The Marcel Benoist Prize, offered by the Marcel Benoist Foundation, is a monetary prize that has been offered annually since 1920 to a
scientist
A scientist is a person who Scientific method, researches to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences.
In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engag ...
of
Swiss
Swiss most commonly refers to:
* the adjectival form of Switzerland
* Swiss people
Swiss may also refer to: Places
* Swiss, Missouri
* Swiss, North Carolina
* Swiss, West Virginia
* Swiss, Wisconsin
Other uses
* Swiss Café, an old café located ...
nationality or residency who has made the most useful scientific discovery. Emphasis is placed on those discoveries affecting human life. Since 1997, candidates in the
humanities
Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture, including Philosophy, certain fundamental questions asked by humans. During the Renaissance, the term "humanities" referred to the study of classical literature a ...
have also been eligible for the prize.
The Marcel Benoist Foundation was established by the will of the French lawyer Marcel Benoist, a wartime resident of
Lausanne
Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...
, who died in 1918. It is managed by a group of trustees comprising the Swiss interior minister and heads of the main
Swiss universities. It has been dubbed the "Swiss Nobel Prize."
History
The first award was given to
immunologist Maurice Arthus (1862–1945) at the
University of Lausanne
The University of Lausanne (UNIL; ) in Lausanne, Switzerland, was founded in 1537 as a school of Protestant theology, before being made a university in 1890. The university is the second-oldest in Switzerland, and one of the oldest universities ...
. Other winners have included
computer scientist
A computer scientist is a scientist who specializes in the academic study of computer science.
Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation. Although computer scientists can also focus their work and research on ...
Niklaus Wirth
Niklaus Emil Wirth ( IPA: ) (15 February 1934 – 1 January 2024) was a Swiss computer scientist. He designed several programming languages, including Pascal, and pioneered several classic topics in software engineering. In 1984, he won the Tu ...
,
astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...
Michel Mayor, and cardiologist
Max Holzmann. , eleven Marcel Benoist winners have later also won the
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...
: Paul Karrer, Leopold Ruzicka, Walter R. Hess, Tadeus Reichstein, Vladimir Prelog, Niels Kaj Jerne, Johannes G. Bednorz, Karl. Alexander Müller, Richard R. Ernst, Kurz Wüthrich, and Michel Mayor.
In 2009,
Françoise Gisou van der Goot (
École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne
The École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (, EPFL) is a public university, public research university in Lausanne, Switzerland, founded in 1969 with the mission to "train talented engineers in Switzerland".
Like its sister institution E ...
) was the first woman to win the Marcel Benoist Prize.
Laureates
* 1920:
Maurice Arthus
* 1921:
Conrad Brunner
* 1922:
Paul Karrer
* 1923:
Albert Heim
* 1924:
Heinrich Zangger
* 1925:
Alfred Gysi
* 1926:
Emile Argand
* 1927:
Hermann Sahli
* 1928:
Jules Gonin
* 1929:
Paul Niggli
* 1930:
Aloys Müller
* 1931:
Walter R. Hess
* 1932:
Maurice Lugeon
* 1933:
Robert Doerr
* 1934:
Max Askanazy
* 1935:
Jakob Eugster
* 1936:
Alfredo Vannotti
* 1937:
Charles Dhéré
* 1938:
Leopold Ruzicka
* 1939:
Fritz Baltzer
* 1940:
Friedrich T. Wahlen
* 1941:
Hermann Mooser
* 1942:
Arthur Stoll
* 1943:
Paul Scherrer
* 1944:
* 1945:
Ernst Albert Gäumann
* 1946:
Alexander von Muralt
* 1947:
Tadeus Reichstein
* 1948:
Hans E. Walther
* 1949:
Albert Frey-Wyssling
* 1950:
Emile Guyénot
* 1951:
Anton Fonio
* 1952:
Otto Gsell
* 1953:
Alfred Fleisch
* 1954:
Ernst Hadorn
* 1955:
Max Holzmann
* 1956:
Siegfried Rosin
* 1957:
Jakob Seiler
* 1958:
Klaus Clusius
* 1959:
Albert Wettstein
* 1960:
Pierre Duchosal
* 1961:
Werner Kuhn
* 1962:
Alfred Hässig
* 1963:
Gerold Schwarzenbach
* 1964:
Vladimir Prelog
* 1965:
Georges de Rham
Georges de Rham (; 10 September 1903 – 9 October 1990) was a Swiss mathematician, known for his contributions to differential topology.
Biography
Georges de Rham was born on 10 September 1903 in Roche, a small village in the canton of Vaud in ...
