The Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences is awarded once a year by the Inamori Foundation. The Prize is one of three Kyoto Prize categories; the others are the Kyoto Prize in Advanced Technology and the Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy. The first Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences was awarded to Claude Elwood Shannon, the “Establishment of Mathematical Foundation of Information Theory”. The Prize is regarded as a prestigious award available in fields which are traditionally not honored with a Nobel Prize.
The Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences
Awarded for
Global achievement in Basic Sciences
Country
Japan
Presented by
Inamori Foundation
First award
1985
Website
www.kyotoprize.org
Fields
The Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences is awarded on a rotating basis to researchers in the following four fields:
Mathematical sciences (including pure mathematics)
Outstanding Contribution to Limnology and Community Ecology by Integrative Ecological Niche Theory
1990
Jane Goodall
United Kingdom
born 1934
Long-Term Study of Behavior, Sociology, and Ecology of Chimpanzees in the Wild
1993
–
William Donald Hamilton
United Kingdom
1936–2000
Proposal of Inclusive Fitness and the Establishment of Evolutionary Theory of Sociality and Cooperation
1997
Daniel Hunt Janzen
United States
born 1939
Pioneering Study of Biodiversity in Tropics and Its Maintenance Mechanisms
2001
John Maynard Smith
United Kingdom
1920–2004
Contribution to Evolutionary Biology by Proposing the Idea of the Evolutionarily Stable Strategy (ESS)
2005
Simon Asher Levin
United States
born 1941
Establishment of the field of spatial ecology and the proposition of the biosphere as a "complex adaptive system"
2009
Barbara Rosemary Grant
United Kingdom
born 1936
Demonstrating Rapid Evolution Caused by Natural Selection in Response to Environmental Changes
Peter Raymond Grant
United Kingdom
born 1936
2013
Masatoshi Nei
United States
born 1931
Research on the Evolution of Biological Populations Using Quantitative Analyses of Genetic Variation and Evolutionary Time
2017
Graham Farquhar
Australia
born 1947
Development of Process-based Models of Photosynthesis and Their Contributions to the Science of Global Environmental Changes
2022
Bryan Grenfell
United States
born 1954
Development of an Innovative Methodology for Integrative Analysis of Pathogen Evolution and Epidemics.
Mathematical sciences
Year
Laureate
Country
1985
Claude Elwood Shannon
United States
1916–2001
Establishment of Mathematical Foundation of Information Theory
1989
Izrail Moiseevich Gelfand
Soviet Union
1913–2009
Outstanding Contribution to Many Fields of Mathematical Sciences, Especially Pioneering Studies in Functional Analysis
1994
André Weil
France
1906–1998
Broad Contribution to the Modern Mathematics, Especially through the Foundational Works in Algebraic Geometry and Number Theory
1998
Kiyoshi Itō
Japan
1915–2008
Fundamental Contribution to the Stochastic Analysis, through His Invention of Stochastic Differential Equations, Which Have Been Applied in Various Sciences
2002
Mikhail Gromov
France
born 1943
Contributions through dramatic developments in a range of mathematical fields by introducing the innovative method of a metric structure for families of various geometrical objects
2006
Hirotsugu Akaike
Japan
1927–2009
Major contribution to statistical science and modeling with the development of the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC)
2010
László Lovász
Hungary
born 1948
Outstanding Contributions to Mathematical Sciences Based on Discrete Optimization Algorithms
2014
Edward Witten
United States
born 1951
Outstanding Contributions to the Development of Mathematical Sciences through the Exploration of Superstring Theory
2018
Masaki Kashiwara
Japan
born 1947
Outstanding Contributions to a Broad Spectrum of Modern Mathematics: Advancement of D-module Theory from Its Foundation
2023
Elliott H. Lieb
United States
born 1932
Pioneering Mathematical Research in Physics, Chemistry, and Quantum Information Science Based on Many-Body Physics
Earth and planetary sciences, astronomy and astrophysics
Year
Laureate
Country
1987
Jan Hendrik Oort
Netherlands
1900–1992
Outstanding Contribution to Astronomy by the Elucidation of Structure and Dynamics of the Galaxy
1991
Edward Norton Lorenz
United States
1917–2008
Outstanding Contribution to Earth Science and Mathematical Science by the Development of Theoretical Basis of Numerical Study in Meteorology and the Discovery of Deterministic Chaos
1995
Chūshirō Hayashi
Japan
1920–2010
Outstanding Contribution to Astrophysics through the Theoretical Studies of the Stellar Formation and Evolution and the Formation of Solar System
1999
Walter Heinrich Munk
United States
1917–2019
Outstanding Contribution to the Earth Science by the Elucidation of Dynamical Mechanism of Ocean and Its Waves
2003
Eugene Newman Parker
United States
1927–2022
Contributions to Astrophysics through the Elucidation of the Solar Wind and Cosmical Magnetohydrodynamic Phenomena
2007
Hiroo Kanamori
Japan
born 1936
Elucidation of Physical Processes of Earthquakes and Its Application to Hazard Mitigation
2011
Rashid Alievich Sunyaev
Russia
Germany
born 1943
Proposal of the Theory of Fluctuations in the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation to Explore the Expanding Universe, and Outstanding Contribution to High-Energy Astronomy
2015
Michel Mayor
Switzerland
born 1942
Outstanding Contributions in Evolving a New Vision of the Universe through the Discovery of Extrasolar Planet
2019
James E. Gunn
United States
born 1938
Outstanding Contributions to the Elucidation of Cosmic History Based on a Large-Scale Wide-Field Observation.
2024
Paul F. Hoffman
Canada
born 1941
Proving Snowball Earth Accelerating Life Evolution and Plate Tectonics Dating Back to the First Half of Earth's History.
Life sciences
Year
Laureate
Country
1992
Yasutomi Nishizuka
Japan
1932–2004
Elucidation of Intracellular Signal Transduction System through the Discovery and Functional Analysis of the Protein Kinase C
1996
Mario Renato Capecchi
United States
born 1937
Production of Knockout Mice through the Development of Gene Targeting Technique and Outstanding Contribution to Elucidation of Gene Function
2000
Walter Jakob Gehring
Switzerland
born 1939
Discovery of Conserved Developmental Mechanisms
2004
Alfred G. Knudson
United States
1922–2016
Seminal contribution to the establishment of the theory of the tumor suppressor gene in the mechanism of human carcinogenesis
2008
Anthony James Pawson
Canada
United Kingdom
1952–2013
Proposing and Proving the Concept of Adapter Molecules in the Signal Transduction
2012
Yoshinori Ohsumi
Japan
born 1945
Outstanding Contribution to Elucidating the Molecular Mechanisms and Physiological Significance of Autophagy, a Cellular Adaptive System to Environment
2016
Tasuku Honjo
Japan
born 1942
Discovery of the Mechanism Responsible for the Functional Diversification of Antibodies, Immunoregulatory Molecules and Clinical Applications of PD-1
2020
No award because of COVID-19 pandemic
2021
Robert G. Roeder
United States
born 1942
Discovery of the Principle of Gene Transcription Mechanisms in Eukaryotes
2025
Azim Surani
United Kingdom
born 1945
Discovery of Genomic Imprinting in Mammals and Elucidation of Its Molecular Mechanisms.
Cognitive science
Year
Laureate
Country
1988
Avram Noam Chomsky
United States
born 1928
Creation of the Theory of Generative Grammar and Substantial Contribution to the Formation and Development of Cognitive Science
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