The Wolf Prize is an international
award
An award, sometimes called a distinction, is something given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration.
An awar ...
granted in
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
, that has been presented most years since 1978 to living scientists and artists for ''"achievements in the interest of mankind and friendly relations among people ... irrespective of nationality, race, colour, religion, sex or political views."''
History
The prize is awarded in
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
by the
Wolf Foundation, founded by
Ricardo Wolf
Ricardo Wolf (originally Richard Wolf; also Ricardo Lobo Subirana, 1887–February 1981) was a German-born inventor, diplomat and philanthropist. After immigrating to Cuba, he served as its ambassador to Israel. In later life he and his wife ...
, a German-born inventor and former
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
n ambassador to Israel. It is awarded in six fields:
Agriculture
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...
,
Chemistry,
Mathematics,
Medicine
Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pr ...
,
Physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
, and an
Arts
The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both ...
prize that rotates between architecture, music, painting, and sculpture. Each prize consists of a diploma and US$100,000. The awards ceremony typically takes place at a session in the
Knesset
The Knesset ( he, הַכְּנֶסֶת ; "gathering" or "assembly") is the unicameral legislature of Israel. As the supreme state body, the Knesset is sovereign and thus has complete control of the entirety of the Israeli government (with ...
. The prize is described by the Foundation as being "awarded annually", but is not in fact awarded every year: between 2000 and 2010, only six prizes were awarded in most fields, and only four in Physics.
The Wolf Prizes in Physics and
Chemistry are often considered the most prestigious awards in those fields after the Nobel Prize.
[ The prize in physics has gained a reputation for identifying future winners of the Nobel Prize – from the 26 prizes awarded between 1978 and 2010, fourteen winners have gone on to win the Nobel Prize, five of those in the following year.][
In medicine, the prize is probably the third most prestigious, after the Nobel Prize and the ]Lasker Award
The Lasker Awards have been awarded annually since 1945 to living persons who have made major contributions to medical science or who have performed public service on behalf of medicine. They are administered by the Lasker Foundation, which was ...
. Until the establishment of the Abel Prize, the Wolf Prize was probably the closest equivalent of a "Nobel Prize in Mathematics", since the more prestigious Fields Medal was only awarded every four years to mathematicians under forty years old. The Prize in Agriculture has likewise been equated to a "Nobel Prize in Agriculture".[National Research
Council: "National Research Initiative: A Vital Competitive Grants Program in Food, Fiber and Natural-resources Research", page 155, National Academies Press, 2000]
The most recent Wolf Prize was awarded in June 2022 to:
* Agriculture— Pamela Ronald “for pioneering work on disease resistance and environmental stress tolerance in rice”.
* Chemistry— Bonnie L. Bassler, Carolyn R. Bertozzi
Carolyn Ruth Bertozzi (born October 10, 1966) is an American chemist and Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, Nobel laureate, known for her wide-ranging work spanning both chemistry and biology. She coined the term "bioorthogonal chemistry" for chemic ...
, and Benjamin F. Cravatt III “for their seminal contributions to understanding the chemistry of cellular communication and inventing chemical methodologies to study the role of carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins in such biological processes”.
* Mathematics— George Lusztig “for groundbreaking contributions to representation theory and related areas”.
* Physics—Paul Corkum
Paul Bruce Corkum (born October 30, 1943) is a Canadian physicist specializing in attosecond physics and laser science., as published in '' Physics in Canada'', 65(2) 58. He holds a joint University of Ottawa– NRC chair in Attosecond Photonic ...
, Ferenc Krausz
Ferenc Krausz (born 17 May 1962 in Mór, Hungary) is a Hungarian-Austrian physicist, whose research team has generated and measured the first attosecond light pulse and used it for capturing electrons’ motion inside atoms, marking the birth ...
, and Anne L'Huillier
Anne L'Huillier (born 1958 in Paris) is a French physicist, and professor of atomic physics at Lund University in Sweden.
Life
L'Huillier first pursued an education and was awarded a Master of Science in theoretical physics and mathematics, bu ...
“for pioneering contributions to ultrafast laser science and attosecond physics”.
* Architecture—Yoshiharu Tsukamoto
Yoshiharu is a masculine Japanese given name.
Possible writings
Yoshiharu can be written using many different combinations of kanji characters. Here are some examples:
*義治, "justice, to manage"
*義春, "justice, spring"
*義温, "justice, t ...
and Momoyo Kaijima
Momoyo Kaijima (Kajima, Momoya; born 1969) Is a Japanese architect known for her work at Atelier Bow-wow, a studio that was founded by herself and Yoshiharu Tsukamoto. Her work has focused mainly on urban residential buildings in Japan.
Early ...
“for their work that highlights the importance to Architecture of its ethnographic and inhabitational characteristics, in their writings and practice”, and Elizabeth Diller
Elizabeth Diller, also known as Liz Diller, is an American architect and partner in Diller Scofidio + Renfro, which she co-founded in 1979. She is also an architecture professor at Princeton University.
Life
Elizabeth Diller was born in 1954 in ...
“for her exceptional and influential work connecting architecture to artistic practice, engaged in the public domain”.
Laureates per country
Below is a chart of all laureates per country (updated to 2022 laureates). Some laureates are counted more than once if have multiple citizenship.
See also
* Lists of art awards
Lists of art awards cover some of the notable awards presented for art, some for a specific form or genre, some for artists from one country or region, some more general. The lists are organized by the region of the body issuing the award, althoug ...
* List of general science and technology awards
This list of general science and technology awards is an index to articles about notable awards for general contributions to science and technology. These awards typically have broad scope, and may apply to many or all areas of science and/or te ...
* List of mathematics awards
References
External links
*
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Israeli awards
International awards
Awards established in 1978
1978 establishments in Israel