2022 Kyoto Prize Laureates Announced
The 37th Annual Kyoto Prize Announces New 2022 Laureates
More than $2 million in awards honor Caltech electronics pioneer Carver Mead, Princeton population biologist Bryan Grenfell, global tabla musician Zakir Hussain
The Inamori Foundation announced the 2022 laureates of its Kyoto Prize, Japan’s highest private award for global achievement, in the categories of Advanced Technology, Basic Sciences, and Arts and Philosophy.
Complete details are online at: https://www.kyotoprize.org/en
Each laureate receives a diploma, a 20-karat gold medal, and a monetary award of 100 million yen (about US$750,000). To avoid COVID-19 risk, the new laureates will give commemorative lectures online this year instead of convening in person for the Kyoto Prize ceremonies traditionally conducted in Japan each November 10. They will convene online or in person for the 22nd annual Kyoto Prize Symposium in San Diego, Calif., in March 2023, and for the Kyoto Prize at Oxford events in Oxford, UK, in May 2023.
In Advanced Technology, the 2022 Kyoto Prize Laureate is Carver Mead (b. May 1, 1934, age 88), an American electronics engineer and applied physicist. A pioneer of modern microelectronics, he has made contributions to the development and design of semiconductors, digital chips, and silicon compilers – technologies which form the foundations of modern very-large-scale integration chip design. He also contributed greatly to the advancement of computer-aided design technology and paved the way to the electronic design automation of VLSIs that led to the immense development of VLSI-based electronics and industry. He is the Gordon and Betty Moore Professor of Engineering and Applied Science, Emeritus at California Institute of Technology. Mead was awarded the Lemelson-MIT Prize in 1999 and the prestigious National Medal of Technology and Innovation in 2002. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
In Basic Sciences, the 2022 Kyoto Prize Laureate is Bryan T. Grenfell (b. December 7, 1954, age 67), a British population biologist. He proposed “phylodynamics,” a methodology that predicts infectious disease dynamics of RNA viruses by considering viral evolution, and thus contributed to the development of the research field that integrates immune dynamics, epidemiology, and evolutionary biology. By virtue of these achievements, he has been instrumental in understanding infection mechanisms and proposing effective infectious disease control policies. Grenfell is the Kathryn Briger and Sarah Fenton Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Public Affairs at Princeton University. He is the recipient of the T.H. Huxley Medal of Imperial College London and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
In Arts & Philosophy, the 2022 Kyoto Prize Laureate is Zakir Hussain (b. March 9, 1951, age 71), a world-renowned tabla – the traditional Indian percussion instrument – player. Hussain’s brilliant accompaniment, solo performance and genre-defying collaborations, including his pioneering work to develop a dialogue between North and South Indian musicians, have elevated the status of his instrument both in India and globally, bringing the tabla into a new dimension of renown and appreciation. As a composer, he has scored music for numerous feature films, major events and productions. A Grammy award winner, Hussain is the recipient of countless awards and honors, including Padma Bhushan, Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, the USA’s National Heritage Fellowship and Officier in France’s Order of Arts and Letters.
About the Inamori Foundation and the Kyoto Prize
The Kyoto Prize is an international award bestowed by the non-profit Inamori Foundation to honor those who have contributed significantly to the scientific, cultural, and spiritual betterment of humankind. The Foundation was established in 1984 by Dr. Kazuo Inamori, founder and chairman emeritus of Kyocera Corporation; founder and honorary adviser to KDDI Corporation; and chairman emeritus and honorary adviser to Japan Airlines.
Inamori created the Kyoto Prize in line with his belief that “a human being has no higher calling than to strive for the greater good of humanity and the world, and that the future of humanity can be assured only though a balance of scientific progress and spiritual depth.”
Counting the 2022 recipients, the prize has honored 118 laureates worldwide — 117 individuals and one group (the Nobel Foundation). Individual laureates range from scientists, engineers and researchers to philosophers, painters, architects, sculptors, musicians and film directors.
