International Balzan Prize Foundation

Balzan Prize

International Balzan Prize Foundation - International

Description du prix :
The International Balzan Prize Foundation awards annual monetary prizes to people or organisations who have made outstanding achievements in the fields of humanities, natural sciences, culture, as well as for endeavours for peace and the brotherhood of man.

Each year the foundation chooses the fields eligible for the next year's prizes, and determines the prize amount.

Lauréats :
Prize Winners 2005 :

Lothar Ledderose, Germany
Kunsthistorisches Institut, Heidelberg
History of the art of Asia
"For his outstanding work on the history of Chinese and Japanese art and innovative ideas, contributing to a new interpretation of the art of these countries, as well as to the creation of a modern vision of its role in global art."

Peter Hall, UK
The Bartlett School of Planning, University College London
The social and cultural history of cities since the beginning of the 16th century
Motivation of the Prize Committee: "For his unique contribution to the history of ideas about urban planning, his acute analysis of the physical, social and economic problems of modern cities and his powerful historical investigations into the cultural creativity of city life."

Peter R. Grant and Rosemary Grant, UK/USA
Princeton University, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Peter R. Grant
Princeton University, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Rosemary Grant

Population biology
Motivation of the Prize Committee: "Peter and Rosemary Grant are distinguished for their remarkable long-term studies demonstrating evolution in action in Galapagos finches. They have demonstrated how very rapid changes in body and beak size in response to changes in the food supply are driven by natural selection. They have also elucidated the mechanisms by which new species arise and how genetic diversity is maintained in natural populations. The work of the Grants has had a seminal influence in the fields of population biology, evolution and ecology. It is generally regarded as the most significant study of evolutionary change in the field that has been carried out in the last 30 years."

Russell J. Hemley, USA and Ho-kwang (David) Mao, USA/China
Carnegie Institution of Washington, R. Hemley
Carnegie Institution of Washington, H. Mao

Mineral physics
Motivation of the Prize Committee: "For the impressive impact of their joint work leading to fundamental breakthroughs, theoretical and experimental, in the field of minerals submitted to extreme physical conditions. They have operated as a highly effective team, characterized by twenty years of research contributions at the highest level. They have developed techniques which allow them to study the behaviour of a wide range of materials, such as hydrogen, the most abundant “mineral” in the universe. Their results have deep implications for our understanding of nature."