The Shaw Prize is a highly esteemed international award that recognizes the achievements of scholars in the fields of astronomy, life sciences and medicine, and mathematical sciences. The Shaw Laureates for 2016 were announced on 31 May at a press conference in Hong Kong.
The Shaw Prize is one of the most esteemed international awards that recognizes the achievements of scholars in the fields of astronomy, life sciences and medicine, and mathematical sciences. Managed and administered by The Shaw Prize Foundation, the award is bestowed on scholars whose contributions to scienctific and academic research have "a positive and profound impact on mankind." According to the foundation, from this year, the monetary award for each prize has been increased from US$1 million to US$1.2 million.
The Shaw Laureates for 2016 were announced on 31 May at a press conference in Hong Kong. Here is the line up of this year's winners for each discipline:
Astronomy
Three eminent researchers shared this award for “conceiving and designing the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), whose recent direct detection of gravitational waves opens a new window in astronomy, with the first remarkable discovery being the merger of a pair of stellar mass black holes.”
Ronald W P Drever, Professor of Physics, Emeritus, California Institute of Technology, USA
Kip S Thorne, Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics, Emeritus, California Institute of Technology, USA
Rainer Weiss, Professor Emeritus in Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
Life Sciences and Medicine
Two researchers shared the award for “their discovery of the genes and the encoded proteins that recognize one chemical modification of the DNA of chromosomes that influences gene control as the basis of the developmental disorder Rett syndrome.”
Adrian Bird, Buchanan Professor of Genetics, University of Edinburgh, UK
Huda Y Zoghbi, Professor of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, Director of Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute, Texas Children’s Hospital and Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, USA
Mathematical Sciences
This prize was awarded to Nigel J Hitchin, Savilian Professor of Geometry, Oxford University, UK, for “his far reaching contributions to geometry, representation theory and theoretical physics. The fundamental and elegant concepts and techniques that he has introduced have had wide impact and are of lasting importance.”
Congratulations to all the winners!