1988 -Prof. Janet D. Rawley-

Professor Janet D. Rowley

 

Janet Rowley was awarded a scholarship to enter an advanced placement program at the University of Chicago (UC), where she finished the last two years of high school and the first two years of college concurrently. She then continued at UC, earning a Bachelor’s of Philosophy in 1944, a Bachelor’s of Science in 1946, and an MD in 1948, at the age of 23. She balanced her family life with her career by working part-time as she raised four sons. When her youngest turned 12 years old, she began full time research.

Professor Rowley earned her medical license in 1951, then served as an attending physician at the Infant and Prenatal Clinics in the Department of Public Health in Maryland. From 1955-1961, she took up a research post at a clinic for children with developmental disabilities, while teaching neurology at the University of Illinois Medical School. In 1962, after spending a year in England studying the pattern of DNA replication in normal and abnormal human chromosomes, she returned to UC as an assistant Professor, becoming an associate professor in 1969, and a full professor in 1977. In 1984, she was named the Blum-Riese Distinguished Service Professor in the Departments of Medicine, Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology, and Human Genetics at UC.

Professor Rowley was one of the most distinguished cancer geneticists in the world. In the early 1970’s, she identified a specific genetic translocation (exchange of genetic material between chromosomes) in patients with leukemia. This discovery, along with her subsequent work on chromosomal abnormalities, revolutionized the medical understanding of the role of chromosomal translocation and damage in causing cancer.

Professor Rowley received numerous honors, including a long list of honorary and named lectureships, fellowships of major national and international science academies, and around 30 prestigious prizes and medals, including the Dameshek Prize in 1982, Esther Langer Award in 1983, and the Kuwait Cancer Prize in 1984.

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.

1987 -Prof. Barrie Russel Jones-

Professor Barrie Russell Jones

Barrie Jones received his B.Sc. in Chemistry and Physics from Victoria College at Wellington University in 1942, and his MD from the University of Otago, Dunedin in 1946, before moving to the United Kingdom in 1952, where he specialized in general and surgical ophthalmology at the University of London, qualifying in surgery in 1955. He served for 17 years as a Professor of Clinical Ophthalmology at the Institute of Ophthalmology in Moorefield’s Eye Hospital in London before relinquishing the chair to set up a new Department of Preventive Ophthalmology. In 1981, he established the International Center for Eye Health at the Institute of Ophthalmology, which became – under his leadership – one of the foremost institutions for the education and training of ophthalmologists from all over the world.

Professor Jones devoted his entire professional life to studying the etiology, transmission, pathogenesis, and treatment of eye diseases and infections. For 12 successive years, he spent several weeks each year in Iran to pursue his studies on trachoma. He made seminal contributions to the diagnosis, therapy and prevention of viral and chlamydial eye diseases, and developed novel chemotherapeutic measures and surgical procedures to prevent blindness due to trachoma. In later years, he turned his attention to river blindness and designed novel strategies for controlling that widely spread disease in Africa. His group was the first to show that the drug Ivermectin can reduce the incidence of blindness in onchocerciasis (a parasitic disease that involves the eye).

Professor Jones published hundreds of research papers and authored or coauthored more than 23 books, in addition to many invited lectureships and conference presentations. In recognition of his outstanding contributions to the fight against blindness, he was appointed CBE by the British Queen in 1985.

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.

1986 -Prof. Lelio Orci-

Professor Lelio Orci

 

Lelio Orci obtained his MD from the College of Medicine at Rome University in 1964. He started his career as an assistant professor at the Institute of Histology and Embryology, University of Geneva Medical School in 1966, and rose to full professorship in 1972. He was appointed as a Chairman of the Department of Morphology (now the Department of Cell Physiology and Metabolism) at the Medical School of Geneva University in 1972. He was also a researcher or a visiting professor at several universities, mostly in the United States.

Professor Orci dedicated his entire career to cell biology research and the study of the islets of Langerhans, in particular the beta cells. He carried out pioneering studies on the ultrastructure and immunocytochemistry of beta cells. His studies were instrumental for better understanding of the structure and function of those cells, the mechanism of Insulin synthesis, storage and secretion, the secretion and mode of action of Glucagon and the regulation of pancreatic hormone secretions.

