The role played by Jews in 20th-century intellectual life—especially in the United States—is truly spectacular and distinctive. They constitute just 0.2% of the world’s population, and 2% of the U.S. population, yet they have won 22% of all Nobel Prizes (awarded in Sweden and Norway), 20% of all Field Medals for Mathematics, 67% of the John Clarke-Bates Medals for Young Economists, 38% of the Academy Awards for Best Director, 20% of the Pulitzer Prizes for Nonfiction, and 13% of the Grammy Awards for Lifetime Achievement.
