The Rank Prizes comprise the Rank Prize for Optoelectronics and the Rank Prize for Nutrition. The prizes recognise, reward and encourage researchers working in the respective fields of

optoelectronics Optoelectronics (or optronics) is the study and application of electronic devices and systems that find, detect and control light, usually considered a sub-field of photonics. In this context, ''light'' often includes invisible forms of radiati ...

and

nutrition Nutrition is the biochemical and physiological process by which an organism uses food to support its life. It provides organisms with nutrients, which can be metabolized to create energy and chemical structures. Failure to obtain sufficien ...

.PDF
/ref> The prizes are funded by the charity The Rank Prize Funds, which were endowed by the industrialist, philanthropist and founder of the

Rank Organisation The Rank Organisation was a British entertainment conglomerate founded by industrialist J. Arthur Rank in April 1937. It quickly became the largest and most vertically integrated film company in the United Kingdom, owning production, distribut ...

J. Arthur Rank Joseph Arthur Rank, 1st Baron Rank (22 December 1888 – 29 March 1972) was a British industrialist who was head and founder of the Rank Organisation. Family business Rank was born on 22 or 23 December 1888 at Kingston upon Hull in England into ...

and his wife Nell, via the

Rank Foundation Joseph Arthur Rank, 1st Baron Rank (22 December 1888 – 29 March 1972) was a British industrialist who was head and founder of the Rank Organisation. Family business Rank was born on 22 or 23 December 1888 at Kingston upon Hull in England into ...

on 16 February 1972, not long before Arthur's death. The two Funds, the Human and Animal Nutrition and Crop Husbandry Fund and the Optoelectronics Fund, support sciences which reflect Rank's business interests through his "connection with the flour-milling and cinema and electronics industries", and which Rank believed would be of great benefit to humanity. The Rank Prize Funds also recognise, support and foster excellence among young and emerging researchers in the two fields of

and

. The Funds aim to advance and promote education and learning for public benefit.

Rank Prize for Optoelectronics

The Rank Prize for Optoelectronics supports, encourages, and rewards researchers working at the cutting edge of optoelectronics research, initially (from 1976) awarded annually, now a

biennial Biennial means (an event) lasting for two years or occurring every two years. The related term biennium is used in reference to a period of two years. In particular, it can refer to: * Biennial plant, a plant which blooms in its second year and th ...

prize worth £100,000. Optoelectronics relates to the interface between optics and electronics, and related phenomena. The Committee on Optoelectronics consists of the following people: *

Donal Bradley Donal Donat Conor Bradley is the Vice President for Research at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia. From 2015 until 2019, he was head of the Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences Division of the Univers ...

CBE FRS (Chairman) *

Roberto Cipolla Roberto Cipolla (born 1963), , FREng, is a British researcher in computer vision and Professor of Information Engineering at the University of Cambridge. Education Cipolla was born in Solihull, England and attended Langley School in Solih ...

FREng *Martin D. Dawson FRSE *

Helen Gleeson Helen Frances Gleeson OBE FInstP is a British physicist who specialises in soft matter and liquid crystals. She is Cavendish Professor and former Head of the School of Physics at the University of Leeds. Education and early career Gleeson grew ...

OBE *Anya Hurlbert *

Simon Laughlin Simon may refer to: People * Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon * Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon * Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genus ...

FRS,

neurobiologist A neuroscientist (or neurobiologist) is a scientist who has specialised knowledge in neuroscience, a branch of biology that deals with the physiology, biochemistry, psychology, anatomy and molecular biology of neurons, neural circuits, and glial ...

John Mollon Professor John Dixon Mollon DSc FRS.
List of Fellows of the Royal Society (born September 12, 1944)

DSc FRS *

Miles Padgett Miles John Padgett (born 1 June 1963) is a Royal Society Research Professor of Optics in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Glasgow. He has held the Kelvin Chair of Natural Philosophy since 2011 and served as Vice Princi ...

FRSE FRS *

Wilson Sibbett Wilson Sibbett (born 1948) is a British physicist noted for his work on ultrashort pulse lasers and Streak cameras. He is the Wardlaw Professor of Physics at St Andrews University. Early life and education He was born in Portglenone in Co ...

CBE FRS FRSE *

Maurice Skolnick Maurice may refer to: People * Saint Maurice (died 287), Roman legionary and Christian martyr * Maurice (emperor) or Flavius Mauricius Tiberius Augustus (539–602), Byzantine emperor * Maurice (bishop of London) (died 1107), Lord Chancellor and ...

FRS Past winners include: *1978 –

Charles K. Kao Sir Charles Kao Kuen Charles K. Kao was elected in 1990
as a memb ...

*1982 –

C. Thomas Elliott Charles Thomas Elliott (known as Tom Elliott), (born 16 January 1939), is a scientist in the fields of narrow gap semiconductor and infrared detector research. Early life Hailing from County Durham, he attended Washington Grammar Technical S ...

*1982 –

Calvin Quate Calvin Forrest Quate (December 7, 1923 – July 6, 2019) was one of the inventors of the atomic force microscope. He was a professor emeritus of Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering at Stanford University. Education He earned his bachelo ...

