Eight researchers today received the Kavli Prize from King Harald.
by Njord V. Svendsen
[translated by Google]
Eight winners of the Kavliprisen 2024 received honor and glory during the ceremony which took place in Oslo Konserthus on Tuesday.
The Kavli Prize is awarded to researchers in astrophysics, neuroscience and nanoscience. The prize money is three million dollars.
Among the recipients are MIT's Nancy Kanwisher, The Rockefeller University's Winrich Freiwald, and Robert S. Langer, one of the founders of the pharmaceutical giant Moderna.
Revolutionized medicine
Langer is considered the man behind one of the biggest success stories in medical research. When Robert S. Langer completed his chemical engineering degree in 1974, he received lucrative job offers from a number of oil companies. Instead, he used his engineering expertise to revolutionize medical research, according to the Kavli prize.
He was the first to develop nanomaterials that enabled medicine that gradually releases active substances in the body. He was central to the development of the mRNA vaccine and the establishment of Moderna — the company behind one of the most widely used covid vaccines.
Langer received the award in nanoscience along with Armand Paul Alivisatos and Chad A. Mirkin. They have also researched nanoparticles for medical use, especially diagnostics.
Robert S. Langer (th) receives the Kavli prize in nanoscience 2024 together with two other of nanoscience's "rock stars" in the USA: Armand Paul Alivisatos and Chad A. Mirkin (left).
Thomas Barstad Eckhoff
Planets and brain research
Sara Seager and David Charbonneau were presented with the Kavli Prize in astrophysics for the discovery of exoplanets and mapping of their atmospheres.
The Kavli Prize in neuroscience is also shared between three researchers: Nancy Kanwisher (USA), Winrich Freiwald (Germany) and Doris Tsao (USA) were all honored by King Harald on Tuesday.
They have discovered a specialized system in the brain for recognizing faces. These discoveries have laid the foundation for further research into how the processing of visual information is linked together with other cognitive functions.