Descartes Prize
Encyclopedia
The Descartes Prize is an annual award in science given by the European Union
, named in honour of the French mathematician and philosopher, René Descartes
.
The prizes recognizes Outstanding Scientific and Technological Achievements Resulting from European Collaborative Research. The research prize was first awarded in 2000
.
The research prize is awarded to teams of researchers who have "achieved outstanding scientific or technological results through collaborative research in any field of science, including the economic, social science and humanities." http://www.cordis.lu/science-society/descartes/science.htm. Submissions may be received by the research teams themselves or by suitable national bodies.
A science communication prize was started in 2004 as part of the Descartes Prize but in 2007 was separated to the Science Communication Prize
.
Proposals (also referred to as submissions) received are judged and a shortlist of nominees are announced, from which five Laureates (finalists) and five Winners are announced at a prize ceremony in December each year.
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
, named in honour of the French mathematician and philosopher, René Descartes
René Descartes
René Descartes ; was a French philosopher and writer who spent most of his adult life in the Dutch Republic. He has been dubbed the 'Father of Modern Philosophy', and much subsequent Western philosophy is a response to his writings, which are studied closely to this day...
.
The prizes recognizes Outstanding Scientific and Technological Achievements Resulting from European Collaborative Research. The research prize was first awarded in 2000
2000 in science
The year 2000 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Astronomy and space exploration:* May 4 – A rare conjunction occurs on the New Moon including all seven of the traditional celestial bodies known from ancient times up until 1781 with the discovery of Uranus...
.
The research prize is awarded to teams of researchers who have "achieved outstanding scientific or technological results through collaborative research in any field of science, including the economic, social science and humanities." http://www.cordis.lu/science-society/descartes/science.htm. Submissions may be received by the research teams themselves or by suitable national bodies.
A science communication prize was started in 2004 as part of the Descartes Prize but in 2007 was separated to the Science Communication Prize
Science Communication Prize
The Science Communication Prize is an annual award in science writing given by the European Commission.It was begun as a Descartes Prize in 2004, but in 2007 was separated to its own prize....
.
Proposals (also referred to as submissions) received are judged and a shortlist of nominees are announced, from which five Laureates (finalists) and five Winners are announced at a prize ceremony in December each year.
Laureates / Winners
Where a project coordinator was named, only that person was included here and none of the team members who are also "winners" or "laureates". (Full project members are included on the Descartes Prize website individual award pages.) Where no project "coordinator" was named, the team members are individually named.- 2000 Winners: "Chemistry close to the absolute zeroAbsolute zeroAbsolute zero is the theoretical temperature at which entropy reaches its minimum value. The laws of thermodynamics state that absolute zero cannot be reached using only thermodynamic means....
" (Ian SmithIan SmithIan Douglas Smith GCLM ID was a politician active in the government of Southern Rhodesia, the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Rhodesia, Zimbabwe Rhodesia and Zimbabwe from 1948 to 1987, most notably serving as Prime Minister of Rhodesia from 13 April 1964 to 1 June 1979...
project coordinator); "The XPDXPDXPD is a spy novel by Len Deighton, published in 1981, and set in 1979, roughly contemporaneous with the time it was written. It concerns a plan by a group of former SS officers to seize power in West Germany, in which they intend to publish some wartime documents about a secret meeting between...
gene: one gene, two functions, three diseases" (Alan Lehmann, project coordinator); "Plastic transistors operating at 50 KHZ for low-end high-volume electronic circuitElectronic circuitAn electronic circuit is composed of individual electronic components, such as resistors, transistors, capacitors, inductors and diodes, connected by conductive wires or traces through which electric current can flow...
s" (Dago de Leeuw, project coordinator) - 2001 Winners: "Development of novel drugs against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)" (Jan Balzarini, project coordinator); "Development of new asymmetric catalysts for chemical manufacturing" (Michael NorthMichael NorthMichael North is the name of:*Michael North , professor of English at UCLA*Ted North, American actor *Mikey North, English actor*Mike North, TV presenter...
, project coordinator) - 2002 Winners: "Towards new drugs for Multiple Sclerosis patients" (Lars Fugger, Rikard Holmdahl, Yvonne JonesYvonne JonesYvonne Jones is a Canadian politician and former leader of the Liberal Party of Newfoundland and Labrador. She currently represents the riding of Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair in the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly, and was one of only three Liberal incumbents re-elected in the province's...
); "The universe's biggest explosions since the Big Bang" (Edward Van den Heuvel, project coordinator) - 2003 Winners: "Pinpoint positioning in a wobbly world" (Veronique Dehant, project coordinator); "Paving the way for roll-up screens and switch-on wallpaper" (Richard FriendRichard FriendSir Richard Henry Friend FRS is Cavendish Professor at the University of Cambridge and Tan Chin Tuan Centennial Professor at the National University of Singapore. He is a fellow of St John's College...
, project coordinator) - 2004 Winners: "Project MBAD" (Howard Trevor, project coordinator); "Project IST-QuComm", Anders Karlsson)
- 2005 Winners: "Extending electromagnetism through novel artificial methods" (Costas Soukoulis, Ekmel OzbayEkmel OzbayEkmel Özbay is a Turkish professor of Electrical and Electronics Engineering and Physics Departments at Bilkent University and the director of the Nanotechnology Research Center, and Space Technologies Research Center in Ankara.-Biography:...
, John Brian Pendry, Martin Wegener, David R. SmithDavid R. SmithDavid R. Smith is a renowned American physicist and professor of electrical and computer engineering at Duke University in North Carolina. Smith's research focuses on electromagnetic metamaterials, or materials with a negative index of refraction...
, project members); "CECA - Climate and environmental change in the ArcticArcticThe Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
" (Ola M. Johannessen, Lennart BengtssonLennart BengtssonLennart Bengtsson, born 1935, is a meteorologist currently interested in global climate modelling, global water vapour distribution and measurement of atmospheric water using GPS....
, Leonid BobylevLeonid BobylevLeonid Borisovich Bobylev, also Bobylyov is a Russian composer.Bobylev graduated from the Moscow Conservatory, where he studied composition with Mikhail Chulaki, a professor at the Moscow Conservatory.-Works:Bobylev has composed 5 operas, 8 concertos, a symphony, a symphonic poem "De profundis", 2...
, project members)