Balzan Prize
The International Balzan Foundation has honored outstanding scientists from the humanities and natural sciences as well as personalities in the field of art and culture with the Balzan Prize since 1961 .
The foundation, based in Milan (founded in 1956), bears the name of the Italian journalist Eugenio Balzan (1874 to 1953). His daughter Angela Balzan founded the foundation in 1957 in Lugano, Switzerland, from her father's inheritance.
Balzan initially worked as a journalist at Corriere della Sera and then became its managing director and co-owner. In 1933 he left Italy as a resistance against fascist circles , which threatened the independence of the Corriere . Eugenio Balzan lived in Switzerland until his death in 1953 .
In 1961, the Nobel Foundation was the first recipient of the Balzan Prize. Four science prizes have been awarded annually since 1979. Every three to five years, a Balzan Prize for peace, humanity and brotherhood among peoples, worth CHF 1 million (as of 2021, around 920,000 euros) is awarded. The first Balzan Peace Prize winner was Mother Teresa in 1978 , who received the Nobel Peace Prize the following year .
The winners and the specialist areas of the awards are determined by an international committee, which currently includes 19 renowned scientists and humanities scholars. In 2010, the Balzan Prizes were awarded in the following categories: in the history of theater in all its forms of expression, in the history of Europe (1400–1700), in pure or applied mathematics, and in the biology and potential applications of stem cells.
The prizes are awarded annually in the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei in Rome and in the Swiss Parliament in Bern. The foundation's assets are administered in Zurich / Switzerland.
Thanks to its scientific integrity and the amount of the prize money - each prize is endowed with 750,000 Swiss francs - the prize is one of the most important scientific awards in the world. In contrast to other international prizes, the Balzan Prize is awarded in different subject areas every year.
- Number of prizes: four a year
- Prize amounts: 750,000 Swiss francs each; a peace prize of 1 million Swiss francs every 3 to 7 years.
- Prize areas: two in the humanities and social sciences and art; two in science, physics, mathematics and medicine.
- Promotion of young researchers: Since 2001, the award winners have had to donate half of the prize money to research projects by young researchers in their field.
Award winners
| year | Laureate | category |
|---|---|---|
| 1961 | Nobel Foundation ( SE ) | Humanity, peace and brotherhood among peoples |
| 1962 | Andrei Nikolajewitsch Kolmogorow ( SU ) | mathematics |
| Karl von Frisch ( AT ) | biology | |
| John XXIII ( IT ) | Humanity, peace and brotherhood among peoples | |
| Paul Hindemith ( DE ) | music | |
| Samuel Eliot Morison ( USA ) | story | |
| 1978 | Mother Teresa ( IN ) | Humanity, peace and brotherhood among peoples |
| 1979 | Ernest Labrousse ( FR ) | story |
| Giuseppe Tucci ( IT ) | ||
| Jean Piaget ( CH ) | Social and Political Sciences | |
| Torbjörn Caspersson ( SE ) | biology | |
| 1980 | Enrico Bombieri ( IT ) | mathematics |
| Hassan Fathy ( EG ) | Architecture and urban planning | |
| Jorge Luis Borges ( AR ) | Philology, linguistics and literary criticism | |
| 1981 | Dan McKenzie ( GB ) | Geology and geophysics |
| Drummond Hoyle Matthews ( GB ) | ||
| Frederick Vine ( GB ) | ||
| Josef Pieper ( DE ) | philosophy | |
