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GRUBER PRIZE RECIPIENT HISTORY

Cosmology 2000-2010

Year   Recipient
2000   Allan R. Sandage, Staff Astronomer Emeritus, Observatories of Carnegie Institution of Washington D.C., for achievements in observational cosmology, and Phillip J.E. Peebles, Einstein Professor of Science, Princeton University, for work in theoretical cosmology
2001   Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal and Royal Society Research Professor, Cambridge University, for extraordinary intuition in unraveling the complexities of the universe
2002   Vera C. Rubin, Astronomer, Department of Terrestrial Magnetism of Carnegie Institution of Washington, for preeminent work in the motions of galaxies
2003   Rashid Sunyaev, Director, Max-Planck Institute fuer Astrophysik, Garching, Germany for pioneering work on the nature of cosmic microwave background and its interaction with intervening matter
2004   Alan H. Guth, Weisskopf Professor of Physics at MIT, and Andrei Linde, Professor of Physics at Stanford University, for their prominent roles in developing and refining the theory of cosmic inflation
2005   James E. Gunn, Eugene Higgins Professor of Astronomy at Princeton University, for groundbreaking work in all three main areas of astronomy research - theory, observation, and instrumentation
2006   John Mather and the NASA Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) Team, for studies confirming the universe was born in a hot Big Bang
2007   Saul Perlmutter and Brian Schmidt and their teams: the Supernova Cosmology Project and the High-z Supernova Search Team, for independently discovering that the expansion of the universe is accelerating
2008   J. Richard Bond, Director of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research Cosmology and Gravity Program, for his pioneering contributions to our understanding of the development of structures in the universe
2009   Wendy Freedman, Robert Kennicutt, and Jeremy Mould, leaders of the Hubble Space Telescope Key Project on the Extragalactic Distance Scale, for the definitive measurement of the rate of expansion of the universe, Hubble's Constant
2010   Charles Steidel, for his groundbreaking studies of the distant Universe.

 

Genetics 2001-2010

Year   Recipient
2001  Rudolf Jaenish, Professor of Biology, Whitehead Institute, MIT, for experimental work on genome function and regulation and the insights into the risks of human cloning
2002  H. Robert Horvitz, Professor of Biology, MIT, Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, for work in the discovery of how specific genes cause the programmed death of cells
2003  David Botstein, Director, Lewis-Sigler Institute, Princeton University, for fundamental contributions to modern genetics, including development of methods of mutagenesis of bacteria and yeast and basic principles of the application of genetic polymorphisms for mapping the human genome
2004  Mary-Claire King, Professor, University of Washington, for locating a gene predisposing to breast cancer and analyzing genetic contributions to common human diseases and for pioneering work in the use of DNA for identifying human remains
2005  Robert Waterston, Professor, University of Washington School of Medicine, for pioneering work in mapping and sequencing of the genomes of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans and for his pivotal role in the Human Genome Project
2006   Elizabeth Blackburn, Morris Herzstein Professor of Biology and Physiology, University of California, San Francisco, for the discovery of the unique structure and mechanism of replication of telemeres and the function of telomerase
2007   Maynard V. Olson, Professor of Genome Sciences at the University of Washington, for his contributions to genome science
2008  

Allan C. Spradling, Director of the Carnegie Institution's Department of Embryology and a leader in developmental genetics and stem cell biology

2009  

Janet Rowley, Blum-Riese Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago, founder of the field of cancer cytogenetics and a renowned leader in molecular oncology

2010  

Gerald Fink, a founder of modern yeast genetics and a leader in the use of model-organism genetics to study diverse biological problems.

 

Neuroscience 2004-2010

Year   Recipient
2004   Seymour Benzer, Professor Emeritus, California Institute of Technology, for seminal contributions to understanding gene structure and the genetic code and genetic studies of behavioral neuroscience, using the fruit fly as a model for studying learning and memory, neural degeneration and aging
2005   Eric Knudsen, Chairman, Department of Neuro-Biology, University of California, San Francisco, and Masakazu Konishi, Bing Professor of Behavioral Biology at the California Institute of Technology, whose research established the existence of an auditory map in the brain of the barn owl and led to further comprehension of the sensory processes of the brain
2006   Masao Ito, Professor, Riken Brain Science Institute, Japan, and Roger Nicoll, Professor, University of California, San Francisco, for their contributions to the understanding of how the brain works on a molecular level and particularly elucidating memory functionsa
2007   Shigetada Nakanishi, for pioneering research into communication between nerve cells in the brain
2008   John O'Keefe, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London, for his pioneering work concerning the neural basis of complex cognitive functions in freely moving animals
2009   Jeffrey Hall, Professor of Neurogenetics at the University of Maine, Michael Rosbash, Professor and Director of the National Center for Behavioral Genomics at Brandeis University, and Michael Young, Professor and head of the Laboratory of Genetics at Rockefeller University, for their pioneering discoveries of molecular mechanisms that control circadian rhythms in the nervous system
2010   Robert Wurtz, for his pioneering work concerning the neural bases of visual processing in primates.

