Breakthrough discoveries in the RNA mechanisms without which vaccines based on the same technology could not exist, a highly regarded artist in world music and a brilliant feminist composer who uses traditional ensembles alongside live electronic music are just some of the discoveries and scientists and artists announced this morning as the 2021 Wolf Prize winners. their unique contribution for humanity and for friendly relations between peoples, without differences of religion, gender, race, geographical location or political position.
During the afternoon (Tuesday), the names of the winners of the 2021 Wolff Prize for Science and Art were announced at the Israeli Presidential Palace in the presence of the President of the State, Reuven (Rubi) Rivlin, the Minister of Education, Yoav Galant, and the Chairman of the Wolff Foundation, Prof. Dan Shechtman (winner Nobel Prize for 2011 and Wolf Prize winner for 1999).
Due to the spread of the Corona epidemic, this year, for the first time since 1978, the award ceremony will not be held in the Mishkan of the Israel Knesset, and unusually, the award is expected to be given by the Wolf Foundation at the residence of the Wolf Award winners for 2020 and 2021.
This year, the prizes in the amount of 400 thousand dollars will be distributed to eight winners and winners in four fields, who come from five different countries: USA, Italy, Austria, Uruguay and Israel.
medicine
Wolf Prize in Medicine will be awarded to three researchers - Prof. Joan Steitz from Yale University and Prof. Lynn McQuatt from the University of Rochester in the USA, in addition to the Uruguayan researcher, Prof. Adrian Kreiner From Cold Spring Harbor Lab. The three led studies that made fundamental discoveries in the biology of RNA, breakthrough discoveries in the mechanisms that regulate RNA, which demonstrated that RNA is not a passive template between DNA and protein, but plays a dominant role in the regulation and diversity of genetic expression. Discoveries that greatly advance modern medicine and personalized medicine. Their contribution to humanity is extremely significant and is manifested especially these days through the development of RNA-based vaccines against the 19-Covid virus. (See the expansion in a separate news item)
chemistry
Wolf Prize in Chemistry will be awarded to two Weizmann Institute of Science researchers - Prof. Leslie Lazerovitz and Prof. Meir Lahav from the Weizmann Institute of Science, for their joint work in establishing the mutual effects of the three-dimensional structure of molecules on the structures of organic crystals. In their joint work, through a series of dramatic experiments, the two proved for the first time that the spatial symmetry of molecules can be determined based on their crystal morphology. In doing so, they founded the science of stereochemistry of organic crystals and solved a 140-year-old puzzle. (See the expansion in a separate news item)
Wolf Prize in Physics will be awarded To Prof. Giorgio Frisi from the University of Rome - Spaenza, for his groundbreaking discoveries in disordered systems, particle physics and statistical physics. Giorgio Frisi is one of the most creative and influential theoretical physicists of recent decades. His work has a great impact on a variety of branches of the physical sciences. His most innovative work he did together with SOURLAS in the study of quantum phase transitions opened up the possibility of identifying the actual realization of a symmetry called supersymmetry in condensed matter systems. (See the expansion in a separate news item)
Music
Wolf Prize in Music will be awarded to two musicians - The famous American nationalist Stevie Wonder for his enormous contribution to music and society as someone who enriched the lives of entire generations of music lovers, and to the Austrian composer Olga Neuwirth, for her extraordinary control, her artistic talent and her communicative skills as a composer of today. Both Olga Neuwirth and Stevie Wonder broke the boundaries of their artistic work and turned it into a tool that serves universal values and humanistic ideals.
In their reasoning, the judges wrote that the Wolf Prize in Music for 2021 is awarded jointly to the renowned artist Stevie Wonder "for his enormous contribution to music and society as someone who has enriched the lives of entire generations of music lovers." And in the classical music category to the composer Olga Neuwirth "for her extraordinary control, her artistic talent and her communication skills as a composer of today".
Stevie Wonder, born in Michigan, 1950, world-renowned singer, songwriter, musician, record producer - and outstanding ambassador for peace. Stevie Wonder's music draws its inspiration from rhythm and blues, jazz, soul and funk, but its core is deeply rooted in the rich culture of the black community throughout the history of the United States and its roots in Africa. Stevie Wonder's beautiful and soulful lyrics reflect a wide range of relevant topics, from deep personal thoughts and feelings to social and political issues dealing with discrimination, racism, poverty and cultural expression in society as such, they continue to be highly relevant today, while the contribution of Stevie Wonder's music has shaped popular music. Around the world since the sixties, with dozens of records and many unforgettable songs, his ongoing commitment to support social struggles for the benefit of humanity and his activism for peace.
Stevie Wonder, winner of the Wolf Prize in Music for 2021, is one of the brightest stars in the sky studded with singers and songwriters for almost 50 years. He is considered an icon of the American music scene and has already won every award in the USA. With his brilliant and unique musical language which expanded the concept of melody, harmony and sound of this genre, Wonder brought about a change in the world of music. Wonder combines words and music to express joy and pain deeply rooted in a life of hardship, sadness and injustice while criticizing racist American society. His messages of love, peace and human love inspired many others. Wonder left an indelible mark as a humanitarian, philanthropist and human rights activist and leveraged his success and publicity to impact people's lives and make the world a better place.
Olga Neuwirth Born in 1968 in Graz, Austria and studied at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna and the Conservatory of Music in San Francisco, and also studied painting and cinematography at the College of Art in San Francisco. For over 30 years, Olga Neuwirth's works have paved the way for a wide variety of forms and genres: operas, radio plays, sound installations, works of art, photography and film music. In many works she combines live music, electronics and video for audiovisual experiences. Her work, characterized by a unique language and the exploration of new musical forms, has won great sympathy among audiences and critics around the world in recent decades and is undoubtedly a significant addition to the contemporary music repertoire.
Olga Neuwirth, winner of the 2021 Wolf Prize for Music, is one of the most complete composers of her generation and of our time. Neuwirth yields a creative flow of rare intensity. Her work indicates a unique voice full of control that preserves its essence even under external pressures. Her theatrical music works expand the collaborative vocabulary of opera and explore further interactions between traditional ensembles, live electronic music, images and architecture. All this while using advanced audio-visual technologies that reveal a new world of sound images that mix traditional parts from many sources and create metamorphoses characterized by changes, exchanges of forms and associative references. Neuwirth chooses her subjects with high sensitivity and relevance, from focusing on the human voice to expressions of the soul to feminism and gender identity to a poignant reflection of historical moments. Olga Neuwirth's brilliant and brave art serves as a platform for exploring contemporary philosophical, social and political ideas and bringing them to the awareness of many audiences in the most prestigious venues in the world.
