Dan David: Prizes in 3 time dimensions
Zubin Mehta among Dan David Prize laureates for year 2007 in History, Contemporary Music and Quest for Energy
The Dan David Prize laureates for year 2007 in the fields of History, Contemporary Music and Quest for Energy have been announced by Dan David, founder of the Prize, and Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, the French Minister of Culture and Communication.
The international Prize, now in its sixth year, is unique in that its fields, within the three Time Dimensions; Past, Present, and Future are selected each year, thus keeping abreast of the dynamically changing fields of human knowledge.
The USD three million prize will be awarded to the laureates at the Dan David Prize Award Ceremony, under the patronage of the President of the French Republic, and will take place for the first time in France on March 8th 2007, at the Opera Garnier in Paris.
Dan David, founder of the Prize, said of the Prize winners this year:
“It has been a very difficult task choosing this year’s winners of the Dan David Prize. All have exceptional talent in their fields of expertise and have made considerable impact in their respective areas of human knowledge and advancement.”
“The Dan David Prize prides itself on adapting and evolving with research in the areas of science, medicine and the arts. This year’s prize for the Future Time Dimension and the Quest for Energy is a tangible example of our commitment to enhancing research today to ensure a better tomorrow.”
Past time dimension
Jacques Le Goff, was awarded The Dan David Prize 2007 for the Past Time Dimension for his contribution to History, and the European Middle Ages. French scholar Le Goff is one of the founding fathers of what has come to be known as “historical anthropology,” an approach based on an open, broad, and imaginative collaboration between history and the social sciences.
Present time dimension
Pascal Dusapin and Zubin Mehta were awarded the The Dan David Prize for the Present Time Dimension, which this year was dedicated to Contemporary Music.
Pascal Dusapin, is an outstanding figure within the world of contemporary music, who works with the most prestigious musical institutions across the world.
Zubin Mehta, who is one of the world’s leading conductors, was born into a Parsee family in April 1936. He is the son of Mehli Mehta, a violinist, who founded the Bombay Symphony Orchestra. He was Music Director of the New York Philharmonic for 13 years – the longest any one has ever held this position. While there, Mehta conducted more than a thousand concerts, 800 works, 30 world premieres, and offered debut performances to more than 400 soloists.
Future time dimension
Sarah R. Kurtz, Jerry M. Olson, and James E. Hansen were awarded The Dan David Prize 2007 laureates for the Future Time Dimension, which this year was dedicated to the Quest for Energy
Over the past two decades both Sarah R. Kurtz and Jerry M. Olson have made exceptional and profound contributions to the field of photovoltaic energy.
Both prize winners are Principal Scientists, III-V Materials and Devices Group, at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Colorado in the USA.
James E. Hansen, is a professor at the Goddard Institute of Space Studies in New York, USA. He is one of the small handful of scientists whose detailed and persistent scientific work has brought about a change in the public perception of planet Earth.
Among his contributions to climate research are: an understanding of the various forces that govern Earth’s radiation budget, when increasing amounts of trace gases and aerosols in the atmosphere prevent the escape of terrestrial infrared energy, thereby causing the planet to warm.
The Dan David Prize Committee for the Future Time Dimension says, “The Prize has been awarded to visionaries and innovators who have made outstanding achievements in creating technologies to harness new sources of energy and/or make use of existing ones in ways that will not be detrimental to human health and the earth's environment.”