 

Justice 2001-2010

Year   Recipient
2001  Anthony Roy Gubbay, retired Chief Justice of Zimbabwe, and Sternford Moyo for the Law Society of Zimbabwe, jointly, for upholding the rule of law and protection of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, in the face of political intimidation and the threat of physical violence
2002   Fali Sam Nariman, member of Parliament and President of the Bar Association of India, for promoting the universal rule of law in a modern era of emerging democracies and supportive systems of jurisprudence
2003  Bertha Wilson, Supreme Court of Canada, for landmark decisions championing minority rights and Rosalie Silberman Abella, Ontario Court of Appeal, for a distinguished record of fair decisions and for groundbreaking work in gender and minority equity
2004  Arthur Chaskalson and Pius Langa, Constitutional Court of South Africa, jointly, for their efforts in establishing the Constitution of South Africa as as model for emerging democracies and countries struggling with regime change
2005   Param Cumaraswamy, for his work in his native Malaysia upholding the independence of the judiciary, at great personal risk, and for his advocacy of human rights around the world as the United Nations Special Rapporteur
2006   Aharon Barak, Supreme Court of Israel, for his unflagging dedication to human rights in times of peace and of war, regardless of political considerations, criticisms, and the threat of personal peril
2007   Carmen Argibay of Argentina, Judge Carlos Cerda of Chile, and Mónica Feria of Peru. Justice Argibay has been a pioneering women’s advocate, corruption foe, and participant at the Tokyo Tribunal to adjudicate charges of sexual slavery; Judge Cerda is an independent and courageous member of the Chilean judiciary who pursued Pinochet abuse while the dictator was in power; and Feria is an international lawyer, defender of children’s rights and tireless champion of victims of the Fujimori prison massacre of 1992
2008  Jerome Shestack and Thomas Buergenthal, two human rights advocates who are pioneers in the fight for justice and human rights throughout the world
2009  Bryan Stevenson and The European Roma Rights Centre for advancing human rights and the cause of justice
2010  Michael Kirby, John Dugard, and the Indian Law Resource Center, for contributions to international law and the advancement of human rights and rule of law.

 

Women's Rights 2003-2010

 

Year   Recipient
2003   Navanthem Pillay, International Criminal Court, the Hague, and former president of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, for strong leadership in advancing women’s rights and for the landmark decision recognizing rape as a weapon of war, and Pro-Femmes Twese Hamwe, an umbrella organization for grassroots women’s groups working for peace and stability in Rwanda following the 1990’s genocide crisis
2004  Sakena Yacoobi and the Afghan Institute of Learning, of which she is president, for providing qualify education, human rights training, and health care for women during and following the repressive Taliban regime, both in Afghanistan and to Afghans living in Pakistan
2005  Shan Women’s Action Network (SWAN), a grassroots women’s group, and the umbrella organization of which it is a founding member, the Women’s League of Burma, for challenging human rights advocacy
2006   Cecilia Medina Quiroga, judge on the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Chile, for advancing the rights of women through international law; Luz Méndez for the Unión Nacional de Mujeres Guatemaltecas, for peace-building and encouraging equitable political participation in Guatemala; and Julie Su for the Sweatshop Watch, for protecting the economic and political rights of migrant workers in the U.S.
2007   Pinar Ilkkaracan - recognized both individually and for her leadership in two organizations that she co-founded; helped reform Turkish laws to advance gender equality and advocated for sexual and reproductive rights Women for Women's Human Rights - played a critical role in advancing women's civil and reproductive rights and raising awareness about gender-based violence The Coalition for Sexual and Bodily Rights in Muslim Societies - helped shatter myths about customs and religious practices and united women's rights advocates from 14 countries in an effort to protect women and girls
2008  Yanar Mohammed, Sapana Pradhan Malla, and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, three activists devoted to enhancing women’s rights and empowering women under the most difficult conditions of armed conflict and war
2009  Leymah Roberta Gbowee and the Women's Legal Centre, who have helped to build peace and advance rights for African women
2010  The Center for Reproductive Rights, and Caribbean Committee for the Defense of Women's Rights (CLADEM), for their historic collaboration in advancing women's sexual and reproductive rights and successfully holding governments accountable for complying with international treaties and standards on women's rights

The Gruber International Prize Program

The International Prize Program honors contemporary individuals in the fields of Cosmology, Genetics, Neuroscience, Justice and Women’s Rights, whose groundbreaking work provides new models that inspire and enable fundamental shifts in knowledge and culture. The Selection Advisory Boards seek to honor individuals whose contributions in their respective fields advance our knowledge, potentially have a profound impact on our lives, and, in the case of the Justice and Women’s Rights Prizes, demonstrate courage and commitment in the face of significant obstacles.

Media Note:

If you have an interest in a specific award category and the recipient of the prize for that category, contact Cassandra Oryl at +1 (202) 309-2263, or pr@lunchboxcity.com.