| Paul Reuter ( FR ) | International public law | |
| 1982 | Jean-Baptiste Duroselle ( FR ) | Social sciences |
| Kenneth Vivian Thimann ( GB / USA ) | Pure and applied botany | |
| Massimo Pallottino ( IT ) | Classical Studies | |
| 1983 | Edward Shils ( USA ) | sociology |
| Ernst Mayr ( DE / USA ) | zoology | |
| Francesco Gabrieli ( IT ) | Oriental studies | |
| 1984 | Jan Hendrik Oort ( NL ) | astrophysics |
| Jean Starobinski ( CH ) | Literary history and criticism | |
| Sewall Wright ( USA ) | genetics | |
| 1985 | Ernst Gombrich ( AT / GB ) | Art history of the occident |
| Jean-Pierre Serre ( FR ) | mathematics | |
| 1986 | United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees | Humanity, peace and brotherhood among peoples |
| Jean Rivero ( FR ) | Basic rights of personality | |
| Otto Neugebauer ( AT / USA ) | History of science | |
| Roger Revelle ( USA ) | Oceanography / Climatology | |
| 1987 | Jerome Bruner ( USA ) | Human psychology |
| Phillip Tobias ( ZA ) | Physical anthropology | |
| Richard W. Southern ( GB ) | History of the Middle Ages | |
| 1988 | Michael Evenari ( IL ) | Applied botany (including ecological aspects) |
| Otto Ludwig Lange ( DE ) | ||
| René Etiemble ( FR ) | Comparative literature | |
| Shmuel N. Eisenstadt ( IL ) | sociology | |
| 1989 | Emmanuel Levinas ( FR / LT ) | philosophy |
| Leo Pardi ( IT ) | Ethology | |
| Martin Rees ( GB ) | High energy astrophysics | |
| 1990 | J. Freeman Gilbert ( USA ) | Geophysics (solid earth) |
| Pierre Lalive d'Epinay ( CH ) | International private law | |
| Walter Burkert ( DE ) | Classical Studies | |
| 1991 | Abbé Pierre ( FR ) | Humanity, peace and brotherhood among peoples |
| György Ligeti ( HU / AT ) | music | |
| John Maynard Smith ( GB ) | Genetics and evolution | |
| Vitorino Magalhães Godinho ( PT ) | History: The rise of Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries | |
| 1992 | Armand Borel ( CH ) | mathematics |
| Ebrahim M. Samba ( GM ) | Preventive medicine | |
| Giovanni Macchia ( IT ) | Literary history and criticism | |
| 1993 | Jean Leclant ( FR ) | Ancient art and archeology |
| Lothar Gall ( DE ) | History: 19th and 20th century societies | |
| Wolfgang H. Berger ( DE / USA ) | Paleontology with a special focus on oceanographic aspects | |
| 1994 | Fred Hoyle ( GB ) | Astrophysics (evolution of stars) |
| Martin Schwarzschild ( DE / USA ) | ||
| Norberto Bobbio ( IT ) | Law and politics (governability of democracies) | |
| René Couteaux ( FR ) | Biology (structure of the cell, with special attention to the nervous system) | |
| 1995 | Alan J. Heeger ( USA ) | Materials science |
| Carlo M. Cipolla ( IT ) | Economic history | |
| Yves Bonnefoy ( FR ) | History and criticism of the fine arts in Europe (from the Middle Ages to the present day) | |
| 1996 | Arno Borst ( DE ) | History: culture of the Middle Ages |
| Arnt Eliassen ( NO ) | meteorology | |
| International Committee of the Red Cross | Humanity, peace and brotherhood among peoples | |
| Stanley Hoffmann ( AT / USA / FR ) | Political Science: Current International Relations | |
| 1997 | Charles Gillispie ( USA ) | History and philosophy of science |
| Stanley Jeyaraja Tambiah ( LK / USA ) | Social Sciences: Social Anthropology | |
| Thomas Wilson Meade ( GB ) | Epidemiology | |
| 1998 | Andrzej Walicki ( PL / USA ) | History: cultural and social history of the Slavic world from Catherine the Great to the Russian revolutions of 1917 |