 

In later years, he collaborated with Professor Rothman and other scientists in a series of landmark studies on the molecular basis of vesicular trafficking. These studies have profoundly enriched our knowledge of Diabetes and contributed to the development of drugs to control it and have granted Professor Orci the status of the most talented electron microscopist of his generation.

Professor Orci’s seminal contributions were published in more than 300 papers in international journals. According to ISA and The Scientist, he was one of the most cited researchers in the field of diabetes research. His accomplishments were recognized by the international scientific community throughout the world. He was awarded an honorary doctorate in Medicine from the University of Guelph in Canada. He was also an honorary member of the Argentinian Society of Physiological Sciences.

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.

1986 -⁨Prof. Albert E. Renold-

Professor Albert E. Renold

 

Albert Renold obtained his MD in 1947 and completed his thesis in 1948. He was a Professor of Medicine at Geneva University, Chief of the Division of Clinical Biochemistry, and Founding Director of the Institute of Clinical Biochemistry. He held several professional and research positions, including visiting professorships and consultancies, as well as about 15 years as a teacher and researcher at Harvard University Medical School in Boston, MA (USA). Numerous outstanding diabetes researchers were trained by Professor Renold both in Boston and Geneva. Professor Renold was the Founding Secretary of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EFSD) from 1965-1970 and its President from 1974-1977, as well as the President of the International Diabetes Federation from 1979-1982 and Vice-President of the Swiss Academy for Medical Sciences.

Professor Renold was a leading authority in diabetes mellitus. He played a major role in advancing diabetes research in Europe and throughout the world. He developed animal models to study the physiology and pathophysiology of the pancreas and strived to gain insight into the abnormalities of human diabetes by defining the pathophysiological aspects of the disease peculiar to a given animal. These studies have since been used in diabetes research throughout the world, as for example, in research on oral hypoglycemic agents which presently form the basis for the treatment of type-2 diabetes. Professor Renold was also the first to demonstrate a direct action of insulin on adipose tissue in 1950. His work in this area extended to delineate the role of this tissue in the metabolic derangements in insulin-deficient diabetes and in obesity often associated with insulin abundance. The research led by Professor Renold over many years contributed significantly to our present understanding of the mechanisms of insulin activity and its effect on glucose and energy metabolism.

Professor Renold’s seminal studies on diabetes mellitus were published in more than 400 scientific papers in international journals. He published a series of articles in which he showed that the injections of homologous insulin elicited an inflammatory reaction in the pancreatic islets of injected animals. He also co-authored the volume on Adipose Tissue of the Handbook of Physiology and served on the editorial boards of seven international medical journals. His accomplishments were recognized by more than 10 prizes and medals.

In addition, he was elected as the chairman of several major scientific and medical societies and a member of about 15 others. Professor Renold was also the only foreign scientist elected to the Board of Directors of the American Diabetes Association.

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.

2010 - Professor Terence Chi-Shen Tao-

Professor Terence Chi-Shen Tao

 

Terrence Tao’s parents were first generation immigrants from Hong Kong to Australia, where he was educated until the age of 17. He then continued his education in the United States and now holds dual Australian and American nationalities.

Tao’s genius in mathematics manifested at an early age. He began teaching himself basic arithmetic at the age of 2, learning about numbers from Sesame Street. At the age of 7, he started to learn calculus in high school, and by the age of 9 he was attending college-level mathematics. At 11, he was already participating in international mathematics competitions, winning bronze, silver and gold medals in 1986, 1987 and 1988, respectively. At the age of 14, he attended the Research Science Institute and at the age of 17, he received his B.Sc. (honor) and M.S. degrees from Flinders University in Adelaide, which awarded him the University Medal. He traveled to the U.S. on a Fulbright Scholarship where he earned his Ph.D. from Princeton University at the age of 20 in 1996. He joined the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)’s faculty in the same year, and four years later, he became a full professor at the age of 24. He was also a former honorary fellow at the Australian National University, and a former visiting fellow at the University of New South Wales. He is currently the James and Carol Collins Chair of Mathematics at UCLA.

He is the editor of the Journal of the American Mathematical Society and Analysis and PDE, associate editor of Dynamics of Partial Differential Equations and the American Journal of Mathematics, and member of the advisory boards of the International Mathematical Research Surveys and Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics. He also authored and co-authored over 170 publications (including six books) with an impressive tally of citations.

