Monday, 23 September 2013. At today’s presentation ceremony of The Shaw Prize at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, the Honourable CY Leung, Chief Executive of the HKSAR, People’s Republic of China, presented the awards to the six Laureates.

After several months of deliberation, the international prize committee selected the Shaw Laureates and announced the results at the press conference on 28 May 2013.

Details of this year’s Shaw Laureates are as follows:

The Shaw Prize in Astronomy is awarded in equal shares to

Professor Steven A Balbus
Savilian Professor of Astronomy, University of Oxford, UK and

Professor John F Hawley
VITA Professor of Astronomy and Associate Dean for the Sciences, University of Virginia, USA

for their discovery and study of the magnetorotational instability, and for demonstrating that this instability leads to turbulence and is a viable mechanism for angular momentum transport in astrophysical accretion disks.

The Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine is awarded in equal shares to

Professor Jeffrey C Hall
Professor Emeritus of Biology, Brandeis University, USA,

Professor Michael Rosbash
Peter Gruber Professor of Neuroscience and HHMI Investigator, Brandeis University, USA and

Professor Michael W Young
Vice President for Academic Affairs and Richard and Jeanne Fisher Professor, Rockefeller University, USA

for their discovery of molecular mechanisms underlying circadian rhythms.

The Shaw Prize in Mathematical Sciences is awarded to

Professor David L Donoho
Anne T and Robert M Bass Professor of Humanities and Sciences, and
Professor of Statistics, Stanford University, USA

for his profound contributions to modern mathematical statistics and in particular the development of optimal algorithms for statistical estimation in the presence of noise and of efficient techniques for sparse representation and recovery in large data-sets.

The Shaw Prize was established under the auspices of Mr Run Run Shaw in November 2002 to honour individuals, regardless of race, nationality, gender and religious belief, who have recently achieved significant breakthrough in academic and scientific research or applications and whose work has resulted in a positive and profound impact on mankind. The Shaw Prize consists of three annual prizes: Astronomy, Life Science and Medicine, and Mathematical Sciences, each prize bearing a monetary award of one million US dollars. This is the tenth year that the Prize has been awarded.

Highlight of the 2013 ceremony will be released worldwide via satellite between Hong Kong time 2230–2300 (GMT 1430–1500). Photographs will be uploaded the same day at Hong Kong time 2230 (GMT 1430) on the website www.shawprize.org. The ceremony programme will be broadcast on HKTVB Jade and Pearl Channels on 28 September at Hong Kong time 2300–2330 and on 30 September at Hong Kong time 1900–1930 respectively.

23 September 2013   Hong Kong