Wednesday, 26 September 2018. At today’s presentation ceremony of The Shaw Prize at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, the Honourable Mrs Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, Chief Executive of the HKSAR, People’s Republic of China, presented the awards to the three Laureates.

After several months of deliberation, the international prize committee selected the Shaw Laureates and announced the results at the press conference on 14 May 2018.

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

The Shaw Prize in Astronomy is awarded to

Jean-Loup Puget
Researcher, Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale (IAS) of CNRS and the University of Paris-Sud 11, France, and Principal Investigator, High Frequency Instrument of the Planck Mission, European Space Agency

for his contributions to astronomy in the infrared to submillimetre spectral range. He detected the cosmic far-infrared background from past star-forming galaxies, and proposed aromatic hydrocarbon molecules as a constituent of interstellar matter. With the Planck space mission, he has dramatically advanced our knowledge of cosmology in the presence of interstellar matter foregrounds.

The Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine is awarded to

Mary-Claire King
American Cancer Society Professor, Departments of Medicine and Genome Sciences, University of Washington, USA

for her mapping of the first breast cancer gene. Using mathematical modeling, King predicted and then demonstrated that breast cancer can be caused by a single gene. She mapped the gene which facilitated its cloning and saved thousands of lives.

The Shaw Prize in Mathematical Sciences is awarded to

Luis A Caffarelli
Professor of Mathematics, University of Texas at Austin, USA

for his groundbreaking work on partial differential equations, including creating a theory of regularity for nonlinear equations such as the Monge–Ampère equation, and free-boundary problems such as the obstacle problem, work that has influenced a whole generation of researchers in the field.

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 bearing a monetary award of US$1.2 million. This is the fifteenth year that the Prize has been awarded.

Highlight of the 2018 ceremony will be released worldwide via satellite transmission 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 29 September at Hong Kong time 2300–2330 and on 1 October at Hong Kong time 1805–1835 respectively.

26 September 2018   Hong Kong