The Shaw Foundation Council is honored to award 3 Shaw Prizes for the year 2006:

The winners for the Astronomy Prize are Drs. Saul Perlmutter, Adam Riess and Brian Schmidt for their discovery that the universe is accelerating in its rate of expansion. Ever since Einstein established the discipline of Cosmology in 1917, and Hubble found that the universe is expanding in 1929, the rate of expansion of the universe has been a central subject of research in Astronomy. To the international astronomy community, the discovery in 1998 that the universe is in fact accelerating in its rate of expansion was a profound shock. Implications of this discovery for physics, astronomy and philosophy will be a major subject of further research in future years.

The Life Science and Medicine Prize will be awarded to Dr. Xiaodong Wang for his detailed study of the complicated biochemical mechanism for cell death. Before Wang's work, the mitochondria was regarded as only the energy source of cells. Wang found that in fact the mitochondria plays also an essential part in triggering cell death, opening the door to new areas of basic and therapeutic research.


This year's Mathematical Sciences Prize goes to Drs. David Mumford and Wu Wentsun. Both winners started their careers in pure mathematics but in recent years have made separate major contributions to applied mathematics. Mumford's work are in pattern theory and vision research, while Wu's work are in computer proofs of propositions in geometry. The Shaw Foundation Council recognizes the increasing importance of mathematics in the increasing complexity of modern society, and is pleased to recognize great contributions by pure mathematicians to applied mathematics.