Wednesday, 7 October. At today’s presentation ceremony of The Shaw Prize at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, The Honourable Donald Tsang, Chief Executive of the HKSAR, People’s Republic of China accompanied by Mr Run Run Shaw, Patron of the Prize, presented the awards to the five Laureates. (Information about the Laureates is attached.)

After several months of deliberation, the international prize committee selected the Shaw Laureates and announced the results at the press conference on 16 June 2009.

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

The Shaw Prize in Astronomy is awarded to

Professor Frank H Shu
Distinguished Research Fellow of Academia Sinica, Taiwan

in recognition of his outstanding life-time contributions in theoretical astronomy.

The Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine is awarded jointly to

Professor Douglas L Coleman
Senior Staff Scientist, Emeritus of The Jackson Laboratory, Maine, USA and

Professor Jeffrey M Friedman
Marilyn M Simpson Professor of The Rockefeller University and Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, USA

for their work leading to the discovery of leptin, a hormone that regulates food intake and body weight.

The Shaw Prize in Mathematical Sciences is awarded jointly to

Professor Simon K Donaldson
the Royal Society Research Professor of Pure Mathematics and President of the Institute for Mathematical Sciences at Imperial College London, UK, and

Professor Clifford H Taubes
William Petschek Professor of Mathematics at Harvard University, USA

for their many brilliant contributions to geometry in 3 and 4 dimensions.

Background

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 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 bearing a monetary award of one million US dollars. This is the sixth year that the Prize has been awarded.

Highlight of the 2009 ceremony will be released worldwide via satellite between HK time 2230-2300 (GMT 1430-1500). Photographs will be uploaded the same day at HK time 2230 (GMT 1430) at website www.shawprize.org . The ceremony program will be broadcast on HKTVB Jade and Pearl Channels on October 10 and 17 respectively.

7 October 2009, Hong Kong