Kavli Prize Science Forum 2010: Science summit on international cooperation

Charles M. Vest

Global leaders critical in shaping science policy in the US, Europe and Asia will convene in Oslo, Norway on September  6, to discuss "The Role of International Cooperation in Science" at the inaugural Kavli Prize Science Forum. Jonas Gahr Støre, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Norway, will deliver the opening speech. US President Science Advisor John P. Holdren and Ernst-Ludwig Winnacker, the first Secretary General of the European Research Council, will be the keynote speakers. Charles M. Vest (picture), President of the National Academy of Engineering, will be the moderator for this event. Closing remarks by Tora Aasland, Minister  of Research and Higher Education, Norway.

- I was a terrible science student

Bill Bryson Crop

Bill Bryson is coming to Oslo in connection with the Kavli Prize week. He will be giving two lectures based on his critically acclaimed book "A short history of nearly everything. The lecture is realistic enough called "An even shorter history of nearly everything". In this interview he talks about the book, the idea behind it and his own relation to science.

Royal celebration of excellence in science

Åse Kleveland utdeling Kavli

His Majesty King Harald will present the Kavli Prize in Astrophysics, Nanoscience and Neuroscience to the eight laureates from US, Germany and UK at a gala performance in Oslo Concert Hall on the 7th of September. The prize winners will receive a gold medal, a scroll and a share of the one million US dollars awarded in each of the scientific fields. Åse Kleveland, artist and former Minister of Culture, will be the Master of Ceremonies. Fred Kavli and Tora Aasland, the Minister of Research and Higher Education will be among the many prominent guests at the gala, where several artists will be performing.

Names of the 2010 Kavli Prize Winners Announced

EIGHT scientists whose discoveries have dramatically expanded human understanding in the fields of astrophysics, nanoscience and neuroscience have been recognised with the award of the million-dollar Kavli Prizes.

Astrophysics
Jerry Nelson, of the University of California, Santa Cruz, US, Ray Wilson, formerly of Imperial College London and the European Southern Observatory, and Roger Angel, of the University of Arizona, Tucson, US, share the astrophysics prize for their respective innovations in the field of telescope design that have allowed us glimpses of ever more distant and ancient objects and events in the remote corners of the Universe.

Nanoscience
The nanoscience prize was awarded jointly to US scientists Donald M. Eigler, of IBM’s Almaden Research Centre, San Jose, California, and Nadrian Seeman, of New York University.

Neuroscience
Three US-based scientists - Thomas Südhof, of Stanford University School of Medicine, Richard Scheller, of the biotech company Genentech, and James Rothman, of Yale University - are the joint recipients of the neuroscience prize for their work to reveal the precise molecular basis of the transfer of signals between nerve cells in the brain.

The announcement was made in Oslo by Nils Chr. Stenseth, President of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters June 3, and transmitted live at the opening event of the World Science Festival in New York. The laureates will each receive a scroll, a gold medal and share of the $1,000,000 prize for each of the three fields.

Winners have been selected by committees of leading international scientists in the three fields. The prize committees are appointed by The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters after receiving recommendations from international academies and scientific organisations including the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the French Academy of Sciences, the Max Planck Society of Germany, the US National Academy of Sciences and the UK’s Royal Society.

Read more about the 2010 Kavli Prize winners and their work on the Laureates 2010 page