*1988 –

T. Peter Brody T. P. "Peter" Brody (18 April 1920 Budapest, Hungary – 18 September 2011 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States) was a British-naturalised physicist and the co-inventor of Active Matrix Thin-Film Transistor display technology together with Fa ...

*1991 –

David N. Payne Sir David Neil Payne CBE FRS FREng (born 13 August 1944) is a British professor of photonics who is director of the Optoelectronics Research Centre at the University of Southampton. He has made several contributions in areas of optical fibre com ...

and

William Alexander Gambling William Alexander Gambling FRS, FREng (11 October 1926–9 January 2021) was a British electrical engineer. Life From 1950 to 1955, he was lecturer in electric power engineering at the University of Liverpool. He taught at the University of Sou ...

*1993 –

Arthur Ashkin Arthur Ashkin (September 2, 1922 – September 21, 2020) was an American scientist and Nobel laureate who worked at Bell Laboratories and Lucent Technologies. Ashkin has been considered by many as the father of optical tweezers, "LaserFest – th ...

*1995 – William Bradshaw Amos *1998 –

Federico Capasso Federico Capasso (born 1949, Rome, Italy), a prominent applied physicist, was one of the inventors of the quantum cascade laser during his work at Bell Laboratories. He is currently on the faculty of Harvard University. He has co-authored over ...

*1998 –

Isamu Akasaki was a Japanese engineer and physicist, specializing in the field of semiconductor technology and Nobel Prize laureate, best known for inventing the bright gallium nitride ( GaN) p-n junction blue LED in 1989 and subsequently the high-brightness ...

Hiroshi Amano is a Japanese physicist, engineer and inventor specializing in the field of semiconductor technology. For his work he was awarded the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics together with Isamu Akasaki and Shuji Nakamura for "the invention of effici ...

and

Shuji Nakamura is a Japanese-born American electronic engineer and inventor specializing in the field of semiconductor technology, professor at the Materials Department of the College of Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), and is reg ...

*2006 - Charles H. Bennett,

Gilles Brassard Gilles Brassard, is a faculty member of the Université de Montréal, where he has been a Full Professor since 1988 and Canada Research Chair since 2001. Education and early life Brassard received a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Cornell Univ ...

and

Stephen Wiesner Stephen J. Wiesner (1942 – August 12, 2021) was an American-Israeli research physicist, inventor and construction laborer. As a graduate student at Columbia University in New York in the late 1960s and early 1970s, he discovered several of the ...

*2006 -

Paul Alivisatos Armand Paul Alivisatos (born November 12, 1959) is an American chemist who serves as the 14th president of the University of Chicago. He is a pioneer in nanomaterials development and an authority on the fabrication of nanocrystals and their use i ...

*2008 –

Mandyam Srinivasan Mandyam Veerambudi Srinivasan AM FRS, also known as "Srini", (born 1948) is an Australian bioengineer and neuroscientist who studies visual systems, particularly those of bees and birds. A faculty member at the University of Queensland, he is ...

*2008 –

Peter B. Denyer Peter Brian Denyer (27 April 1953 – 22 April 2010) was a British electronics engineer, academic, scientist, inventor, and entrepreneur who pioneered CMOS image sensor chips for many applications including mobile phones, webcams, video-conferenci ...

*2014 –

Alf Adams Alfred ("Alf") Rodney Adams, FRS (born 1939) is a British physicist who invented the strained-layer quantum-well laser. Most modern homes will have several of these devices in their homes in all types of electronic equipment. He served as a D ...

*2014 −

Eli Yablonovitch Eli Yablonovitch (born 15 December 1946) is an American physicist and engineer who, along with Sajeev John founded the field of photonic crystals in 1987.M.Kapoor (2013Electromagnetic Band Gap Structures page 58 He and his team were the first t ...

*2018 –

Jonathan C. Knight Jonathan C. Knight, (born 1964, in Lusaka Lusaka (; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zambia. It is one of the fastest-developing cities in southern Africa. Lusaka is in the southern part of the central plateau at an elev ...

*2018 – Philip Russell *2018 – Tim Birks *2022 −

Michael Graetzel Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian and ...

and

Nam-Gyu Park Nam-Gyu Park (born 1960, Hangul: 박남규) is Distinguished Professor and Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU)-Fellow at School of Chemical Engineering, SKKU. His research focuses on high efficiency mesoscopic nanostructured solar cells. Educat ...

Rank Prize for Nutrition

The Rank Prize for Nutrition is for research in

human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...

and

animal nutrition Animal nutrition focuses on the dietary nutrients needs of animals, primarily those in agriculture and food production, but also in zoos, aquariums, and wildlife management. Constituents of diet Macronutrients (excluding fiber and water) provide ...

(distinct from

animal husbandry Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concerned with animals that are raised for meat, fibre, milk, or other products. It includes day-to-day care, selective breeding, and the raising of livestock. Husbandry has a long history, star ...

