Epigenetics researcher a 2012 Balzan prizewinner
Milan, Italy – The four Balzan Prizewinners 2012 were announced today in Milan.
The winners were David Baulcombe (UK), University of Cambridge, for Epigenetics, Ronald Dworkin (USA), New York University, for Jurisprudence, Reinhard Strohm (Germany), University of Oxford (UK), for Musicology and Kurt Lambeck (Australia), Australian National University, for Solid Earth Sciences, with emphasis on interdisciplinary research.
The International Balzan Foundation was created in 1957 to recognise the most outstanding initiatives of peace and brotherhood among peoples and foster their growth in the scientific and cultural world. The main objective of the Foundation is to award the Balzan Prize whose fields vary each year and can be related to either a specific or an interdisciplinary field, and look to go beyond the traditional subjects both in the sciences (medicine and the physical, mathematical and natural sciences) and in the humanities (literature, the moral sciences and the arts), so as to give priority to innovative research.
The prize winners each received 750,000 Swiss Francs (approx. 775,000 CND) for each of the four subjects with the stipulation being that half of the amount must be destined by the winners to research projects.
The Prize for Epigenetics went to David Baulcombe, Regius Professor of Botany, Royal Society Research Professor and Head of the Department of Plant Sciences, at the University of Cambridge, “For his fundamental contribution to the understanding of epigenetics and its role in cell and tissue development under normal and stressful conditions.”
The 2013 Balzan Prizes will be awarded in the following fields: Infectious diseases: basic and clinical aspects, Medieval History, Sociology and Quantum Information: Processing and Communication.
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