Holocaust researcher Shaul Friedlander is among the recipients of the Dan David Prize

The prizes will be awarded to seven researchers of history, memory and mind

The Dan David Prize in the Dimension of the Past is awarded this year for research in the field of history and memory. Holocaust researcher, Prof. Saul Friedlander from the University of California (UCLA), will receive the award for research that preserves the ongoing debate on the correct chronological position of Nazi history; as well as the questions of whether the Holocaust and the history of the Third Reich should be considered as exceptions, and how to integrate the experiences of the victims into the history of the Holocaust. The prize will also be awarded to the Polish writer and thinker Kaziztof Czyzewski for his activities for the integration of the past events of the Polish people to create a solid civil society, which recognizes the complexity of the past, and integrates it into the foundations of the state in the present and in the future. The third recipient of the prize in the dimension of the past is the French historian Pierre Nore, who created a new field of research: interpretive historiography of memorial sites.

The award in the present dimension will be awarded to three researchers engaged in the fight against memory loss: the British scientists Prof. John Hardy from University College and Prof. Peter St. George Hyslop from the University of Cambridge, will receive the award for the discovery of the genetic mutations involved in the development of Alzheimer's disease. Prof. Brenda Milner from McGill University in Canada, will receive the award for groundbreaking research in which she discovered that there are different types of memory and learning.

The award in the future dimension deals with the field of artificial intelligence and the digital brain, and will be awarded to Prof. Marvin Minsky from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), one of the founders of the field of artificial intelligence, and an influential expert in many research fields including robotics, calculation, learning, cognitive perception, philosophy and optics.

The prizes, amounting to one million dollars in each dimension, are being awarded for the 13th year by the fund that bears the name of its founder, the businessman and philanthropist Dan David. The winners donate 10% of the prize amount to 20 scholarships intended for young researchers. The awards will be given to the winners in about three months at a ceremony at Tel Aviv University.