NWO/Spinoza prize to cancer research, cognitive sciences, physics and mathematics

6 June 2005

On 6 June, the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) announced which four researchers will receive the NWO/Spinoza prize for 2005. The prize is the biggest Dutch award in science. Each researcher receives one-and-a-half million euros to freely devote to his or her research. The researchers receive the prestigious prize for their outstanding, pioneering and inspiring scientific work.

The winners of the NWO/Spinoza prize 2005 are:

Prof. R. (René) Bernards, molecular biologist at the Netherlands Cancer Institute - Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital and Utrecht University.
He has developed three innovative genetic technologies to study the process of cell division and discovered a pattern of gene expression that predicts breast cancer metastases.

Prof. P. (Peter) Hagoort, cognitive neuroscientist at the F.C. Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging and the Radboud University Nijmegen.
He has demonstrated that brains in which the language-processing area is damaged can still understand language via other routes. Moreover within five years he has led the F.C Donders Centre to worldwide fame.

Prof. D. (Detlef) Lohse, physicist at the University of Twente.
He has provided the globally-recognised clarification of sonoluminescence, the phenomenon in which a micro-bubble can emit light under the influence of sound.

Prof. A. (Lex) Schrijver, mathematician at the National Research Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science and the Universiteit van Amsterdam.
He has written two standard works on combinatorialism and algorithmics, and during the writing of these he bridged gaps in the theory with new propositions and proofs.

Absolute top
The NWO/Spinoza prize, also viewed as the 'Dutch Nobel Prize', is awarded to Dutch researchers who rank among the world's top scientists. The laureates are internationally renowned, and know how to inspire young researchers.

This is the eleventh occasion on which the Spinoza prizes have been awarded. The first occasion was in 1995. The awards are made on the basis of nominations. Those allowed to make nominations are the principals of universities, and the chairs of the departments of Literature and Physics of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), the Netherlands Society of Technological Sciences and Engineering, the Dutch National Network of Female Professors, the Social Sciences Council and the NWO divisional boards.

The official presentation of the money and the Spinoza statuette will take place on 23 November 2005.

Jury reports winners

 Jury report René Bernards

 Jury report Peter Hagoort

 Jury report Detlef Lohse

 Jury report Lex Schrijver

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