* 1966:
Edouard Kellenberger and
Alfred Tissières
* 1967:
Kurt Mühlethaler and
Hans J. Moor
* 1968:
Michel Dolivo
* 1969:
Walter Heitler
* 1970:
Charles Weissmann
* 1971:
Manfred Bleuler
* 1972:
Albert Eschenmoser
* 1973:
Lucien Girardier,
Eric Jéquier and
Georges Spinnler
* 1974:
Ewald Weibel
* 1975:
M. Gazi Yasargil
* 1976:
Theodor K. Brunner,
Jean Charles Cerottini and
Jean Lindenmann
* 1977:
Hans Günthard and
Edgar Heilbronner
Edgar Heilbronner (13 May 1921 – 28 August 2006) was a Switzerland, Swiss Germany, German chemist. In 1964 he published the concept of Möbius–Hückel concept, Möbius cyclic annulenes, but the first Möbius aromatic was not synthesize ...
* 1978:
Niels Kaj Jerne
* 1979:
Michel Cuénod
* 1980:
Hans Kummer
* 1981:
Karl Illmensee
* 1982:
Franz Fankhauser
* 1983:
Hans R. Brunner
* 1984:
Harald Reuter
* 1985:
Richard R. Ernst
* 1986:
Johannes G. Bednorz and
Karl Alexander Müller
* 1987:
Maurice E. Müller,
Martin Allgöwer and
Hans R. Willenegger
* 1988:
Ulrich Laemmli
* 1989:
Niklaus Wirth
Niklaus Emil Wirth ( IPA: ) (15 February 1934 – 1 January 2024) was a Swiss computer scientist. He designed several programming languages, including Pascal, and pioneered several classic topics in software engineering. In 1984, he won the Tu ...
* 1990:
Bruno Messerli,
Hans Oeschger and
Werner Stumm
* 1991:
Duilio Arigoni and
Kurt Wüthrich
* 1992:
Gottfried Schatz
* 1993: no prize
* 1994:
Martin Schwab
* 1995:
Henri Isliker and
Alfred Pletscher
* 1996:
Bernard Rossier
* 1997:
Jürg M. Fröhlich
* 1998:
Michel Mayor
* 1999:
Jörg Paul Müller and
Luzius Wildhaber
* 2000:
Dieter Seebach
* 2001:
* 2002:
Rüdiger Wehner
* 2003:
Denis Duboule
* 2004:
Adriano Aguzzi
* 2005:
Othmar Keel
* 2006:
Timothy J. Richmond
* 2007:
Ari Helenius
* 2008:
Ernst Fehr
Ernst Fehr (born 21 June 1956 in Hard, Austria) is an Austrian-Swiss behavioral economist and neuroeconomist and a Professor of Microeconomics and Experimental Economic Research, as well as the vice chairman of the Department of Economics at the ...
* 2009:
Françoise Gisou van der Goot (first time that the prize is awarded to a woman)
* 2010:
Daniel Loss
* 2011:
Michele Parrinello
* 2012:
Michael N. Hall
* 2013:
Michael Grätzel
* 2014:
Nicolas Gisin
* 2015:
Laurent Keller
* 2016:
Johan Auwerx
* 2017:
Thomas Stocker
* 2018:
Lars-Erik Cederman
Lars-Erik Cederman (born 1963) is a Swiss-Swedish political scientist and professor of International Conflict Research at ETH Zurich. His main fields of research are ethnic inequality and conflict, power-sharing, state formation and nationalism.
...
* 2019:
Nicola Spaldin
* 2020:
Rudolf Aebersold
* 2021:
Thomas Berger
* 2022:
Ursula Keller
* 2023:
Ted Turlings
* 2024:
Pascal Gygax
See also
*
List of general science and technology awards
*
Science and technology in Switzerland
Science and technology in Switzerland play an important role in the Swiss economy, which has very few natural resources that are available in the country. The Swiss National Science Foundation, mandated by the Federal government, is the most ...
*
Prizes named after people
This is a list of awards that are named after people.
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
R
S
T
U–V
W
Y
Z
See also
* Lists of awards
* List of eponyms
* List of awards named after governo ...
*
Latsis Foundation
*
Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine
Established in 1986, the Louis-Jeantet Prizes are funded by the Louis-Jeantet Foundation, ''Fondation Louis-Jeantet'' and awarded each year to experienced researchers who have distinguished themselves in the field of biomedical research in one ...
References
External links
*
Benoist
Benoist
Benoist
Benoist Prize
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