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The Shaw Prize Founder's Biographical Note The Shaw Prize The Shaw Prize is an international award to honour individuals who are currently active in their respective fields and who have achieved distinguished and significant advances, who have made outstanding contributions in culture and the arts, or who in other domains have achieved excellence. The award is dedicated to furthering societal progress, enhancing quality of life, and enriching humanity’s spiritual civilization. Preference will be given to individuals whose significant work was recently achieved. Founder's Biographical Note The Shaw Prize was established under the auspices of Mr Run Run Shaw. Mr Shaw, born in China in 1907, is a native of Ningbo County, Zhejiang Province. He joined his brother’s film company in China in the 1920s. In the 1950s he founded the film company Shaw Brothers (Hong Kong) Limited in Hong Kong. He served as Executive Chairman of Television Broadcasts Limited in Hong Kong since the 1970s until earlier this year and is now Chairman of TVB and a Member of its Executive Committee. Mr Shaw has also founded two charities, The Sir Run Run Shaw Charitable Trust and The Shaw Foundation Hong Kong, both dedicated to the promotion of education, scientific and technological research, medical and welfare services, and culture and the arts. ~ 1 ~ Message from the Chief Executive This is the seventh year of the Shaw Prize. Since its inauguration in 2004, it has become one of the most prestigious international awards in recognition of academic excellence of distinguished scientists whose achievements have significantly benefited mankind. This year, five eminent scientists will join the elite group of 31 prominent Shaw Laureates from around the world, whose work has been a lasting source of inspiration to fellow scientists and has advanced human understanding of astronomy, life science and medicine, and mathematical sciences. I sincerely congratulate this year’s winners on their accomplishments, and wish them every success in their future scientific pursuits. Donald Tsang Chief Executive Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ~ 2 ~ Message from the Founder In every age there are turning points – new ways of seeing and understanding the world around us. New discoveries spring from old knowledge as the echoes of past achievements resound in the consciousness of perceptive individuals determined to unravel the marvelous mysteries of the sciences. Each success shared spurs a widening of the human imagination, and recognition of such success, acclaimed by the Shaw Prize as a compelling force, inspires a new generation to probe deeper into the unknown and make its contribution to progress. Run Run Shaw ~ 3 ~ Message from Chairman of the Board of Adjudicators The Shaw Prize Council is honoured to award three Shaw Prizes tonight. Professors Charles Bennett, Lyman Page Jr and David Spergel will receive the 2010 Astronomy Prize for their leadership in the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe experiment which has enabled precise determinations of the fundamental cosmological parameters, including the geometry, age and composition of the universe. For example, the age of the universe is now determined to be 13.75 billion years with the remarkable accuracy of plus or minus only one percent. Professor David Julius will receive the 2010 Life Science and Medicine Prize for his seminal discoveries of molecular mechanisms of the senses of touch, of scalding, of spicy hotness, etc., through specialized ion channels at the tip of sensory nerves. Professor Jean Bourgain will receive the 2010 Mathematical Sciences Prize for his profound work in mathematical analysis and its application to partial differential equations, mathematical physics, combinatorics, number theory, ergodic theory and theoretical computer science. It is difficult to explain his achievements in so many different areas of pure and applied mathematics. But in one area of computer sciences his work has led to great advances that the layman can appreciate: he elucidated the true meaning of randomness. Chen-Ning Yang ~ 4 ~ The Shaw Prize Medal The front of the medal displays a portrait of Run Run Shaw, next to which are the words and Chinese characters for the title of "The Shaw Prize". On the reverse, the medal shows the award category, the relevant year and the name of the prizewinner. A seal of imprint of the Chinese phrase "制天命而用之" (quoted from Xun Zi – a thinker in the warring states period of Chinese history in 313 – 238 B.C.) meaning "Grasp the law of nature and make use of it" appears in the upper~ 5 ~ right corner. AGENDA Arrival of Officiating Guest and Winners **** Welcome Speech by Professor Chen-Ning Yang Member of the Council Chairman of the Board of Adjudicators, The Shaw Prize **** Speech by Professor Jiansheng Chen Member of the Board of Adjudicators Chairman of the Selection Committee for the Prize in Astronomy **** Speech by Professor Yuet-Wai Kan Member of the Board of Adjudicators Chairman of the Selection Committee for the Prize in Life Science and Medicine **** Speech by Sir Michael Atiyah