The Crafoord Prize is an annual science prize established in 1980 by Holger Crafoord

Holger Crafoord

Holger Crafoord was a Swedish industrialist and founded Gambro along with Nils Alwall‎, a company that would commercialize Alwall's research into artificial kidneys. He donated the initial funds for the establishment of the Crafoord Prize for scientific research.-See also:*Lund School of Economics...

, a Swedish industrialist, and his wife Anna-Greta Crafoord. Administered by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences or Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden. The Academy is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization which acts to promote the sciences, primarily the natural sciences and mathematics.The Academy was founded on 2...

, the prize "is intended to promote international basic research in the disciplines: Astronomy

Astronomy

Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...

 and Mathematics

Mathematics

Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...

, Geosciences

Geology

Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...

, Biosciences

Biology

Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...

, with particular emphasis on ecology

Ecology

Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...

, and Polyarthritis

Polyarthritis

Polyarthritis is any type of arthritis which involves 5 or more joints simultaneously. It is usually associated with autoimmune conditions.Polyarthritis may be experienced at any age and is not gender specific.-Causes:...

 (rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, systemic inflammatory disorder that may affect many tissues and organs, but principally attacks synovial joints. The process produces an inflammatory response of the synovium secondary to hyperplasia of synovial cells, excess synovial fluid, and the development...

)", the disease from which Holger severely suffered in his last years. According to the Academy, "these disciplines are chosen so as to complement those for which the Nobel Prize

Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...

s are awarded." Only one award is given each year, according to a rotating scheme – astronomy and mathematics; then geosciences; then biosciences. A Crafoord Prize is only awarded for polyarthritis when a special committee decides that substantial progress in the field has been made. The recipient of the Crafoord Prize is announced each year in mid-January; on Crafoord Day in April, the prize is presented by the King of Sweden

Monarch of Sweden

The monarchy of Sweden is the constitutional monarchy of the Kingdom of Sweden. The present monarch, Carl XVI Gustaf, has reigned since 15 September 1973. He and his immediate family undertake various official, ceremonial and representational duties...

, who also presents the Nobel Prize Awards at the ceremony in December. The prize sum, which as of 2011 is US$600,000, is intended to fund further research by the prize winner.

The inaugural winners, Vladimir Arnold

Vladimir Arnold

Vladimir Igorevich Arnold was a Soviet and Russian mathematician. While he is best known for the Kolmogorov–Arnold–Moser theorem regarding the stability of integrable Hamiltonian systems, he made important contributions in several areas including dynamical systems theory, catastrophe theory,...

 and Louis Nirenberg

Louis Nirenberg

Louis Nirenberg is a Canadian mathematician, and one of the outstanding analysts of the twentieth century. He has made fundamental contributions to linear and nonlinear partial differential equations and their application to complex analysis and geometry.He was born in Hamilton, Ontario and...

, were cited by the Academy for their work in the field of non-linear differential equation

Differential equation

A differential equation is a mathematical equation for an unknown function of one or several variables that relates the values of the function itself and its derivatives of various orders...

s. No women have been awarded the prize to date.

