Quick Facts
Biography
The Crafoord Prize is an annual science prize established in 1980 by Holger Crafoord, a Swedish industrialist, and his wife Anna-Greta Crafoord. The Prize is awarded in partnership between the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Crafoord Foundation in Lund. The Academy is responsible for selecting the Crafoord Laureates. The prize is awarded in four categories: astronomy and mathematics; geosciences; biosciences, with particular emphasis on ecology; and polyarthritis, the disease from which Holger severely suffered in his last years.
According to the Academy, "these disciplines are chosen so as to complement those for which the Nobel Prizes are awarded". Only one award is given each year, according to a rotating scheme – astronomy and mathematics; then geosciences; then biosciences. A Crafoord Prize in polyarthritis is only awarded when a special committee decides that substantial progress in the field has been made. The recipient of the Crafoord Prize is announced each year in mid-January; on Crafoord Days in April or May, the prize is presented by the King of Sweden, who also presents the Nobel Prizes at the ceremony in December. The prize money, which as of 2020 is 6,000,000 kr (or US$625,000), is intended to fund further research by the laureate.
The inaugural laureates, Vladimir Arnold and Louis Nirenberg, were cited by the Academy for their work in the field of non-linear differential equations. The first woman to be awarded the prize was astronomer Andrea Ghez in 2012.
Laureates
The Crafoord prize has been awarded to the following scientists:
| Year | Category | Image | Laureate | Nationality | Work | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | Geosciences | — | Edward Norton Lorenz | American | Geophysical hydrodynamics | |
| — | Gerald J. Wasserburg | American | ||||
| 1987 | Biosciences | — | Eugene Odum | American | Ecosystem ecology | |
| Howard T. Odum | American | |||||
| 1991 | Astronomy | — | Allan Sandage | American | Study of galaxies | |
| 1992 | Geosciences | — | Adolf Seilacher | German | Research into evolution of life | |
| 1993 | Biosciences | — | W. D. Hamilton | British | Theories of kin selection and genetic relationship | |
| 1995 | Geosciences | — | Willi Dansgaard | Danish | Development of isotope geological analysis methods | |
| Nicholas Shackleton | British | |||||
| — | Edwin Ernest Salpeter | American | ||||
| — | George C. Williams | American | ||||
| 2000 | Polyarthritis | — | Marc Feldmann | British | Definition of TNF-alpha | |
| 2002 | Geosciences | — | Dan McKenzie | British | Dynamics of the lithosphere | |
| 2004 | Polyarthritis | — | Eugene C. Butcher | American | Study of molecular mechanisms concerning white blood cells | |
| — | Timothy A. Springer | American | ||||
| 2007 | Biosciences | — | Robert Trivers | American | Analysis of social evolution | |
| Andrea M. Ghez | American | |||||
| 2014 | Geosciences | — | Peter Molnar | American | "for his ground-breaking contribution to the understanding of global tectonics, in particular the deformation of continents and the structure and evolution of mountain ranges, as well as the impact of tectonic processes on ocean-atmosphere circulation and climate". | |
| 2015 | Biosciences | — | Richard Lewontin | American | "for their pioneering analyses and fundamental contributions to the understanding of genetic polymorphism". | |
| — | Tomoko Ohta | Japanese | ||||
| — | Fred Ramsdell | American | ||||
| 2018 | Geosciences | — | Syukuro Manabe | Japanese / American | "for fundamental contributions to understanding the role of atmospheric trace gases in Earth’s climate system." | |
| — | Susan Solomon | American | ||||
| 2019 | Biosciences | — | Sallie W. Chisholm | American | "for the discovery and pioneering studies of the most abundant photosynthesising organism on Earth, Prochlorococcus". |