), and crop husbandry. The Committee on Nutrition consists of the following people: * John Mathers PhD Hon FAfN (Chairman) * Malcolm Bennett * Michael Gooding * Peter Gregory FRASE * Sarah Gurr * Anne-Marie Minihane * Susan Ozanne * Ann Prentice OBE PHD * John Wilding The Rank Prize for Nutrition was awarded at various intervals since 1976, but is now also awarded biennially, worth £100,000. In 2014 Australian biophysicist

Graham Farquhar Graham Douglas Farquhar, (born 8 December 1947) is an Australian biophysicist, Distinguished Professor at Australian National University, and leader of the Farquhar Lab. In 2018 Farquhar was named Senior Australian of the Year. Life Farquhar at ...

and the

CSIRO The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government agency responsible for scientific research. CSIRO works with leading organisations around the world. From its headquarters in Canberra, CSIRO ...

agronomist Richard Richards were awarded the Rank Prize in Nutrition, for "pioneering the understanding of isotope discrimination in plants and its application to breed wheat varieties that use water more efficiently", which related to a discovery the pair made in the 1980s. Other winners include: *1981 − Hugo Kortschak, Marshall (Hal) Davidson Hatch and

Roger Slack Charles Roger Slack (22 April 1937 – 24 October 2016) was a British-born plant biologist and biochemist who lived and worked in Australia (1962–1970) and New Zealand (1970–2000). In 1966, jointly with Marshall Hatch, he discovered C4 phot ...

, for "outstanding work on the mechanism of

photosynthesis Photosynthesis is a process used by plants and other organisms to convert light energy into chemical energy that, through cellular respiration, can later be released to fuel the organism's activities. Some of this chemical energy is stored i ...

which established the existence of an alternative pathway for the initial fixation of

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide ( chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is t ...

in some important food plants". *1982 − Hamish Munro, for his work on the

protein metabolism Protein metabolism denotes the various biochemical processes responsible for the synthesis of proteins and amino acids (anabolism), and the breakdown of proteins by catabolism. The steps of protein synthesis include transcription, translation, and ...

of mammals. *1984 −

Elsie Widdowson Elsie Widdowson (21 October 1906 – 14 June 2000), was a British dietitian and nutritionist. She and Dr Robert McCance, a pediatrician, physiologist, biochemist, and nutritionist, were responsible for overseeing the government-mandated additi ...

, for her work on the values of foods as nutrient sources, the effects of long-term undernutrition and starvation and the nature and control of the growth process. *1989 −

Vernon R. Young Vernon Robert Young (November 15, 1937 – March 30, 2004) was an expert on protein and amino acid requirements and researched how the human body processes nutrients into protein. Young was a principal organizer of amino acid Workshops sponsore ...

, for his work on the amino acid metabolism of man. *1992 − Kenneth Blaxter, lifetime award given posthumously. *1995 –

Richard Smithells Richard Worthington Smithells (12 July 1924 – 13 June 2002) was a British paediatrician and Emeritus professor of paediatrics at the University of Leeds. Smithells was most notable for research into neural tube defects, congenital abnorm ...

and

B.M. Hibbard Bachelor of Music (BM or BMus) is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of a program of study in music. In the United States, it is a professional degree, and the majority of work consists of pr ...

, for "pioneering studies into the role of

micronutrient Micronutrients are essential dietary elements required by organisms in varying quantities throughout life to orchestrate a range of physiological functions to maintain health. Micronutrient requirements differ between organisms; for example, huma ...

deficiencies, principally

folic acid Folate, also known as vitamin B9 and folacin, is one of the B vitamins. Manufactured folic acid, which is converted into folate by the body, is used as a dietary supplement and in food fortification as it is more stable during processing a ...

deficiency, and

neural tube defects Neural tube defects (NTDs) are a group of birth defects in which an opening in the spine or cranium remains from early in human development. In the third week of pregnancy called gastrulation, specialized cells on the dorsal side of the embryo ...

". *2006 − Charles H. Bennett (physicist),

and Stephen Wiesner for research on the original concept of quantum cryptography. *2010 −

Peter E. Hartmann Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

and

Robyn Owens Robyn Anne Owens is an Australian applied mathematician and computer scientist known for her research in computer vision and face recognition, and on the non-invasive imaging of lactation. Formerly a professor at the University of Western Austral ...

for their "research on

human lactation Breastfeeding, or nursing, is the process by which human breast milk is fed to a child. Breast milk may be from the breast, or may be expressed by hand or pumped and fed to the infant. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that bre ...

, including methods for the non-invasive measurement of the rate of milk secretion". *2020 –

Stephen O'Rahilly Sir Stephen Patrick O'Rahilly (born 1 April 1958) is an Irish-British physician and scientist known for his research into the molecular pathogenesis of human obesity, insulin resistance and related metabolic and endocrine disorders. Education ...

*2022 –

Cathie Martin Catherine Rosemary Martin (born April 1955) is a Professor of Botany, Plant Sciences at the University of East Anglia and project leader at the John Innes Centre, Norwich, co-ordinating research into the relationship between diet and health and ...

References

{{reflist Awards established in the 1970s Optoelectronics Nutrition