| Harmon Craig ( USA ) | geochemistry | |
| Robert May ( GB / AU ) | biodiversity | |
| 1999 | John Huxtable Elliott ( GB ) | History from the 16th to the 18th century |
| Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza ( IT / USA ) | Scientific research into the origins of humans | |
| Mikhail Gromov ( RU / FR ) | mathematics | |
| Paul Ricœur ( FR ) | philosophy | |
| 2000 | Abdul Sattar Edhi ( PK ) | Humanity, peace and brotherhood among peoples |
| Ilkka Hanski ( FI ) | Environmental science | |
| Martin Litchfield West ( GB ) | Classical antiquity | |
| Michael Stolleis ( DE ) | Legal history of modern times | |
| Michel Mayor ( CH ) | Instrumentation and techniques in astronomy and astrophysics | |
| 2001 | Claude Lorius ( FR ) | climatology |
| James Sloss Ackerman ( USA ) | History of architecture (including urbanism and landscape design) | |
| Jean-Pierre Changeux ( FR ) | Cognitive Neuroscience | |
| Marc Fumaroli ( FR ) | Literary history and criticism from 1500 | |
| 2002 | Anthony Grafton ( USA ) | History of the humanities |
| Dominique Schnapper ( FR ) | sociology | |
| Walter Gehring ( CH ) | Developmental biology | |
| Xavier Le Pichon ( FR ) | geology | |
| 2003 | Eric Hobsbawm ( GB ) | European history since 1900 |
| Reinhard Genzel ( DE ) | Infrared astronomy | |
| Serge Moscovici ( FR ) | Social psychology | |
| Wen-Hsiung Li ( TW / USA ) | Genetics and evolution | |
| 2004 | Colin Renfrew ( GB ) | Prehistoric archeology |
| Community of Sant'Egidio ( IT ) | Humanity, peace and brotherhood among peoples | |
| Michael Marmot ( GB ) | Epidemiology | |
| Nikki R. Keddie ( USA ) | The Islamic world from the end of the 19th to the end of the 20th century | |
| Pierre Deligne ( BE ) | mathematics | |
| 2005 | Lothar Ledderose ( DE ) | Art history of Asia |
| Peter Hall ( GB ) | Social and cultural history of the city since the beginning of the 16th century | |
| Peter Raymond Grant ( GB ) | Population biology | |
| Barbara Rosemary Grant ( GB ) | ||
| Russell J. Hemley ( USA ) | Mineral physics | |
| Ho-kwang Mao ( USA / China ) | ||
| 2006 | Ludwig Finscher ( DE ) | History of Western Music since 1600 |
| Quentin Skinner ( GB ) | History and Theory of Political Thought | |
| Paolo de Bernardis ( IT ) | Observational Astronomy and Astrophysics | |
| Andrew E. Lange ( USA ) | ||
| Elliot Meyerowitz ( USA ) | Molecular Genetics of Plants | |
| Christopher R. Somerville ( USA ) | ||
| 2007 | Rosalyn Higgins ( GB ) | International law since 1945 |
| Sumio Iijima ( JP ) | Nanosciences | |
| Michel Zink ( FR ) | European literature (1000–1500) | |
| Jules Hoffmann ( FR ) | Innate immunity | |
| Bruce Beutler ( USA ) | ||
| Karlheinz Böhm ( AT ) | Humanity, peace and brotherhood among peoples | |
| 2008 | Maurizio Calvesi ( IT ) | History of the fine arts from 1700 |
| Thomas Nagel ( USA ) | Practical philosophy | |
| Ian H. Frazer ( AUS ) | Preventive medicine, including vaccination | |
| Wallace Broecker ( US ) | Climate Science: Climate Change | |
| 2009 | Terence Cave ( GB ) | Literature since 1500 |
| Michael Graetzel ( DE / CH ) | Materials science | |
| Brenda Milner ( GB / CAN ) | Cognitive Neuroscience | |
| Paolo Rossi Monti ( IT ) | History of science | |
| 2010 | Manfred Brauneck ( DE ) | History of the theater in all its forms of expression |
| Carlo Ginzburg ( IT ) | History of Europe (1400–1700) | |
| Jacob Palis ( BRA ) | Pure or Applied Mathematics | |
| Shin'ya Yamanaka ( JP ) | Biology and potential uses of stem cells | |
