Million Dollar Shaw Prize Awarded To Six Scientists

Six distinguished scientists have received the million dollar 2013 Shaw Prize for their breakthroughs in scientific research.

AsianScientist (May 30, 2013) – Six distinguished scientists have received the 2013 Shaw Prize for their breakthroughs in scientific research.

The winners of this year’s prize were announced on Tuesday by the The Shaw Prize Foundation in Hong Kong. The Shaw Prize consists of three annual prizes: Astronomy, Life Science and Medicine, and Mathematical Sciences, each bearing a monetary award of US$1 million.

Established by Mr. Run Run Shaw ten years ago, the Shaw Prize honors individuals, regardless of race, nationality, gender and religious belief, who have achieved significant breakthrough in academic and scientific research or applications and whose work has resulted in a positive and profound impact on mankind.

The Shaw Prize in Astronomy was awarded in equal shares to Professor Steven A Balbus, Savilian Professor of Astronomy, University of Oxford, UK; Professor John F Hawley, Associate Dean for the Sciences and VITA Professor and Chair of Department of Astronomy, University of Virginia, USA, for their discovery and study of the magnetorotational instability, and for demonstrating that this instability leads to turbulence and is a viable mechanism for angular momentum transport in astrophysical accretion disks.

The Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine was awarded in equal shares to Professor Jeffrey C Hall, Visiting Professor, The University of Maine, USA; Professor Michael Rosbash, Professor of Biology and Investigator of HHMI, Brandeis University, USA; and Professor Michael W Young, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Professor, Rockefeller University, USA, for their discovery of molecular mechanisms underlying circadian rhythms.

The Shaw Prize in Mathematical Sciences was awarded to Professor David L Donoho, Anne T and Robert M Bass Professor of the Humanities and Sciences and Professor of Statistics, Stanford University, USA, for his profound contributions to modern mathematical statistics and in particular the development of optimal algorithms for statistical estimation in the presence of noise and of efficient techniques for sparse representation and recovery in large data-sets.

The winners will be honored on September 23 at a prize presentation ceremony in Hong Kong.

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Source: Shaw Foundation.
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