The $3 million international award, a joint initiative of the Dan David Foundation and Tel Aviv University, has been awarded since 2002 to individuals and institutions with outstanding and unique achievements and a proven contribution to humanity; Dan David: "The judging committees successfully identified the important leaders and innovators in their fields"
A cello player, four pioneering journalists in the field of human rights and freedom of expression and two American cancer researchers are the winners of the Dan David Prize for 2006. This was announced today by the management of the Dan David Prize at a press conference held in Paris, with the participation of the founder of the prize, businessman Dan David; Chairman of the award's management, Prof. Itamar Rabinowitz, president of Tel Aviv University; The French Minister of Culture and Communications, Mr. Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres; The director of the Dan David Prize, Mrs. Samder Fisher and many other dignitaries.
The Dan David Prize, an international prize in the amount of 3 million dollars, the result of a joint initiative of the Dan David Foundation and Tel Aviv University, has been awarded since 2002 to individuals and institutions with outstanding and unique achievements and a proven contribution to humanity - in the natural sciences, art, humanities, business or public service. The award is given in each of the dimensions of time: past, present and future. (a million dollars per time dimension).
In the dimension of the past, in the field of "Cultural Heritage Preservation: Contribution of Individuals", the cellist Yo-Yo Meh was selected for the Silk Road project. In the dimension of the present time, in the field of "written communication journalists", four journalists were selected - Magdi Alam from Italy, Monica Gonzalez from Chile, Adam Michnik from Poland, and Guanwan Muhammad from Indonesia - for their exceptional journalistic work and commitment to freedom of the press. In the time dimension of the future, in the field of "therapeutic approaches to cancer diseases", two leading American researchers, John Mendelsohn and Joseph Schlesinger, were selected for breakthroughs in the field of cancer treatment.
The uniqueness of the Dan David Prize, in addition to the selection of fields that change every year, is that its grooms donate 10% of the financial winnings to a scholarship fund for promising young researchers, especially in their fields, who are currently in the doctoral and postdoctoral stages. In doing so, they make a contribution to the wider community, and support a new generation of scientific and spiritual people. 10 scholarships in the amount of $15,000 each are awarded to outstanding doctoral students and post-doctoral students from universities all over the world and 10 additional scholarships are awarded to outstanding post-doctoral students from Tel Aviv University.
The prize will be awarded to the winners in a festive ceremony to be held at Tel Aviv University, on Monday - May 21, 2006, in the Smolrash Auditorium, in the presence of the President of the State, Mr. Moshe Katsav, the prize winners and 1200 guests.
The judging committees for the selection of the candidates included leading personalities in their fields, among them, Nobel Prize winner in chemistry Dr. Aharon Chachanover from the Technion in Haifa; Dr. Nicholas Lyman, Dean of the School of Journalism at Columbia University; And the recipient of the US President's Medal of Freedom, Dr. Wartan Gregorian, president of the Carnegie Company from New York.
"The excellent work of this year's awardees is a noteworthy testimony to the dynamic and changing fields of human knowledge, and to the importance of comprehensive support for innovation in many fields," said Dan David after the announcement of the winners' names. "The judging committees successfully identified the important leaders and innovators in their fields."
A collaboration between the Dan David Prize and the French Ministry of Culture
During the announcement of the winners, an agreement was signed between the French Ministry of Culture and Communications and the Dan David Foundation, which is intended to create cooperation between Tel Aviv University and the French government in the fields of culture and science. The French Ministry of Culture will work to promote the Dan David Prize in the scientific community and other relevant communities in France and around the world. According to the agreement, the Dan David Awards ceremony will take place this year, as in the past, at Tel Aviv University, and in 2007 - in Paris. In the following years, the ceremony will be held alternately in Tel Aviv and Paris.
The areas of the award for 2007 were also announced, in the past time dimension - history, in the present time dimension - contemporary music and in the future time dimension - energy.
Dan David, a Jew born in Romania, today divides his time between England, Italy, Spain and Israel. He is an inventor and a successful businessman in the field of developing, manufacturing and marketing advanced photography technologies.
An interest-free loan of $200,000 that Dan David received from his cousin in 1965 gave him the opportunity he needed to develop his inventions in the field of photography and his technological patents, including the automatic camera. This is how a successful businessman was. Now Dan David serves as the chairman of Photo Me International PLC, a company listed on the London Stock Exchange and owns 90% of the entire world market in automatic photo booths, which can be found in shopping malls and amusement facilities around the world.
