Names of the 2010 Kavli Prize Winners Announced

EIGHT scientists whose discoveries have dramatically expanded human understanding in the fields of astrophysics, nanoscience and neuroscience have been recognised with the award of the million-dollar Kavli Prizes.

Astrophysics
Jerry Nelson, of the University of California, Santa Cruz, US, Ray Wilson, formerly of Imperial College London and the European Southern Observatory, and Roger Angel, of the University of Arizona, Tucson, US, share the astrophysics prize for their respective innovations in the field of telescope design that have allowed us glimpses of ever more distant and ancient objects and events in the remote corners of the Universe.

Nanoscience
The nanoscience prize was awarded jointly to US scientists Donald M. Eigler, of IBM’s Almaden Research Centre, San Jose, California, and Nadrian Seeman, of New York University.

Neuroscience
Three US-based scientists - Thomas Südhof, of Stanford University School of Medicine, Richard Scheller, of the biotech company Genentech, and James Rothman, of Yale University - are the joint recipients of the neuroscience prize for their work to reveal the precise molecular basis of the transfer of signals between nerve cells in the brain.

The announcement was made in Oslo by Nils Chr. Stenseth, President of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters June 3, and transmitted live at the opening event of the World Science Festival in New York. The laureates will each receive a scroll, a gold medal and share of the $1,000,000 prize for each of the three fields.

Winners have been selected by committees of leading international scientists in the three fields. The prize committees are appointed by The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters after receiving recommendations from international academies and scientific organisations including the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the French Academy of Sciences, the Max Planck Society of Germany, the US National Academy of Sciences and the UK’s Royal Society.

Read more about the 2010 Kavli Prize winners and their work on the Laureates 2010 page