Hadiah Nobel & Kreativiti Sains

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Hadiah Nobel & Kreativiti Sains BAB 9 HADIAH NOBEL & KREATIVITI SAINS PENGENALAN Hadiah adalah salah satu kaedah yang boleh digunakan untuk mengiktiraf pencapaian seseorang. Hadiah adalah ganjaran yang diterima dalam pelbagai bentuk seperti wang tunai, aset tetap seperti rumah, tanah dan sebagainya. Konsep hadiah amat luas untk dibicarakan ia boleh mencakupi hal yang berkaitan dengan perkahwinan, pertandingan, perniagaan, peperiksaan dan sebagainya. Lazimnya, orang awam akan mengaitkan hadiah dengan suatu bentuk pertandingan. Pertandingan bertujuan mencari pemenang dalam sesuatu pertandingan yang diadakan. Hadiah adalah suatu bentuk ganjaran yang diberikan oleh pihak yang mengiktiraf pencapaian seseorang dalam sesuatu bidang seperti dalam bidang seni, muzik, pendidikan, penyelidikan, sukan, sains, teknologi dan sebaganya. Hadiah dianugerahkan kepada individu setelah individu itu berjaya melakukan sesuatu yang luarbiasa dan hebat. Hadiah adalah salah suatu tanda kecemerlangan yang dicapai oleh seseorang individu dalam hidupnya. Hadiah merupakan suatu ganjaran dan pengiktirafan terhadap hasil kerja yang bermutu tinggi yang telah dilakukan oleh seseorang. Hadiah akan diberikan sama ada semasa individu itu masih hidup atau pun telah meninggal dunia. Namun begitu, adalah lebih bermakna sekiranya hadiah dan ganjaran diberikan kepada individu ketika individu berkenaan masih hidup. Dengan ini, individu tersebut akan berasa idea, pemikiran dan usahanya diiktiraf oleh pihak lain. Sebelum seseorang itu diberikan hadiah sebagai pengiktirafan terhadap pencapainnya, terlebih dahulu akan ada pihak yang akan menilai hasil kerja yang telah dilakukannya. Bentuk dan metodologi penilaian yang dijalankan bergantung kepada jenis pertandingan yang diadakan. Semakin tinggi hadiah semakin rigid metodologi penilaian yang dibuat. Malah semakin ‘established’ reputasi sesuatu pertandingan itu, semakin ketat corak penilaian yang dijalankan. Selain itu, persaingan antara peserta sangat tinggi hinggakan sukar untuk pane penilai menentukan pemenangnya. Bagaimana pun, sejarah hadiah Nobel bukanlah sejarah yang memerihalkan para saintis berlumba-lumba memasuki pertandingan untuk tujuan meraih ganjaran dan hadiah. Apa yang mereka lakukan adalah semata-mata kerana minat, rasa ingin tahu yang tinggi serta komitmen untuk membantu manusia lain. Lagi pula, hadiah Nobel bukanlah suatu bentuk pertandingan yang bersifat komersial seperti mana pertandingan yang berbentuk hiburan. Falsafah dan matlamat hadiah Nobel adalah bertujuan untuk membantu manusia dan menjadikan alam ini lebih baik dari sehari ke sehari. Malah tokoh-tokoh hadiah Nobel tidak 384 pernah terlintas bahawa mereka melakukan penyelidikan, memperjuangkan hak asasi manusia dan berkarya untuk meraih kemenangan dalam pertandingan. Kerja, usaha dan penemuan mereka diiktiraf setelah bertahun-tahun mereka melontarkan idea, penemuan dan kerja keras mereka kepada dunia. Selain daripada hadiah Nobel terdapat beberapa hadiah yang berprestij dalam pelbagai bidang dan kategori untuk mengiktiraf kecemerlangan dan kreativiti individu pada peringkat antarabangsa. Antaranya seperti; • The Abel Prize,Scandinavia Awards dan Fields Medal (matematik) • The Archibald Award, Hugo Awards (pencapaian dalam penulisan sains fiksyen) • The Booker Prize (penulisan novel bagi negara-negara Komenwel) • The Pulitzer Prize Winner (pencapaian tahunan dalam bidang kewartawanan, drama dan muzik yang diberikan oleh Universiti Columbia sejak 1917) • Polar Music Prize (pencapaian dalam bidang muzik) • The Longitude Prize (pencapaian dalam bidang maritim) • The Lasker Medical research Awards (pencapaian dalam penyelidikan perubatan) • The Orteig Prize (pencapaian dalam bidang aeronautic) • The Pritzker Prize (pencapaian dalam seni bina) • The Crafoord Prize (pencapaian dalam astronomi, biosains, geosains, matematik) • The Catherine Wolfe Bruce Medal (pencapaian dalam astronomi) • The Wolf Prizes (pencapaian dalam bidang umum) • The Turing Award (pencapaian dalam bidang sains computer) • The Wollaston Medal (pencapaian dalam bidang geologi) • The Rolf Schock Prizes (logic, falsafah, matematik dan muzik) • The Gregori Aminoff Prize (crystallography) • The Templeton Prize (pencapaian dalam bidang agama) • The Schock Prize (pencapaian dalam bidang logic, falsafah, matematik, lukisan dan seni muzik) • The Millennium Technology Prize (pencapaian dalam bidang teknologi) • The Right Livelihood Awards (hadiah Nobel alternatif dalam enam bidang) • The Astrid Lindgren memorial Award (pencapaian dalam kesusteraan remaja dan kanak-kanak) • Malcolm Baldrige Award (pencapaian kualiti dalam organisasi) • Innovative Pionner Award (inovasi dan reka cipta) • The ASEAN Scince and Technology Awards (pencapaian sains dan teknologi) Segelintir daripada