By Fred Mathis | Reply

    Hello Mike, I am a Christian & I thank God for the Jewish people.  here is my view on why the Jews have been able to contribute more then any other race.
    Genesis ch.12 v.3 (God was speaking to Abram) I will bless them that bless thee & curse them that curse thee: & IN THEE ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH BE BLESSED.
    Gentiles just don't get it,  that it's God who has chosen to bless the Jewish race & all have benefited from the Jews because of God's promise to Abram & his seed through Isaac, & Jacob (Israel).
    I also find it interesting that the tiny nation of Israel produces enough fruit & vegetables to keep most of europe supplied, & although Holland is the largest exportor of flowers, Israel supplys Holland with much of thier flowers.
    Huuuuum, could it be that God is true to His word?  God still has His eye on Israel.
    Deuteronomy ch.32 vs.9&10 for the Lord's portion is His people; Jacob is the lot of His inheritance. He found him in a desert land, & in the waste howling wilderness; He led him about, He instructed him, He kept him as the APPLE OF HIS EYE.
    Psalm 122 v.6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee
    I think America was so blessed because we were a safe haven for the jewish peole for such a long time, now that may be changing by our present presidents agenda.
    Obama would'nt even see Benjamin Natanyahu in his 1st visit, but could'nt bow low enough when he saw the Saudi king, & many other of our enemys. 
    Israel has been our only true friend in that region, & now they are pressured to give up more land for peace, when they know thier enemy's only want to annilate them.
    one more word, Israel has never as yet occupied all the land God has promised them. the nation of Israel will be attacked as spoken of in Ezekiel ch.38, but God will fight for them as in times past. they will never again be driven from the land God has promised them.
    I might be a little biased toward the Jews, my paternal grandmother was Jewish, & I'M PROUD TO SAY SO!!!

  78. By Sarniaguy31 | Reply

    If any of you were reasonably intelligent, you would realize the following:
    1) There is a large majority of Christians with Jewish ancestry (The first Christians were Jews before they were Christians), and a considerable amount of Jews have Arab ancestry,  so the argument of a "smart gene" in favor of Jews is moot. 
    2) Jewish parents tend to push their children toward higher levels of academia, due to social pressures within the community. Christian parents, not so much.
    3) Although the Scottish comprise less than one-half of 1 percent of the world’s population, 11 percent of all Nobel prizes have been awarded to individuals with Christian / Scottish roots.The Scottish make up approximately 0.075% of the worlds population, whereas Jews make up 0.2%, These numbers clearly demonstrate that given equal population samples between Jews and Scots, a Scotsman is more likely to win a Nobel prize than a Jew.

    Point of this post? Anyone who believes that an individual is more intelligent because they are a Jew, or any other religion is a moron. Some of my most idiotic friends are Jews, and some of them are Muslim and Christian. Some of my most intelligent friends are Jews, as well as Christians and Muslims. Any difference in prize ratios for Nobel Laureates are likely a result of Nurturing, rather than Nature.

  79. By Philosoper P | Reply

    The Nobel Prize has been in existence for about 100 years now, so your analysis is basically a snapshot of current achievements. Adding to Tom's point above, the golden age of Islam spanned centuries, and provided advancement when the rest of Europe was stuck in the dark ages.
    Maybe you can assign the Nobel achievements of the past century as the golden age of Judaism.
    But my guess is that 100 years from now, some guy called Lee Chen will write a blog "Chinese Nobel Prize Winners – why so many?"
    Enjoy it while it lasts…

  80. By Truth | Reply


    People don't hate you because you are so smart.  They hate you because you never miss an opportunity to say it.

  81. By Emmnuel | Reply

    Islam represent complete evil in this world. Muslim will be leading in terorism and other act of human retrogression

  82. By Wyatt | Reply

    As a person of Jewish descent, I think I have an idea of why Jews have been so successful throughout history. I can relate it to my own life. Throughout my childhood I was far from popular, and no it wasn't because I was doing something wrong, I just didn't know how to defend myself. Anyways, since I was left primarily to my own devices I sought out other ways to spend my time, like studying or thinking in general. When it came time to graduate I went off to a top-tier university and many of my co-eds stayed home and now work for minimum wage at a slew of fast food joints around town. Anyways, the moral is, Jews, having been persecuted through history have developed a sort of train among their culture, much like a kid being a geek (for lack of a better word) in school, that since much of society denied them, then they would be left to make life better for themselves, they had no other choice. Anyways, that's my two cents. (:

