WLA Prize recognizes groundbreaking achievements in science
At the opening ceremony of the sixth World Laureates Forum held on Nov 6 in Shanghai, five individuals were awarded the 2023 World Laureates Association Prize for their groundbreaking accomplishments in addressing global challenges.
Established by the WLA in 2021, the WLA Prize recognizes and supports distinguished researchers and technologists worldwide for their contributions to the fields of computer science, mathematics, life science and medicine. Exclusively funded by HongShan, a leading venture capital and private equity company, each prize carries an award of 10 million yuan ($1.4 million).
Arkadi Nemirovski, one of the two WLA Prize winners in computer science or mathematics, said: "This is a truly exceptional honor for me, a level of recognition the magnitude of which I never dreamed." Yurii Nesterov, the category's other laureate, said receiving the prize "was a recognition for our lifetime achievements".
Nemirovski is from the Georgia Institute of Technology in the United States, while Nesterov is from the Universite Catholique de Louvain in Belgium. They were awarded the WLA Prize for their seminal work on convex optimization theory.
Meanwhile, Daniela Rhodes from the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, the United Kingdom, along with Karolin Luger from the University of Colorado Boulder in the US, and Timothy J. Richmond from ETH Zurich, Switzerland, were winners of the 2023 WLA Prize in life science or medicine for elucidating the atomic-level structure of the nucleosome.
"They have left an indelible mark in the history of our understanding of chromosome structure," said Randy Schekman, chair of the 2023 WLA Prize selection committee for life science or medicine.
"Science is a solitary, self-centered, incredibly frustrating and all-consuming profession," said Luger, while Richmond noted that achieving success in groundbreaking research "requires a significant amount of patience and determination", and Rhodes emphasized "the great privilege" of conducting research.
With the theme "Science Leads Transformation", the three-day forum attracted more than 300 intellectuals from 25 countries and regions, including distinguished scientists and past recipients of the Nobel Prize, Turing Award and Wolf Prize. Against the backdrop of a planet facing increasingly complex global challenges, including international relations and the environmental confrontational crisis, the forum featured several specialized gatherings aimed at fostering collaboration in different research fields.
The WLA Life Science Forum, WLA Intelligent Science Forum and WLA Zero Carbon Forum brought together world laureates and scholars to discuss the profound impact of the challenges in various fields, seeking applicable solutions for pressing global issues. The establishment of the WLA Young Scientists HUB provided a new platform for more than 100 young scientists to share their innovative discoveries, resulting in engaging and thought-provoking discussions, while the WLA SHE Forum notably provided inspiration for more women to pursue scientific ambitions.
During the WLA Mobius Forum, 60 world laureates delivered impactful speeches, analyzing and showcasing the future prospects of transforming science education. In expressing his confidence in science producing solutions to many of today's challenges, Norway's Edvard Moser, the 2014 Nobel laureate in physiology or medicine, compared it to the mathematical concept of the Mobius strip, adding: "Science education should be accessible to everyone throughout their entire lives." Peidong Yang, a 2015 MacArthur Fellow, and Angela Chan from UC Berkeley in the US, emphasized the significance of scientific cooperation in addressing global issues.
The livestream of the closing ceremony of the sixth WLA Forum was viewed 2 billion times around the globe in total. The event was hosted by the WLA and the China Association for Science and Technology, with co-hosting support from the Parkland Foundation.
