“The Shaw Prize 2020 Exhibition” to showcase laureates’ achievements in scientific research

     The Hong Kong Science Museum and the Hong Kong Space Museum will launch "The Shaw Prize 2020 Exhibition" tomorrow (September 23) to introduce the Shaw Laureates this year and their outstanding contributions, as well as the basic science knowledge in the respective academic fields. Visitors will be able to understand more about the major efforts and achievements contributed by the top scientists worldwide.
 
     The Shaw Prize, which consists of three annual awards, namely the Prize in Astronomy, the Prize in Life Science and Medicine and the Prize in Mathematical Sciences, was established in November 2002. The Shaw Prize is an international award to honour individuals who are currently active in their respective fields and have recently achieved distinguished and significant advances, or have made outstanding contributions in academic and scientific research or applications, or have achieved excellence in other domains.
 
     The Shaw Laureate in Astronomy is Professor Roger D Blandford, the Luke Blossom Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences and Professor at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford University, the United States. He has made significant contributions to theoretical astrophysics, especially concerning the fundamental understanding of active galactic nuclei, the formation and collimation of relativistic jets, the energy extraction mechanism from black holes, and the acceleration of particles in shocks and their relevant radiation mechanisms.
 
     The three Shaw Laureates in Life Science and Medicine are Professor Gero Miesenböck, the Waynflete Professor of Physiology and Director of the Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour, University of Oxford, the United Kingdom; Professor Peter Hegemann, the Hertie Professor for Neuroscience and the Head of the Department of Biophysics, Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany; and Professor Georg Nagel, the Professor for Molecular Plant-Physiology, the Physiological Institute – Department of Neuroscience, University of Würzburg, Germany. They have been striving for the development of optogenetics, a technology that has revolutionised neuroscience.
 
     The two Shaw Laureates in Mathematical Sciences are Professor Alexander Beilinson, the David and Mary Winton Green University Professor at the University of Chicago, the United States, and Professor David Kazhdan, the Professor of Mathematics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. They have made profound contributions to representation theory and many other areas of mathematics.
 
     The exhibition is presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department and the Shaw Prize Foundation, and organised by the Hong Kong Science Museum, the Hong Kong Space Museum, the Education Bureau and Hong Kong Education City.
 
     The exhibition will run until November 18 at the 1/F Main Lobby of the Science Museum. For exhibition details, please visit the website at hk.science.museum/en_US/web/scm/se/spe.html, or call 2732 3232 for enquiries. In addition, the details of the Shaw Laureates in Astronomy will also be on display at the foyer of the Space Museum until December 28. For exhibition details, please visit the website at www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/Museum/Space/en_US/web/spm/exhibition/specialexhibition/the-shaw-prize-in-astronomy-2020.html, or call 2721 0226 for enquiries.
 
     In view of the latest situation of COVID-19, the Hong Kong Science Museum and the Hong Kong Space Museum are implementing special opening hours and admission arrangements. Please visit the Science Museum's website at hk.science.museum/en_US and the Space Museum's website at hk.space.museum.

     The Hong Kong Science Museum is located at 2 Science Museum Road, Tsim Sha Tsui East, Kowloon, and the Hong Kong Space Museum is located at 10 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon.