2008-06-18The first Kavli Prize is awarded to seven scientists |

The Kavli Prize winners 2008
Seven pioneering scientists become the first recipients of the million-dollar Kavli prizes.
They have transformed human knowledge in the fields of nanoscience, neuroscience and astrophysics. The President of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, Ole Didrik Lærum, announced the names of the prize-winners at the Academy in Oslo on 28 May 2008.
The astrophysics prize was awarded jointly to Maarten Schmidt, of the California Institute of Technology, US, and Donald Lynden-Bell, of Cambridge University.
The nanoscience prize was awarded jointly to Louis E. Brus, of Columbia University, US, and Sumio Iijima, of Meijo University in Japan.
The neuroscience prize was awarded to three scientists: Pasko Rakic, of the Yale University School of Medicine, US, Thomas Jessell, of Columbia University, US, and Sten Grillner, of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden.
Tora Aasland, the Norwegian Minister of Research and Higher Education congratulated the first winners of the Kavli Prize just after the names were announced by the President of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, Ole Didrik Lærum. The Kavli Prize will be presented to the winners by HRH Crown Prince Haakon at an award ceremony in Oslo 9. September.
The names of the first Kavli Prize Laureates was announced in Oslo and New York simultaneously on May 28 2008. The President of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, Ole Didrik Lærum, announced the winners of the Kavli Prize in astrophysics, nanoscience and neuroscience at the Academy at 3 p.m. - 9 a.m. in New York. The announcement was transmitted live to Columbia University, New York, as a part of the opening of the World Science Festival.
The first Kavli Prize is awarded to seven scientists