Bilde
First Kavli Prizes to be awarded Tuesday, 9 September, presented by Norways Crown Prince Haakon Magnus
Seven pioneering scientists who have transformed human knowledge in the fields of nanoscience, neuroscience and astrophysics will receive the first Kavli Prizes, awarded by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, on 9 September, 2008 . The prize in each of the three scientific areas consists of one million dollars; each laureate also receives a gold medal and a scroll. The award ceremony takes place at Oslo Concert Hall and will be hosted by Åse Kleveland, artist and former Minister of Culture.
Seven laureates
The President of the Academy, Ole Didrik Lærum, announced the names of the first Kavli Laureates in May. The astrophysics prize was awarded jointly to Maarten Schmidt of the California Institute of Technology (USA) and Donald Lynden-Bell of Cambridge University (UK). Louis E. Brus of Columbia University (USA) and Sumio Iijima of Meijo University (Japan) share the nanoscience prize. The neuroscience prize goes to three scientists: Pasko Rakic of Yale University School of Medicine (USA), Thomas Jessell of Columbia University (USA) and Sten Grillner of the Karolinska Institute (Sweden).
Celebration of science
The award ceremony will be attended by the Kavli Prize laureates; His Royal Highness Crown Prince Haakon of Norway; Fred Kavli, founder of The Kavli Foundation; Ole Didrik Lærum, President of the Academy; Reidun Sirevåg, Secretary General of the Academy; Tora Aasland, Norwegian Minister of Research and Higher Education; the Kavli Prize committee chairs; and approximately 900 scientists and guests from around the world.
Before coming to Oslo to receive the prize, Kavli Prize-winner Sten Grillner will appear as a featured speaker at the prestigious British BA Festival of Science. His lecture, entitled “The Logics of Networks in Motion – from Genes to Behaviour,” will be given on 6 September, the opening day of the festival at the University of Liverpool.
As part of the Kavli Prize Week in Norway, many other internationally acclaimed scientists from the fields of astrophysics, nanoscience and neuroscience will give lectures in Oslo, Trondheim and Stavanger from the 8th to the 12th of September. Scheduled events include popular-science lectures, scientific symposia and the prize winners' lectures.
Bilde
The gold medal carries the portrait of Fred Kavli, the Norwegian-American engineer who initiated these new science awards. The Kavli Prize was established in 2005 as a joint venture between The Kavli Foundation, the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research and the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. The Academy selects the laureates on the basis of recommendations from three international prize committees.
