The Shaw Prize consists of three annual prizes: Astronomy, Life Science and Medicine, and Mathematical Sciences, each prize bearing a monetary award of one million US dollars. This will be the fifth year that the Prize has been awarded and the presentation ceremony is scheduled for Tuesday, 9 September, 2008.

The Shaw Prize in Astronomy   – awarded to Professor Reinhard Genzel, Director of Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Germany, in recognition of his outstanding contributions in demonstrating that the Milky Way contains a supermassive black hole at its centre.

■ Press Release on The Shaw Prize in Astronomy

The Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine  – awarded jointly to Sir Ian Wilmut, Director of MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine, The University of Edinburgh, UK, Professor Keith H S Campbell, Professor of Animal Development at the School of Biosciences, The University of Nottingham, UK and Professor Shinya Yamanaka, Professor and Director, Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA), iCeMS, Kyoto University, Japan for their recent pivotal innovations in reversing the process of cell differentiation in mammals, a phenomenon which advances our knowledge of developmental biology and holds great promise for the treatment of human diseases and improvements in agriculture practices.

■ Press Release on The Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine

The Shaw Prize in Mathematical Sciences – awarded jointly to Professor Ludwig Faddeev, Director of Euler International Mathematical Institute, Petersburg Department of Steklov Institute of Mathematics, St. Petersburg, Russia and Professor Vladimir Arnold, Chief Scientist of Steklov Mathematical Institute, Moscow, Russia for their widespread and influential contributions to Mathematical Physics.

■ Press Release on The Shaw Prize in Mathematical Sciences