Member of the Board of Adjudicators Chairman of the Selection Committee for the Prize in Mathematical Sciences **** Award Presentation Grand Hall Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre 28 September 2010 ~ 6 ~ AWARD PRESENTATION (Category listed in alphabetical order) Astronomy Professor Charles L Bennett, Professor Lyman A Page Jr and Professor David N Spergel Life Science and Medicine Professor David Julius Mathematical Sciences Professor Jean Bourgain ~ 7 ~ Professor Jiansheng Chen Member of the Board of Adjudicators Chairman of the Selection Committee for the Prize in Astronomy Professor Jiansheng Chen is a reputed astrophysicist and Fellow of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He is currently a Professorial Research Scientist and Director of Department of Astronomy at Peking University and Director of Beijing Astrophysical Center. Professor Chen is also the former Deputy Director of the Academic Division of Mathematics and Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (1998 – 2002), the Chairman of the Astronomical Advisory Board of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Member of the Academic Degree Committee of the State Council, Member of the Expert Group for Post-doctorates of the Personnel Ministry, and Member of Special Nominating Committee of International Astronomical Union. He has been primarily engaged in research in the fields of QSO absorption line, QSO survey, Galactic Physics and large scale astronomy. ~ 8 ~ The Prize in Astronomy 2010 Charles L Bennett, Lyman A Page Jr and David N Spergel for their leadership of the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) experiment, which has enabled precise determinations of the fundamental cosmological parameters, including the geometry, age and composition of the universe. ~ 9 ~ An Essay on the Prize in Astronomy 2010 How did the universe begin? What makes up the universe? Why does the sky look the way it does? Humankind has been asking these kinds of questions for millennia, but these questions are now subject to direct observational measurements. Measurements have revealed that we live in an expanding universe and that the expansion is becoming faster and faster. It is now firmly established that our universe has been expanding and cooling for billions of years, ever since the Big Bang. To be precise, the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) space mission has determined that the age of the universe is thirteen billion, seven hundred million years. This has been recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most accurate determination of the age of the universe. WMAP has determined the age by capturing the oldest light in the universe and by measuring tiny variations in the temperature and polarization of this cosmic radiation all across the sky. The pattern seen in these tiny variations depends upon the universe’s composition and geometry as well as on the physical processes in the early universe that generated these variations. The full sky picture of these variations in temperature from WMAP is a direct view of the early universe. It is a “baby picture” from when the universe was less than 0.03% of its current age. In addition to the age of the universe, WMAP has measured the density of matter, the density of atoms, the amplitude of the initial fluctuations that grew to form galaxies, and how this amplitude varies with scale. These five basic numbers explain not only the WMAP full sky picture of tiny temperature fluctuations but also a host of other astronomical observations. The WMAP data have confirmed that atoms or normal matter make up only 4.5% of the total density of the universe. Dark matter comprises the next 22%. Many cosmologists speculate that this dark matter is a new type of subatomic particle. Dark energy appears to comprise the remaining 73.5% of the universe. This dark energy is driving the accelerated expansion of the universe. Unlike normal matter, this dark energy acts as a form of “anti-gravity”. This WMAP measurement confirms earlier observations of supernovae (recognized by the 2006 Shaw Prize in Astronomy) that implied the expansion of the universe is accelerating today. ~ 10 ~ In declaring the WMAP results the 2003 “Breakthrough of the Year”, Science Magazine wrote, “Lingering doubts about the existence of dark energy and the composition of the universe dissolved when the WMAP satellite took the most detailed picture ever of the cosmic microwave background (CMB)”. Also, “All the arguments of the last few decades about the basic properties of the universe— its age, its expansion rate, its composition, its density—have been settled in one fell swoop”. The subtle patterns in the WMAP baby picture of the universe are consistent with the idea that the expansion of the universe is not only accelerating today, but also underwent a period of even more rapid accelerated expansion in its first moments. Cosmologists call this early acceleration “inflation”. Quantum fluctuations in the rate of this early acceleration generated variations that are observable imprints on the microwave sky.
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