Winners

Year	Category	Image	Laureate	Nationality	Work
1982	Mathematics		Vladimir Arnold Vladimir Arnold Vladimir Igorevich Arnold was a Soviet and Russian mathematician. While he is best known for the Kolmogorov–Arnold–Moser theorem regarding the stability of integrable Hamiltonian systems, he made important contributions in several areas including dynamical systems theory, catastrophe theory,...		Theory of non-linear differential equations
			Louis Nirenberg Louis Nirenberg Louis Nirenberg is a Canadian mathematician, and one of the outstanding analysts of the twentieth century. He has made fundamental contributions to linear and nonlinear partial differential equations and their application to complex analysis and geometry.He was born in Hamilton, Ontario and...
1983	Geosciences		Edward Lorenz		Geophysical hydrodynamics
		—	Henry Stommel Henry Stommel Henry Melson Stommel was a major contributor to the field of physical oceanography. Beginning in the 1940s, he advanced theories about global ocean circulation patterns and the behavior of the Gulf Stream that form the basis of physical oceanography today...
1984	Biosciences		Daniel H. Janzen Daniel Janzen Daniel Hunt Janzen is an evolutionary ecologist, naturalist, and conservationist and the son of a previous Director of the US Fish and Wildlife Service...		Co-evolution
1985	Astronomy		Lyman Spitzer Lyman Spitzer Lyman Strong Spitzer, Jr. was an American theoretical physicist and astronomer best known for his research in star formation, plasma physics, and in 1946, for conceiving the idea of telescopes operating in outer space...		Studies of the interstellar medium
1986	Geosciences	—	Claude Allègre Claude Allègre Claude Allègre is a French politician and scientist.- Scientific work :The main scientific area of Claude Allègre is geochemistry....		Isotope geochemical relations
		—	Gerald J. Wasserburg Gerald J. Wasserburg Gerald J. Wasserburg is an American geologist. He is the John D. MacArthur Professor of Geology and Geophysics, Emeritus, at the California Institute of Technology...
1987	Biosciences	—	Eugene P. Odum		Ecosystem ecology
			Howard T. Odum Howard T. Odum Howard Thomas Odum was an American ecologist...
1988	Mathematics		Pierre Deligne Pierre Deligne - See also :* Deligne conjecture* Deligne–Mumford moduli space of curves* Deligne–Mumford stacks* Deligne cohomology* Fourier–Deligne transform* Langlands–Deligne local constant- External links :...		Algebraic geometry
			Alexander Grothendieck Alexander Grothendieck Alexander Grothendieck is a mathematician and the central figure behind the creation of the modern theory of algebraic geometry. His research program vastly extended the scope of the field, incorporating major elements of commutative algebra, homological algebra, sheaf theory, and category theory...
1989	Geosciences		James Van Allen James Van Allen James Alfred Van Allen was an American space scientist at the University of Iowa.The Van Allen radiation belts were named after him, following the 1958 satellite missions in which Van Allen had argued that a Geiger counter should be used to detect charged particles.- Life and career :* September...		Exploration of space, the discovery the Van Allen belts
1990	Biosciences		Paul R. Ehrlich Paul R. Ehrlich Paul Ralph Ehrlich is an American biologist and educator who is the Bing Professor of Population Studies in the department of Biological Sciences at Stanford University and president of Stanford's Center for Conservation Biology. By training he is an entomologist specializing in Lepidoptera , but...		Dynamics and genetics of fragmented populations
			Edward Osborne Wilson		Theory of island biogeography
1991	Astronomy		Allan Rex Sandage		Study of galaxies
1992	Geosciences	—	Adolf Seilacher Adolf Seilacher Adolf "Dolf" Seilacher is a German palaeontologist who has made major contributions to evolutionary and ecological palaeobiology in a career stretching over 60 years. He won the Crafoord Prize in 1992, the Paleontological Society Medal in 1994 and the Palaeontological Association's Lapworth Medal...		Research into evolution of life
1993	Biosciences		W. D. Hamilton W. D. Hamilton William Donald Hamilton FRS was a British evolutionary biologist, widely recognised as one of the greatest evolutionary theorists of the 20th century....		Theories of kin selection and genetic relationship
			Seymour Benzer Seymour Benzer Seymour Benzer was an American physicist, molecular biologist and behavioral geneticist. His career began during the molecular biology revolution of the 1950s, and he eventually rose to prominence in the fields of molecular and behavioral genetics. He led a productive genetics research lab both at...		Genetical and neurophysiological studies of fruit flies
1994	Mathematics	—	Simon Donaldson Simon Donaldson Simon Kirwan Donaldson FRS , is an English mathematician known for his work on the topology of smooth four-dimensional manifolds. He is now Royal Society research professor in Pure Mathematics and President of the Institute for Mathematical Science at Imperial College London...		Four-dimensional geometry
			Shing-Tung Yau Shing-Tung Yau Shing-Tung Yau is a Chinese American mathematician working in differential geometry. He was born in Shantou, Guangdong Province, China into a family of scholars from Jiaoling, Guangdong Province....		Non-linear techniques in differential geometry
1995	Geosciences	—	Willi Dansgaard Willi Dansgaard Willi Dansgaard was a Danish paleoclimatologist. He was Professor Emeritus of Geophysics at the University of Copenhagen and a member of the Royal Danish Academy of Science and Letters, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Icelandic Academy of Sciences, and the Danish Geophysical Society.-...		Development of isotope geological analysis methods
			Nicholas Shackleton Nicholas Shackleton Sir Nicholas John Shackleton FRS was a British geologist and climatologist who specialised in the Quaternary Period...
1996	Biosciences		Robert M. May Robert May, Baron May of Oxford Robert McCredie May, Baron May of Oxford, OM, AC, PRS is an Australian scientist who has been Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government, President of the Royal Society, and a Professor at Sydney and Princeton. He now holds joint professorships at Oxford, and Imperial College London...		Ecological research
1997	Astronomy		Fred Hoyle Fred Hoyle Sir Fred Hoyle FRS was an English astronomer and mathematician noted primarily for his contribution to the theory of stellar nucleosynthesis and his often controversial stance on other cosmological and scientific matters—in particular his rejection of the "Big Bang" theory, a term originally...		Study of nuclear processes in stars, stellar evolution
