Tuesday, 28 September. At today’s presentation ceremony of The Shaw Prize at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, the Honourable Donald Tsang Yam-Kuen, 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 27 May 2010.

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

The Shaw Prize in Astronomy is awarded in equal shares to

Professor Charles L Bennett
Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, USA,

Professor Lyman A Page Jr
Henry DeWolf Smyth Professor of Physics, Princeton University, USA and

Professor David N Spergel
Charles A Young Professor of Astronomy and Chair, Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, USA

for their leadership of the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) experiment, which has enabled precise determinations of the fundamental cosmological parameters, including the geometry, age and composition of the universe.

The Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine is awarded to

Professor David Julius
Professor and Chairman of Department of Physiology, University of California, San Francisco, USA

for his seminal discoveries of molecular mechanisms by which the skin senses painful stimuli and temperature and produces pain hypersensitivity.

The Shaw Prize in Mathematical Sciences is awarded to

Professor Jean Bourgain
Professor of  Mathematics, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, USA

for his profound work in mathematical analysis and its application to partial differential equations, mathematical physics, combinatorics, number theory, ergodic theory and theoretical computer science.

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

Highlight of the 2010 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 2 October at Hong Kong time 2300-2330 and on 9 October at Hong Kong time 1850-1920 respectively.

September 28, 2010 Hong Kong