Monday, 17 September 2012. 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 five Laureates.

After several months of deliberation, the international prize committee selected the Shaw Laureates and announced the results at the press conference on 29 May 2012.

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

The Shaw Prize in Astronomy is awarded in equal shares to

Professor David C Jewitt
Professor of Astronomy and Director of Institute for Planets and Exoplanets, University of California, Los Angeles, USA and

Professor Jane Luu
Technical Staff of Lincoln Laboratory at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA

for their discovery and characterization of trans-Neptunian bodies, an archeological treasure dating back to the formation of the solar system and the long-sought source of short period comets.

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

Professor Franz-Ulrich Hartl
Director, Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Martinsried, Germany and

Professor Arthur L Horwich
Sterling Professor of Genetics, Yale University, USA

for their contributions to the understanding of the molecular mechanism of protein folding.  Proper protein folding is essential for many cellular functions.

The Shaw Prize in Mathematical Sciences is awarded to

Professor Maxim Kontsevich
Permanent Professor at l’Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques, France

for his pioneering works in algebra, geometry and mathematical physics and in particular deformation quantization, motivic integration and mirror symmetry.

The Shaw Prize was established under the auspices of Mr Run Run Shaw in November 2002 to honour scientists, regardless of race, nationality and religious belief, who have recently 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 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 ninth year that the Prize has been awarded.

Highlight of the 2012 ceremony will be released worldwide via satellite between HK 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 program will be broadcast on HKTVB Jade and Pearl Channels on 22 September at Hong Kong time 2300–2330 and on 24 September at Hong Kong time 1835–1900 respectively.

17 September 2012