Oz winners Prof. Michael Aschbacher of Caltech, Prof. Louis A. Caparelli of the University of Texas at Austin, Prof. Ronald M. Evans of the Salk Institute, and Simon Russell of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Minister of Education and chairman of the Wolf Foundation, Gideon Sa'ar announced yesterday, Monday, the winners of the 2012 Wolf Prize in the sciences and arts. The announcement of the winners was made for the first time since the Wolf Foundation was founded (1976) at a public event held at the Ministerial level at the Eretz Israel Museum in Tel Aviv.
The five prizes, totaling 100 dollars, will be divided this year between 10 winners from 3 countries: Israel, the United States, Germany and England. The prizes will be awarded in five fields: in the sciences in the fields of physics, mathematics, medicine and chemistry. In the field of arts it will be given in the field of music. The awarding of the prize will take place on May 13, 2012 in a ceremony at the Knesset in the presence of the President of the State, Shimon Peres.
The Minister of Education and Chairman of the Wolf Foundation, Gideon Sa'ar, announced the selection of the winners and congratulated: "The announcement of the 2012 Wolf Prize winners is a day of celebration for the science and arts community in Israel and the world. Today's winners join a distinguished line of the best scientists and artists who have won this prestigious award. The activities of the Wolf Foundation and its international status express Israel's place as a leader in science and advanced research. In the current term, we are investing in the promotion of research excellence out of a determination to maintain and even strengthen our position at the forefront of global research, which is essential for Israel's future.
This year we were also blessed with an Israeli winner - the State of Israel has contributed over the years and is making a significant contribution to scientific and intellectual excellence."
Winners of the Wolf Prize for 2012 and the reasons of the judges:
physics: "Prof. Jacob Bekenstein, Rakah Institute of Physics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem - "thanks to his work on very massive astronomical bodies, called black holes. He showed that these bodies have a statistical-thermodynamic property, called entropy. This, even though the internal dynamics of these bodies are unknown. This work opened up a research field of black hole dynamics, research that was a cornerstone in the theoretical physics of quantum gravity and strings."
Mathematics: FProf. Michael Aschbacher, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA - "Greatly deepened our understanding of finite bundles. The depth and breadth of Professor Aschbacher's understanding of finite bundles in general and simple finite bundles in particular and the mathematical power he used in their investigation are amazing." The mathematician Prof. Luis A. Caffarelli (Luis A. Caffarelli), University of Texas, Austin - Texas, USA - "did basic, original, visionary and extraordinary work in the field of partial differential equations, in particular in the regularity of elliptic and parabolic equations , free language problems and applications in fluid mechanics."
"The 2011 Wolf Prize in Medicine was awarded to Professor Ronald M. Evans, from the Salk Institute for Biological Research, La Hoya, California, USA - "for the discovery of a superfamily of genes encoding nuclear receptors and for elucidating their mechanism of action The universal - a process of controlled gene expression which determines how lipophilic hormones, vitamins and drugs regulate various metabolic processes...His work established the basis for the control of gene expression in physiology, and led to the discovery of new physiological pathways and the discovery of a new generation of drugs to treat cancer, various metabolic diseases and muscular dystrophy. "
In chemistry, this year the Wolf Prize was awarded to two winners: Prof. A. Paul Alivisatos (A. Paul Alivisatos), University of Berkeley, California, USA - "on the basic physical chemistry of nanometer crystals and on demonstrations of their uses in biological imaging". Prof. Charles Leiber, Harvard University, Boston, USA - for developing new methods to create and control the shape and composition of nanometer wires, for characterizing their physical properties and for demonstrating their promising uses.
מוסיקה
Maestro Placido Domingo, Washington and Los Angeles opera houses, USA - "Placido Domingo is one of the greatest tenors of all time. He appeared in leading roles in 128 operas in performances around the world. His repertoire encompasses works from the early eighteenth century to Wagner and contemporary operas. From the beginning of his career, Placido Domingo also showed dedication to Israel and various humanitarian causes. Domingo was particularly active in encouraging young artists, and took the initiative as an ambassador for the "Hear the World" organization that deals with hearing and hearing loss. Plácido Domingo is a tenor singer known for his versatile and strong voice, which maintains its clarity and integrity throughout the range."
It should be noted that in the years 1962-1965 Domingo appeared in the Israeli Opera, where he began his professional career. Domingo's winning of the Wolff Award is the first in the history of the Wolff Foundation given to an artist in the field of vocal performance.
Sir Simon Rattle, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Germany - "Sir Rattle is a leading international figure among contemporary conductors. His name rose to fame as a perfectionist in the performance of a wide variety of musical works, and he is appreciated worldwide by the musicians who played under his baton and the audience alike. Sir Rattle is considered unique in the breadth of the repertoire he performs at such a high level. For him, Boles and Bernstein are of the same importance as Brahms and Beethoven. He demonstrated a penetrating insight into music from different periods and the use of authentic instruments, and as a result he reached places where many conductors dare not tread."
The Wolf Prize is awarded annually by the Wolf Foundation in five areas. Four in the fields of science and one in the field of arts according to a regular rotation. The award is given to well-known scientists and artists "for a unique contribution to humanity and to friendly relations between peoples, without distinctions of citizenship, race, color, religion, gender or political view". To date, 272 award recipients from 23 countries have been selected.
The Wolf Prize has a very prestigious international reputation. In the fields of exact sciences, he is considered the second most important in the world after the Nobel Prize. In the field of arts, the award is considered the most important. Over 33 percent of the Wolf Prize winners were later crowned Nobel Prize winners in the field of exact sciences, which coincide with the two prizes (medicine, physics and chemistry). Wolf Prize winners in the field of exact sciences include Prof. Avraham Hershko, Prof. Ada Yonat and Prof. Dan Shechtman. Among the winners of the Wolf Prize in the field of arts: Zubin Mehta, Issik Stern, Daniel Birnbaum and Riccardo Motti.
6 תגובות
Oops... I see that the statistics are written at the end of the article, I brought the figure from memory
According to statistics, the winner of the Wolf Prize has a probability of close to 30% of winning the Nobel Prize.
Israel, the United States, Germany and England together are 4 countries, not 3.
No Max, the things you described are at the level of a Nobel Prize (soft second)
What about the Wolf Prize for rabbis? For example, Ovadia's ruling that one should not pick one's nose on Shabbat lest a hair be pulled out of one's nose, is this not at the level of the Wolf Prize?