The Feltrinelli 2023 International Prize for Medicine has been awarded by the Accademia dei Lincei to Ozlem Turesi and Ugur Sahin, to whom we owe mRna vaccines, such as those used against the Covid-19 pandemic. The two researchers are also co-founders of biopharmaceutical company BioNTech. The Academy itself makes it known. “It is an extraordinary discovery that saved many lives during Covid and will save many more when cancer vaccines come into play,” commented Giorgio Parisi, Nobel Laureate, Vice-President of the Accademia dei Lincei.
Ioannis (John) Iliopoulos won the International Feltrinelli Prize for Physics, for proposing a new type of quark with Sheldon Glashow and Luciano Maiani. Among the young winners is robotics expert Calogero Udo, to whom we owe the first robotic hand with a sense of touch. The handover ceremony is scheduled for June 23 in Rome, at the Accademia dei Lincei, during the closing ceremony for the 2022-2023 academic year.
The two international prizes, each worth 100,000 euros, are joined by the Young Prizes, each worth 50,000 euros: the prize for bioengineering is awarded to Calogero Maria Udo from the Sant’Anna School for Advanced Studies in Pisa, for environmental chemistry to Raffaele Cochinello from the University of Salerno and for epidemiology to Michele Carugno from the University of Milan.
As has been the case since 1950, the Accademia dei Lincei Awards are dedicated to entrepreneur Antonio Feltrinelli to those who distinguish themselves in the arts, sciences and letters. Over the years, prize-winners in the physical, mathematical and natural sciences have included, among others, Albert Sabin, Luigi Cavalli-Sforza and Rita Levi-Montalcini.
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