Professor Tao works across various branches of mathematics including harmonic analysis, nonlinear partial differential equations, algebraic geometry, combinatorics, analytic number theory, and signal processing. He is known for his highly original solutions for very difficult and important mathematical problems and for his technical brilliance in the use of the necessary mathematical machinery. His most famous contribution is the Green-Tao Theorem (jointly with Ben J. Green). Professor J. Garnett, former chair of mathematics at UCLA described Tao as follows: “Terry is like Mozart; mathematics just flows out of him… He is an incredible talent and probably the best mathematician in the world right now.”

Professor Tao’s path-breaking contributions to mathematics earned him a string of awards including Salem Prize (2000), Bộcher Prize (2003), Clay Research Award (2003), the American Mathematical Society’s Levi L. Conant Prize (2005), the Australian Mathematical Society Medal (2005), SASTRA Ramanujan Prize (2006), Ostrowski Prize (2007), MacArthur Award (2007), Alan T. Waterman Award and Medal (2008), and Lars Onsager Medal (2008). In 2006, the International Congress of Mathematics in Madrid awarded him the Field Medal. He was one of 48 scientists to have ever been awarded the Fields Medal since its inception 80 years ago. He was also the first Australian and first UCLA mathematician to receive that prestigious Medal.

Professor Tao was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 2007, the same year in which he was named “Australian of the Year.” He became an associate of the US National Academy of Sciences in 2008 and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2009. He is also a Corresponding Member of the Australian Academy of Sciences.

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.

2010 - Professor Enrico Bombieri-

Professor Enrico Bombieri

 

Enrico Bombieri became enthralled with mathematics from an early age. He started reading about the theory of number at the age of 13. He earned his Ph.D. in mathematics at the University of Milan at the age of 23, where he was immediately appointed as an assistant professor. He continued his studies in the theory of number with Professor Harold Davenport at Trinity College in Cambridge University (U.K.) in 1964. In the following year, he became a full professor of mathematics, serving first at the University of Cagliari (1965), then the University of Pisa (1966-1974) and then the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa (1974-1977), before joining the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, where he is currently IBM von Neumann Professor of mathematics.

Professor Bombieri is an enormously brilliant mathematician and one of the world’s leading authorities on number theory and analysis. His work, over the past 40 years, covers a wide spectrum within the theory of number – the analytic theory of L-functions, arithmetic geometry and Diophantine approximations, the distribution of primes, sieves and exponential sums. His work reveals a vast knowledge of the subject, an incisive clarity of thought, versatility and remarkable technical skill. His studies of the “large sieve” and its application in what is now known as the “Bombieri-Vinogradov Theorem” are central readings for every graduate researcher. He is also known for the “Bombieri-Lang Conjecture,” the “Bombieri Norm” and other fundamental contributions. Some of his results, particularly in the prime number theory, have potential applications to cryptography and security of data transmission and identification.

Professor Bombieri received many distinguished awards and honors, including the prestigious Fields Medal (1974), Feltrinelli Prize (1976), Balzan Prize (1980), Honorary Doctorate degree (Doctor Honoris Causa) from the University of Pisa, Chevalier de l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques (France), Cavaliered i Gran Croce al Merito della Republica (Italy). He was also awarded the Joseph Doob Prize (2008) jointly with Walter Gubler for their book “Heights in Diophantine Geometry.” He is a Member of the US National Academy of Sciences, the Accademia Nationale dei Quaranta in Rome, the Accademia Nazionale delle Scienze, the European Academy of Sciences, Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Foreign Member of the Royal Swedish Academy, the Institut de France, and Honorary Member of the London Mathematical Society. He served on the Executive Committee of the International Mathematical Union (1979-1982).

In addition to his comprehensive book with Gubler, Professor Bombieri authored two other monographs and more than 160 scientific papers published in leading mathematical journals.

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.

2009 - Prof. Rashid A. Sunyaev -

Professor Rashid A. Sunyaev

 

Professor Sunyaev graduated from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology in 1966 and received his Candidate of Sciences (PhD equivalent) and Doctor of Sciences degrees from Moscow University in 1968 and 1973, respectively. Between 1968-1982, he served as a scientific researcher at the Institute of Applied Mathematics and subsequently as Head of the Laboratory of Theoretical Astrophysics at the Space Research Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences in Moscow. He became full professor at Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology from 1975-2001 and Head of the High Energy Astrophysics Department of the Space Research Institute in Moscow from 1982-2002. Professor Rashid Allevich Sunyaev is a prominent Russian physicist whose outstanding contributions to high energy astrophysics and cosmology profoundly impacted both fields and placed him at the forefront of contemporary astrophysicists.

