Seven pioneering scientists who have transformed human knowledge in the fields of nanoscience, neuroscience and astrophysics have become the first recipients of the million-dollar Kavli prizes. The President of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, Ole Didrik Lærum, announced the names of the prize-winners at the Academy in Oslo today, 28 May.
The astrophysics prize was awarded jointly to Maarten Schmidt, of the California Institute of Technology, US, and Donald Lynden-Bell, of Cambridge University.
Louis E. Brus, of Columbia University, US, and Sumio Iijima, of Meijo University in Japan, share the nanoscience prize.
The neuroscience prize goes to three scientists: Pasko Rakic, of the Yale University School of Medicine, US, Thomas Jessell, of Columbia University, US, and Sten Grillner, of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden.
The laureates were selected for their groundbreaking research that has significantly advanced our understanding of the unusual properties of matter on an ultra-small scale, the basic circuitry of the human brain and the nature of quasars.
They are the inaugural recipients of the new Kavli prizes, a partnership between the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, The Kavli Foundation, and the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research.
The prizes will be presented to the Kavli Laureates by HRH Crown Prince Haakon at an award ceremony in Oslo Concert Hall on the 9th of September 2008.
Please see the Prize Winner page for more information:www.kavliprize.no.
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