Tuesday, 7 June.  At today’s press conference in Hong Kong, The Shaw Prize Foundation announced the Shaw Laureates for 2011. Information was posted on the website www.shawprize.org at Hong Kong time 15:30 (GMT 07:30).

The Shaw Prize consists of three annual prizes: Astronomy, Life Science and Medicine, and Mathematical Sciences, each bearing a monetary award of one million US dollars. This will be the eighth year that the Prize has been awarded and the presentation ceremony is scheduled for Wednesday, 28 September 2011.

Details of the Shaw Laureates

The Shaw Prize in Astronomy is awarded in equal shares to

Dr Enrico Costa
Director of Research at the Institute of Space Astrophysics and Cosmic Physics (Rome) of the National Institute of Astrophysics, Italy and

Dr Gerald J Fishman
Senior Astrophysicist at the NASA – Marshall Space Flight Center, USA

for their leadership of space missions that enabled the demonstration of the cosmological origin of gamma ray bursts, the brightest sources known in the universe.

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

Professor Jules A Hoffmann
of University of Strasbourg, France

Professor Ruslan M Medzhitov
David W Wallace Professor of Immunobiology, Yale University, USA and

Professor Bruce A Beutler
Raymond and Ellen Willie Distinguished Chair in Cancer Research, and Director of Center for Genetics of Host Defense, the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, USA

for their discovery of the molecular mechanism of innate immunity, the first line of defense against pathogens.

The Shaw Prize in Mathematical Sciences is awarded in equal shares to

Professor Demetrios Christodoulou
Professor of Mathematics and Physics at the ETH, Zurich, Switzerland and

Professor Richard S Hamilton
Davies Professor of Mathematics, Columbia University, USA

for their highly innovative works on nonlinear partial differential equations in Lorentzian and Riemannian geometry and their applications to general relativity and topology.

Background

Established under the auspices of Mr Run Run Shaw, the Prize honours individuals, regardless of race, nationality and religious belief, who have achieved significant breakthrough in academic and scientific research or application and whose work has resulted in a positive and profound impact on mankind.

The Shaw Prize is an international award managed and administered by The Shaw Prize Foundation based in Hong Kong. Mr Shaw has also founded The Sir Run Run Shaw Charitable Trust and The Shaw Foundation Hong Kong, both dedicated to the promotion of education, scientific and technological research, medical and welfare services, and culture and the arts.

7 June 2011  Hong Kong