Japan’s 2024 Kyoto Prizes Honor John Pendry of Imperial College London, Paul F. Hoffman, University of Victoria, and William Forsythe, an International Ballet Choreographer
For contributions to the betterment of humanity: 300 million yen in awards honor lifetime achievements reshaping theoretical physics, geology and dance
The Inamori Foundation announced the latest 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: https://www.kyotoprize.org/en/240614
Each laureate will receive a diploma, a 20-karat gold medal, and a monetary award of 100 million yen (more than US$600,000) during the 39th annual Kyoto Prize ceremony, Nov. 10 in Japan. Laureates will subsequently convene for the 24th annual Kyoto Prize Symposium in San Diego, Calif. in March 2025, and the Kyoto Prize at Oxford events in Oxford, UK, in May 2025.
In Advanced Technology, the 2024 Kyoto Prize laureate is John Pendry, Professor of Theoretical Solid State Physics at Imperial College London and the UK’s leading theoretical physicist. After earning his Ph.D. at University of Cambridge, Pendry’s initial research concerned a low-energy electron diffraction theory for examining and measuring the surface of materials for practical purposes. He theoretically demonstrated that materials with electromagnetic properties not found in nature, such as negative-refractive-index materials (metamaterials) can be created by designing microstructures smaller than the wavelength of the target electromagnetic waves. This groundwork helped create innovative materials such as “superlenses” with subwavelength resolution and “invisibility cloaks”. In 2014 he was recognized by the Kavli Prize in Nanoscience.
In Basic Sciences, the 2024 Laureate is Paul F. Hoffman, Adjunct Professor, University of Victoria, who has conducted groundbreaking research in the “Snowball Earth” (global freezing) hypothesis and plate tectonics occurring in the first half of the Earth's 4.6 billion year history. A Ph.D. graduate of Johns Hopkins University, Hoffman served the Geological Survey of his native Canada for 24 years followed by teaching at Harvard and related research in Sub-Saharan Africa. He has geologically demonstrated the occurrence of the postulated global freeze, so-called "Snowball Earth", which drove the rapid diversification of animals in the Cambrian period approximately 520 million years ago. In 1992 Hoffman received the Geological Association of Canada’s highest honor, the Logan Medal, and in 2011 was awarded the Penrose Medal from the Geological Society of America.
In Arts and Philosophy, the 2024 Laureate is William Forsythe, a choreographer whose work extended ballet to a dynamic contemporary art form. Forsythe studied at New York’s Joffrey Ballet, later dancing and choreographing for Germany’s Stuttgart Ballet and Ballet Frankfurt. In 2005 he founded The Forsythe Company and served as its director until 2015. Between 2015 and 2021 he served on the University of Southern California’s faculty, where he helped establish the Glorya Kaufman School of Dance. Forsythe deconstructs the style of conventional ballet, integrates ballet with other arts, and develops his improvisation techniques. His projects include installations and films presented in numerous museums – as well as dance documentation and education. Forsythe holds an honorary doctorate from New York’s Julliard School and is an Honorary Fellow at London’s Laban Centre for Movement and Dance.
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 the late Dr. Kazuo Inamori, who served as founder and chairman of Kyocera Corporation; founder and honorary adviser to KDDI Corporation; and chairman 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 2024 recipients, the Kyoto Prize has honored 124 laureates worldwide — 123 individuals and one group (the Nobel Foundation). Individual laureates range from scientists, engineers and researchers to philosophers, painters, architects, sculptors, musicians and film directors. For more information, see: https://www.kyotoprize.org/en.
