Thursday, June 3, 2010

3 million dollars in Kavli Prizes announced

The richest prize in science known as the Kavli prize was announced today by the Norwegain Academy of Science and Letters. As reported in The New York Times:

The prizes, one each in astrophysics, nanoscience and neuroscience, are awarded every other year. This year, eight scientists will share the money, $3 million in all, which comes from the Kavli Foundation, set up by Fred Kavli, a Norwegian-American physicist, entrepreneur and philanthropist.

The astrophysics prize will be split three ways between Jerry Nelson of the University of California, Santa Cruz; J. Roger P. Angel of the University of Arizona; and Raymond N. Wilson, formerly of the European Southern Observatory in Garching, Germany.

The neuroscience prize will also be split three ways, between Thomas Südhof of the Stanford School of Medicine, Richard H. Scheller of Genentech and James E. Rothman of Yale for work on the molecular basis of nervous transmission.

The prize for nanoscience will go to Donald M. Eigler of I.B.M.’s Almaden Research Center in San Jose, Calif., and Nadrian C. Seeman of New York University for developing the ability to indulge in architecture and engineering on the smallest scales imaginable.

The ceremony was streamed live in conjunction with the World Science Festival (WSF), which is taking place in NYC, June 2-6, 2010.

I watched the video streaming and it was so neat to see segments from NYC with those great WSF red chairs as well as from the very elegant ceremony in Oslo. You can view it here.