The International Cosmos Prize was established in 1993, commemorating

Expo '90 or The International Garden and Greenery Exposition, organized as a part of the International Expositions Convention, was the first large-scale international gardening exposition in Asia and focused on the theme of the "Harmonious Coexistence of ...

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

, Japan. The objective of the prize was to develop the basic concept of

Expo 90 or The International Garden and Greenery Exposition, organized as a part of the International Expositions Convention, was the first large-scale international gardening exposition in Asia and focused on the theme of the "Harmonious Coexistence of ...

, "The Harmonious Coexistence between Nature and Mankind" and is awarded annually by the Commemorative Foundation for the International Garden and Greenery Exposition, Osaka, Japan, 1990 (Expo '90 Foundation). The prize, which may be awarded to an individual or team, consists of a commendation, a medallion and a monetary reward, currently 40 million

yen The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third-most traded currency in the foreign exchange market, after the United States dollar (US$) and the euro. It is also widely used as a third reserve currency after the US dollar and the e ...

. It is awarded during a ceremony held in each autumn, at which the individual or team delivers a commemorative lecture and takes part in a

symposium In ancient Greece, the symposium ( grc-gre, συμπόσιον ''symposion'' or ''symposio'', from συμπίνειν ''sympinein'', "to drink together") was a part of a banquet that took place after the meal, when drinking for pleasure was acc ...

held in their honor. The name of the prize, "Cosmos," refers to the ''

Cosmos The cosmos (, ) is another name for the Universe. Using the word ''cosmos'' implies viewing the universe as a complex and orderly system or entity. The cosmos, and understandings of the reasons for its existence and significance, are studied in ...

'' flower that bloomed during the Expo and the ancient

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

word ''kosmos'' meaning "universe in harmony." The prize was first awarded in 1993, to the then Director of the

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,100 ...

, Sir

Ghillean Prance Sir Ghillean Tolmie Prance (born 13 July 1937) is a prominent British botanist and ecologist who has published extensively on the taxonomy of families such as Chrysobalanaceae and Lecythidaceae, but drew particular attention in documenting the ...

Subject matter

The prize shall be awarded for outstanding research work and/or achievement which promote the philosophy, "The Harmonious Coexistence between Nature and Mankind." The Prize shall also illuminate research and/or achievements that use not only analytical and reductive methods, but also advocate a global outlook and show integrated, long-term vision. The prize recognizes achievements in the natural and social sciences, humanities and the arts.

Selection procedure

The Cosmos Prize Committe

will form the Screening Committee of Experts which will screen candidates recommended by the designated recommenders. Based on the results of the screening, the Cosmos Prize Committee will decide the Prizewinner.

Laureates

Source: *1993 –

*1994 – *1995 – Tatsuo Kira *1996 – George B. Schaller *1997 – Richard Dawkins *1998 – Jared M. Diamond *1999 –

Wu Zhengyi Wu Zhengyi (; June 13, 1916 – June 20, 2013) was a Chinese botanist and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Wu specialized in Botanical Geography and Medicinal Botany. He is also known by the alternative spellings of 'Wu Che ...

*2000 –

David Attenborough Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and author. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, the nine natural histor ...

*2001 – Anne Whiston Spirn *2002 –

Charles Darwin Research Station Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was ...

*2003 –

Peter H. Raven Peter Hamilton Raven (born June 13, 1936) is an American botanist and environmentalist, notable as the longtime director, now President Emeritus, of the Missouri Botanical Garden. Early life On June 13, 1936, Raven was born in Shanghai, Chi ...

*2004 – Julia Carabias Lillo *2005 –

Daniel Pauly Daniel Pauly is a French-born marine biologist, well known for his work in studying human impacts on global fisheries and in 2020 was the most cited fisheries scientist in the world. He is a professor and the project leader of the Sea Around Us ...

*2006 –

Raman Sukumar Raman Sukumar is an Indian ecologist best known for his work on the ecology of the Asian elephant and wildlife-human conflict. He also works on climate change, and tropical forest ecology. He was born in India in 1955. In 1986, Sukumar helped to d ...

*2007 –

Georgina Mace Dame Georgina Mary Mace, One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where: (12 July 1953 – 19 September 2020) was a British ecologist and conservation scientist. She was Professor of Biodiver ...

*2008 – Phan Nguyên Hồng *2009 – Gretchen Cara Daily *2010 –

Estella Leopold Estella Bergere Leopold (born 1927) is an American paleobotanist and a conservationist. As a researcher in the United States Geological Survey, she aided in uncovering records of plant life from the Miocene around the Eniwetok and Bikini Atolls ...

*2011 – The Scientific Steering Committee of the

Census of Marine Life The Census of Marine Life was a 10-year, US $650 million scientific initiative, involving a global network of researchers in more than 80 nations, engaged to assess and explain the diversity, distribution, and abundance of life in the oceans. Th ...

*2012 –

Edward O. Wilson Edward Osborne Wilson (June 10, 1929 – December 26, 2021) was an American biologist, naturalist, entomologist and writer. According to David Attenborough, Wilson was the world's leading expert in his specialty of myrmecology, the study of a ...

*2013 – Bob Paine *2014 –

Philippe Descola Philippe Descola, FBA (born 19 June 1949) is a French anthropologist noted for studies of the Achuar, one of several Jivaroan peoples, and for his contributions to anthropological theory. Background Descola started with an interest in philoso ...

*2015 – Johan Rockström *2016 –

Kunio Iwatsuki Kunio (written: 邦夫, 邦男, 邦雄, 邦生, 國男, 國士, 国男, 国夫, 州男 or 久仁生) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese businessman *, Japanese businessman *, Japanese judge *, Jap ...

*2017 –

Jane Goodall Dame Jane Morris Goodall (; born Valerie Jane Morris-Goodall on 3 April 1934), formerly Baroness Jane van Lawick-Goodall, is an English primatologist and anthropologist. Seen as the world's foremost expert on chimpanzees, Goodall is best kn ...

*2018 – Augustin Berque *2019 – Stuart Pimm *2020 – Not awarded due to COVID-19 *2021 –

Peter Bellwood Peter Stafford Bellwood (born Leicester, England, 1943) is Emeritus Professor of Archaeology in the School of Archaeology and Anthropology at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra. He is well known for his Out of Taiwan model rega ...

*2022 – Felicia Keesing

References

{{Reflist Environmental awards Environmental sciences awards Japanese awards

Subject matter

Selection procedure

Laureates

See also

References