		—	Edwin Salpeter
1998	Geosciences	—	Don L. Anderson Don L. Anderson Don Lynn Anderson is an American geophysicist who has made important contributions to the determination of the large-scale structure of the Earth's interior, especially using seismological methods. He is Eleanor and John R. McMillan Professor emeritus of geophysics at the California Institute of...		Study of the structures and processes in the interior of the Earth
		—	Adam M. Dziewonski Adam Dziewonski Adam Marian Dziewoński is a Polish-American geophysicist who has made seminal contributions to the determination of the large-scale structure of the Earth's interior and the nature of earthquakes using seismological methods. He is the Frank B. Baird, Jr...
1999	Biosciences		Ernst Mayr		Developing the concept of evolutionary biology
		—	John Maynard Smith John Maynard Smith John Maynard Smith,His surname was Maynard Smith, not Smith, nor was it hyphenated. F.R.S. was a British theoretical evolutionary biologist and geneticist. Originally an aeronautical engineer during the Second World War, he took a second degree in genetics under the well-known biologist J.B.S....
			George C. Williams George C. Williams Professor George Christopher Williams was an American evolutionary biologist.Williams was a professor emeritus of biology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He was best known for his vigorous critique of group selection. The work of Williams in this area, along with W. D...
2000	Polyarthritis	—	Marc Feldmann Marc Feldmann Sir Marc Feldmann is an Australian immunologist, and a professor at the Imperial College School of Medicine where he is a head of the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology.-Biography:...		Definition of TNF-alpha
		—	Ravinder N. Maini Ravinder N. Maini Sir Ravinder Nath Maini is rheumatology professor at the Kennedy Institute, part of Imperial College London. Maini was born in Ludhiana in the Punjab region of India but has lived most of his life in the UK...
2001	Mathematics		Alain Connes Alain Connes Alain Connes is a French mathematician, currently Professor at the Collège de France, IHÉS, The Ohio State University and Vanderbilt University.-Work:...		Theory of operator algebras, founder of the non-commutative geometry
2002	Geosciences	—	Dan P. McKenzie		Dynamics of the lithosphere
2003	Biosciences	—	Carl Woese Carl Woese Carl Richard Woese is an American microbiologist and physicist. Woese is famous for defining the Archaea in 1977 by phylogenetic taxonomy of 16S ribosomal RNA, a technique pioneered by Woese and which is now standard practice. He was also the originator of the RNA world hypothesis in 1977,...		Third domain of life
2004	Polyarthritis	—	Eugene C. Butcher Eugene C. Butcher Eugene C. "Gene" Butcher, M.D. is an immunologist and a Professor of Pathology at Stanford University -Research focus:Butcher and his research team study the trafficking of white blood cells , including their interactions with the endothelial lining of blood vessels at sites of leukocyte...		Study of molecular mechanisms concerning white blood cells
		—	Timothy A. Springer Timothy A. Springer Timothy A. "Tim" Springer, Ph.D. is an immunologist and Professor at Harvard University -Research focus:His lab elucidated different steps in the homing process of lymphocytes with a special focus on the integrin LFA-1. His research encompasses the cell adhesion molecules and chemotactic signals...
2005	Astronomy	—	James E. Gunn James E. Gunn James Edward Gunn is the Eugene Higgins Professor of Astronomy at Princeton University. Gunn's early theoretical work in astronomy has helped establish the current understanding of how galaxies form, and the properties of the space between galaxies...		Understanding the large-scale structure of the Universe
		—	James Peebles
			Martin Rees
2006	Geosciences	—	Wallace S. Broecker Wallace S. Broecker Wallace Smith Broecker is the Newberry Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University and a scientist at Columbia's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory...		Research into the global carbon cycle
2007	Biosciences	—	Robert Trivers Robert Trivers Robert L. Trivers is an American evolutionary biologist and sociobiologist and Professor of Anthropology and Biological Sciences at Rutgers University. Trivers is most noted for proposing the theories of reciprocal altruism , parental investment , facultative sex ratio determination , and...		Analysis of social evolution
2008	Astronomy		Rashid Alievich Sunyaev Rashid Sunyaev Rashid Alievich Sunyaev was born in Tashkent, Uzbek SSR, on March 1, 1943 to a Tatar family, and educated at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and Moscow State University . He became a professor at MIPT in 1974...		Contributions to high-energy astrophysics and cosmology
	Mathematics		Maxim Kontsevich Maxim Kontsevich Maxim Lvovich Kontsevich is a Russian mathematician. He is a professor at the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques and a distinguished professor at the University of Miami...		Contributions to mathematics from modern theoretical physics
			Edward Witten Edward Witten Edward Witten is an American theoretical physicist with a focus on mathematical physics who is currently a professor of Mathematical Physics at the Institute for Advanced Study....
2009	Polyarthritis		Charles Dinarello		Isolation of interleukins, understanding their role in the onset of inflammatory diseases
			Tadamitsu Kishimoto
			Toshio Hirano Toshio Hirano is a Japanese immunologist best known for his discovery of interleukin-6.- Chronology :*1972 - graduated from Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University*1980 - assistant professor in the School of Medicine, Kumamoto University...
2010	Geosciences		Walter Munk Walter Munk Walter Heinrich Munk is an American physical oceanographer. He is professor of geophysics emeritus and holds the Secretary of the Navy/Chief of Naval Operations Oceanography Chair at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California.-Early life:Born in 1917 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary,...		“for his pioneering and fundamental contributions to our understanding of ocean circulation, tides and waves, and their role in the Earth’s dynamics”.
2011	Biosciences		Ilkka Hanski Ilkka Hanski Ilkka A. Hanski FRS is a Finnish scientist, working in the field of ecology, at Helsinki University, Finland. The Metapopulation Research Group led by Hanski has been nominated as a Center of Excellence by the Academy of Finland...		“for his pioneering studies on how spatial variation affects the dynamics of animal and plant populations”.

External links

• The Crafoord Prize – official website