Professor Sunyaev’s fundamental contributions to the advancement of cosmology and astrophysics during the past thirty years cannot be over-emphasized. Among his most distinguished contributions are: his predictions of acoustic peaks in the cosmic microwave background angular distribution, and the development of both the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect (S-Z effect) on clusters of galaxy and the theory of disk accretion (Standard Shakura-Sunyaev disk) and observational appearance of black holes in binary systems and active galactic nuclei. His achievements drove theoretical developments to new frontiers and led to the generation of powerful and widely used tools to study structures in the universe. Sunyaev also made significant contributions to space science. He led the team that built the X-ray observatory on Mir space station and the GRANAT orbiting X-ray observatory and is currently working with his team in preparing the world’s first astronomical X-ray satellite and on other projects related to the Planck Mission of the European Space Agency.

Professor Sunyaev’s outstanding accomplishments were recognized by numerous honors and awards. He is a member of the International Astronomical Union, member and former vice-president of the European Astronomical Society, member of the American Physical Society, member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, international member of the American Philosophical Society, foreign fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, and foreign associate of the US National Academy of Science. He is also an honorary member of the Bashkortostan and Tatarstan Academies of Sciences. In addition, Professor Sunyaev held numerous visiting and honorary professorships, Lectureships and visiting scientist/scholar positions at leading universities including Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University, University of California, Berkeley, University of Virginia, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton University, California Institute of Technology, Cambridge University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Ludwig-Maximilian University, Leiden University, Toronto University and Bose National Center for Basic Sciences in Calcutta.

Professor Sunyaev was recognized by several prestigious awards including Bruno Rossi Prize, Crafoord Prize of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Heinemann Prize in Astrophysics, Gruber Prize, Alexander Friedman Prize from the Russian Academy of Sciences, Bruce Medal, Karl Schwarzschild Medal of the German Astronomical Society and the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society. He published over 300 papers, some of which stand out among the most highly cited publications in astrophysics.

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.

2009 - Prof. Sir Richard H. Friend-

Professor Sir Richard H. Friend

 

Richard Friend graduated from Trinity College in 1974 with a B.A. (First Class) in Theoretical Physics and obtained his Ph.D. from the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge in 1979. He joined the Department of Physics at Cambridge in 1980, where he is currently holding the prestigious Cavendish Professorship of Physics. He is also a Fellow of St. John’s College, a Chairman of the Council of the School of Physical Sciences at the University of Cambridge, and the Tan Chin Tuan Centennial Professor at the National University of Singapore. In addition, he is a principal investigator in the Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration (IRC) on Nanotechnology in Cambridge, the founder and Chief Scientist of Cambridge Display Technology Ltd. and a Consultant at Plastic Logic Ltd.

Professor Friend’s pioneering work on the semiconductor physics of conjugated polymers has had a profound impact on physics and beyond. He has essentially invented a new type of electronics using organic semiconductors and persisted with their development into polymer light-emitting diodes that are now widely used and offer the potential of cheaper, larger and flexible displays. He continues to develop polymer photovoltaics and directly printed polymer transistors. He authored around 700 publications in scientific journals, and more than 40 patents. The Institute for Scientific Information identified him as the most cited physics scientist in the UK for the decade 1990-1999. He is currently one of the two most cited physicists in his country (~ 39,000 citations).

Professor Friend received numerous awards and honors. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of London, Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Physics, Honorary Fellow of Trinity College (Cambridge) and Honorary Fellow of the University of Wales (Bangor). He holds honorary doctorate degrees from the universities of Linkoping (Sweden), Mons-Hainaut (Belgium), and Heriot-Watt (Edinburgh). He is also the recipient of the prestigious Rumford Medal of the Royal Society of London, Silver Medal of the Royal Academy of Engineering, Faraday Medal of the Institute of Electrical Engineers, Gold Medal of the European Material Research Society and Descartes Prize of the European Commission. He was knighted in 2003 for his services to physics.

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.