| 2011 | Peter Brown ( IRL ) | History of Greco-Roman Antiquity |
| Bronislaw Baczko ( PL ) | The time of enlightenment | |
| Russell Scott Lande ( USA ) | Theoretical biology or bioinformatics | |
| Joseph Silk ( GB / USA ) | The early universe (from the Planck period to the first galaxies) | |
| 2012 | Ronald Dworkin ( USA ) | Theory and Philosophy of Law |
| Reinhard Strohm ( DE ) | Musicology | |
| Kurt Lambeck ( AUS ) | Science of the solid earth, with special consideration of interdisciplinary research contributions | |
| David Baulcombe ( GB ) | Epigenetics | |
| 2013 | Alain Aspect ( FR ) | Quantum mechanics |
| Manuel Castells ( E ) | Sociology modern communication technologies | |
| Pascale Cossart ( FR ) | Molecular Biology of Pathogenic Bacteria | |
| André Vauchez ( FR ) | History of the Middle Ages | |
| 2014 | Mario Torelli ( IT ) | classical archeology |
| Ian Hacking ( CND ) | Epistemology and epistemology | |
| David Tilman ( USA ) | Basic and / or applied ecology of plants | |
| Dennis Sullivan ( USA ) | mathematics | |
| Vivre en Famille ( FR ) | Humanity, peace and brotherhood among peoples | |
| 2015 | Hans Belting ( DE ) | History of European Art (1300-1700) |
| Joel Mokyr ( USA ) | Economic history | |
| Francis Halzen ( USA ) | Astroparticle physics including the observation of neutrinos and gamma rays | |
| David Karl ( USA ) | oceanography | |
| 2016 | Piero Boitani ( IT ) | Comparative literature science |
| Reinhard Jahn ( DE ) | Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience, including aspects of development and degeneration | |
| Federico Capasso ( IT ) | Applied photonics | |
| Robert O. Keohane ( USA ) | International Relations: History and Theory | |
| 2017 | Aleida Assmann ( DE ) and Jan Assmann ( DE ) | Collective memory |
| Bina Agarwal ( IND / GB ) | Gender studies | |
| Robert D. Schreiber ( USA ) and James P. Allison ( USA ) | Immunological approaches in cancer therapy | |
| Michaël Gillon ( BEL ) | The planets of the solar system and the exoplanets | |
| 2018 | Eva Kondorosi ( HUN / FR ) | Chemical ecology |
| Detlef Lohse ( DE ) | Fluid dynamics | |
| Jürgen Osterhammel ( DE ) | Global history | |
| Marilyn Strathern ( GB ) | Social anthropology | |
| Terre des hommes Foundation - Children's Aid Worldwide ( CH ) | Humanity, peace and brotherhood among peoples | |
| 2019 | Jacques Aumont ( FR ) | Film studies |
| Michael Cook ( GB ) | Islamic Studies | |
| Luigi Ambrosio ( IT ) | Partial Differential Equation Theory | |
| Erika von Mutius , Klaus Rabe , Werner Seeger and Tobias Welte (all DE ) | Pathophysiology of Respiration: From Basic Research to the Bedside | |
| 2020 | Susan Trumbore ( USA / DE ) | Dynamics of the system earth |
| Joan Martinez Allier ( ES ) | Environmental Problems: Answers from the Humanities and Social Sciences | |
| Jean-Marie Tarascon ( FR ) | Environmental Problems: Materials Science for Renewable Energy | |
| Antônio Augusto Cançado Trindade ( BR ) | Human rights | |
| 2021 | Saul Friedländer ( FR / IL ) | Holocaust and Genocide Research |
| Jeffrey Gordon ( USA ) | Justification of the research direction 'microbiome' in humans and the fundamentally new understanding of its role for health and disease and also for our nutritional status | |
| Alessandra Buonanno ( IT / USA ) and Thibault Damour ( FR ) | Gravitation: physical and astrophysical aspects |
Web links
Commons : Balzan Prize - collection of images, videos and audio files