  83. By Wyatt | Reply

    So it doesn't mean that any religious group or race is any smarter than the next, that is entirely unfounded, however, based on a multitude of historical variables, cultures, people and religions, develop in a certain way. Also, there is no doubt that the Prize is Eurocentric, I mean if you look at a map of winners they all are virtually from North American and Europe. Oh, and the reason I think Jewish people have had so much trouble throughout history is simply based on the fact they are a small relatively closed group (I mean closed in that they are not evangelical) and empires, states, etc. are not fans of small seemingly secretive groups. They saw it as a threat and therefor wanted to control it with fear. Out of that would come Jewish success as I mentioned earlier and it would only exacerbate the problem.
    Finally, the word train in my previous post was meant to be trait.

  84. By r ipsa | Reply

    Sarniaguy31's math is deficient (Dec 27, 2011 comment).
    He/she says that "11 percent of all Nobel prizes have been awarded to individuals with Christian / Scottish roots … who make up approximately 0.075% of the worlds population, whereas Jews make up 0.2%." Of the 7 billion people alive now, 14 million (0.002, or 0.02%) are Jewish and 35 million are of Scottish descent (0.005, or 0.5%).
    So there are 2 1/2 times as many Scots/Scottish descent as there are Jews, yet Jews have won 25% of Nobels, and those of Scottish descent have won (using his statistics) "only" 11% of Nobels. Proportionate to their population, Jews have won 5 times as many Nobels as the Scottish.
    Even so, 11& of all Nobels is quite an accomplishment.

  85. By r ipsa | Reply


  86. By Robert | Reply

    Dave, don't let envy blind your reason. All have come and gone – except the Jew. He is eternal. Maybe you should glean a different understanding from that other than that Jews are bad. You are a fool and every subsequent comment you make reinforces that.

  87. By ESLombard | Reply

    Most of the above entries have an element of truth in them but end up like the blind men trhying to describe an elephant. To the writer of Jewish outrages in Palestine, although many are exaggerated wildly, they all ignore the precipitating factors from British and Arabs.  There were causes and effects.  I doubt the accuracy of them all when I know that although a right wing group did bomb the King David Hotel, they bombed only a small wing, they gave an hour's warning, and it was in retribution for a British outrage committed against their group.  US Black activist, Rlon Karenga, told his followers, "Do what the Jews do." There's much intermarriage now, but in 1920 (?), IQ results indicated that in the US people of Scotish or Jewish origins scored the highest.  This, of course, can be challenged and rationalized away.  Finally, over the last 60 years, Israel has produced 7200 patents and the 22 Arab nations have produced 6300.. and yes, I can think of several explanations.
    BUT I do want to remind readers that although today there are still great numbers of Palestinian Arabs rotting in horrible camps because that's the way the Arab Nation wants it, a much greater number of Jews from Arab countries were made refugees at the very same hour but are now flourishing in Israel and consist of more than half the Jewish population. Some cultures use their assets wisely; others wallow in self-righteous pity and sacrifice their assets fecklessly.

  88. By ESLombard | Reply

    Sorry, a typo: Israel has produced 7200 and the 22 Arab nations produced 630 NOT 6300, and even that erroneous figure would still have made the point.

  89. By roy | Reply

    The disproportionate number of jewish scientists amonng nobel prize winners is analysed in her book 'symbolic logic' by DrSusanne Langer, who finds this attributable to the capability of the language used for thinking, in this case, the ease with which thought process is facilitated by jewish language.

  90. By bernie from Planck's | Reply

    Actually Jews would have won even more Nobel Prizes but for the fact that the Swedes are anti-semites. It took years after Einstein's theory of relativity for them to award anything at all to him until they were shamed into doing it.
    As for Jews controlling everything, at our last meeting of the World Jewish Conspiracy, I complained that it seems we lost control of the Internet since so many people seem to be free to say bad things about us.

  91. By Brian | Reply

    What the article was saying is that the jewish population is .2 of the worlds population yet the Jewish Nobel peace prize winners total 178. The muslim population is 20% of the worlds population(a hundred times the jewish population) yet the muslim nobel peace prize winners are 9 . If the percentage of winners was equal to difference in population, you mighjt expect there to be 24,920 muslim winners but as you see, there are only 9. A muslim once attributed this to the fact that the torah( jewish law) requires everyone to read the scriptures and memorize them . You must be 100% literate to be a jew. I believe also that there is power in the holy writ. There are many testamonies of how christians also improved their grades in school by memorizing scripture

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