2008 - Prof. Rudiger Wehner-

Professor Rudiger Wehner

 

Rudiger Wehner graduated from Kaiserin Friedrich Gymnasium in 1960, and obtained his Ph.D in biology, chemistry, and philosophy from the Goethe University in Frankfurt in 1967. He spent his postdoctoral research at Yale University in the USA, then returned to Germany and was appointed professor of zoology, specifically physiology, at the University of Zurich in 1974, where he headed the Zoological Institute as director until his retirement in 2005. 

Professor Wehner showed that while roaming over desert terrain for distances of up to 100 meters, Cataglyphis employs a computational strategy called vector navigation: it measures all angles steered (by employing a neural compass) and all distances covered (by employing a neural odometer) and integrates these measures into a mean vector, which guides it back to its start. One of Wehner’s major ‘landmark’ discoveries is how Cataglyphis uses the pattern of polarized light in the sky (which humans are unable to see) as a compass to determine walking directions. Wehner and his team unraveled the computational and neurobiological details of the ant’s skylight compass, discovered and studied various mechanism of landmark guidance that complement the animal’s vector navigation system and simulated the animal’s navigational technique in computer software and implemented it a in robot (Sahabot) that navigates by polarized skylight cues just as Cataglyphis does. Furthermore, his finding that the ant’s brain is organized in a modular way, with separate sensory-motor systems devoted to different behavioral tasks, has important implications for understanding the general design features of larger brains such as those of birds and mammals.

Wehner recently extended his research scope to include studying the physiological and ecological framework within which the ant’s navigational skill has evolved. He found that the spatial and temporal foraging characteristics, a particular mode of respiration and special expression patterns of heat-shock genes allow for an extreme reduction of water loss and the most extreme heat tolerance observed in any terrestrial animal. Furthermore, Wehner performed molecular systematics and phylogeography to uncover the evolutionary history of Cataglyphis.

Professor Wehbner published four books, a 330-page Handbook chapter, and 225 scientific articles. His 1000-page Zoology textbook THE WEHNER/GEHRING, now in its 7th edition, is widely used and highly valued by colleagues and students alike. Wehner has received numerous awards and honors.

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.

1986 -Prof. Gian Franco Bottazzo-

Professor Gian Franco Bottazzo

 

Gian Bottazzo obtained his MD from the University of Padua in 1971, completed his post-graduate studies in Allergology and Immunology at the University of Florence in 1974 and obtained a Diploma in endocrinology from the University of Padua in 1979. He held several medical and scientific positions, mostly in London. He was a member of the Royal College of Pathologists (RCPath) and the Royal College of Physicians of the United Kingdom (RCP). Professor Bottazzo was the Director of the Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) and Disease Laboratory of St Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical College in London.

Over several decades, Professor Bottazzo carried out extensive research on autoimmune diseases, particularly diabetes. He discovered islet cell antibodies (ICA) in 1974. A world authority on diabetes, he discovered the association between type 1 diabetes and the development of antibodies directed against the insulin secreting beta cells of the pancreatic islets of Langerhans. Thereafter, he demonstrated antigens relating to the HLA system, which controls the body’s immune defenses, on the surface of damaged beta cells. The discovery of the link between a patient’s genetic make-up and the development of autoimmunity to the islet’s beta cells had opened the door for new approaches to the prevention of diabetes mellitus.

In a landmark paper published in 1974, Professor Bottazzo and his colleagues showed that type I diabetes was associated with the development of antibodies directed against the insulin-producing B cells of the pancreas. This pioneering discovery opened the way to a flood of investigations in the study of autoimmunity as a basic cause of failure, not only of the islet cells of the pancreas leading to type I diabetes mellitus, but also the loss of other endocrine-producing cells such as those in the thyroid and pituitary glands.

Professor Bottazzo also demonstrated the presence of HLA-DR antigens on the surface of the B cells in the early stage of type I diabetes mellitus. This link between the genetic background of the sufferer and the development of autoimmunity has once more opened up a new field of exploration that may lead to a new approach to the prevention of diabetes mellitus and perhaps its treatment.

Professor Bottazzo’s distinguished contributions to diabetes research were recognized by several honors. He authored more than 500 papers in major journals and scientific conferences for Diabetes mellitus for his research on autoimmunity as a major cause of type 1 (insulin- dependent) diabetes.

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.