The Hong Kong-based Shaw Prize Foundation announced on Tuesday that this year's Shaw laureates are seven scientists who have made outstanding achievements in the three categories of astronomy, life science and
medicine, and mathematical sciences.
The Shaw Prize is an international award to honor individuals who have achieved significant breakthroughs in academic and scientific research or applications, and whose work has resulted in a positive and profound impact on mankind, said Chair of the Shaw Prize Council Kenneth Young in a press release.
The Astronomy prize was awarded in equal shares to Matthew Bailes from the Australian Research Council, Duncan Lorimer and Maura McLaughlin from West Virginia University in the United States, for the discovery of fast radio bursts. The three laureates described the first fast radio burst found by human beings in a research paper written in 2007.
The Life Science and Medicine prize went to Patrick Cramer from the Max Planck Society in Germany, and Eva Nogales from the University of California, Berkeley, in the United States, for pioneering structural biology that enabled visualization, at the level of individual atoms, of the protein machines responsible for gene transcription, one of life's fundamental processes.
The Mathematical Sciences prize was split between Vladimir Drinfeld from the University of Chicago in the United States, and Shing-Tung Yau from Tsinghua University. Drinfeld participated in the launching of the geometric Langlands program, and Yau worked on mathematical problems arising from general relativity and string theory.
Established in 2002, the Shaw Prize is managed under the Shaw Prize Foundation and has been awarded annually since 2004. This year witnesses the 20th cycle of the prize and the presentation ceremony is scheduled later this year on Nov. 12 in Hong Kong.