hadiah yang dinyatakan di atas seperti Lasker Award, Wolf Prize, Crafoord Prize dan Hassle’s Prize berkelas dunia dan diiktiraf oleh komuniti sains seluruh dunia. Malah terdapat di kalangan saintis yang memenangi hadiah Nobel sebelumnya telah menerima hadiah-hadiah lain seperti Albert Szent Gyorgi (Lasker Award, 1954), Frederick Sanger (Lasket Award, 1979), Walter Gilbert (Lasker Award, 1979) dan Ernst Ruska (Lasker Award, 1980). Kebanyakan hadiah 385 yang lain lebih mengkhusus dalam bidang-bidang tertentu, The Lasker Award dalam bidang penyelidikan perubatan. The Pulitzer misalnya menjurus dalam bidang kewartawanan dan media, The Prix Goncourt dalam bidang kesusasasteraan, The Wolf Prize dalam bidang fizik, kimia, perubatan, matematik dan seni. Manakala The Balzan pula menjurs dalam bidang sosiologi dan sains politik, The Schock Prize dalam bidang falsafah, matematik, seni dan muzik. Konsep, jumlah hadiah dan cara pemilihan juga berbeza-beza antara satu sama lain. Fields Medals dalam bidang matematik misalnya diadakan setiap empat tahun sekali dan diadali oleh bekas-bekas pemenangnya. Bagaaimana pun menurut Feldman (2000); “ But new or old, the Nobel Prize still outrages them all. It was the first important regular prize to include not only the arts and sciences but politics in the form of “peace”. It was international prize” Pada masa kini, telah wujud satu lagi anugerah seiras hadiah Nobel. Anugerah tahunan ini dikenali sebagai Hadiah Kyoto. Hadiah Kyoto bolehlah danggap sebagai hadiah Nobel versi Asia kerana struktur pemilihan dan barisan jurinya terdiri daripada orang Asia, khususnya pakar-pakar dari Jepun. Hadiah Kyoto telah diasaskan oleh Kazuo Inamori. Beliau ialah presiden Yayasan Inamori (The Inamori Foundation) yang juga pengasas syarikat multinasional terkenal Jepun iaitu Kyocera Corporation. Anugerah pertama telah dimulakan pada tahun 1985. Setelah 20 tahun hadiah Kyoto diperkenalkan, ia memberi kesan yang sangat besar dalam bidang sains, teknologi dan sosial. Hadiah Kyoto bertaraf antarabangsa dan dianugerahkan kepada individu dan organisasi yang telah memberi sumbangan yang berharga dalam tiga bidang utama iaitu teknologi termaju (advanced technology), sains asas (basic sciences) serta deni dan falsafah (arts and philosophy). Hadiah Kyoto dari segi format dan prestijnya seakan-akan Hadiah Nobel. Hal ini kerana, sebelum hadiah Kyoto dilancarkan, Yayasan Inamori telah meminta nasihat daripada Yayasan Nobel, Sweden tentang konsep dan bidang yang ingin dipertandingkan. HADIAH NOBEL, KECEMERLANGAN DAN SUMBANGAN MANUSIA Hadiah Nobel adalah pengiktirafan yang diberikan kepada individu dan organisasi yang telah menyumbang idea, pemikiran dan teori sains kepada kesejahteraan sejagat. Dalam bidang sains, hadiah Nobel merupakan suatu pengiktirafan kepada saintis yang telah menghasilkan satu penemuan baru dalam bidang fizik, kimia dan perubatan. Oleh yang demikian menurut Feldman (2000)”…generally the science prizes are greatly admired”. Namun begitu, hadiah Nobel bukanlah satu ukuran yang boleh menentukan pencapaian saintis seumur hidupnya. Dengan kata lain, hadiah Nobel tidak melambangkan keterbilangan saintis dalam pada sepanjang hidupnya. Seperkara yang lain, hadiah Nobel hanya bermula pada awal abad ke- 386 20, ini bermakna sumbangan dan penemuan saintis sebelum abad ke-20 tidak tersenarai. Jika kita menoleh kebelakang khususnya sejak sebelum masihi hingga akhir abad ke-19 dalam tamadun China, India, Eropah dan Islam, ramai hari sains yang telah merintis jalan dalam menemukan pelbagai teori dan model sehinggakan memberi ‘laluan’ lebih mudah kepada para saintis selepas itu. Pencapaian saintis seperti Isaac Newton, Galilio Galelei, Al- Khawarizmi, Ibnu Sina dan sebagainya mengatasi pencapaian kebanyakan daripada saintis yang telah menerima hadiah Nobel pada abad -20 dan 21. Sumbangan yang telah diberikan oleh para saintis pada abad-abad yang lalu tidak ternilai dan amat besar sekali kepada peradaban manusia sejagat. Bagaimana pun, hadiah Nobel telah memberi dinamisme baru dalam bidang sains dan sains sosial. Perkembangan ilmu sains selepas abad ke-20 banyak dicorakkan oleh penemuan-penemuan sains oleh saintis yang kebanyakannya ialah penerima hadiah Nobel. Justeru itu, sumbangan hadiah Nobel kepada dunia sains dan sains sosial sungguh besar dan bermakna. Mengapa hadiah Nobel yang lebih berprestij dan tidak hadiah-hadiah lain? Itulah antara persoalan popular yang sering menjadi pertanyaan umum. Pertamanya, hadiah Nobel adalah hadiah tertua di dunia yang mengiktiraf individu dalam bidang sains, ekonomi dan kemanan. Hadiah ini sebenarnya adalah simbolik kepada kemajuan dan kepesatan penemuan dalam bidang sains, ekonomi dan usaha-usaha kemanan sejak 100 tahun yang lalu. Selain itu, hadiah Nobel berprestij kerana sistem pemilihan dan penilaiannya
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