Mathematicians, scientist among King Faisal Prize’s 7 laureates

KUALA LUMPUR, March 31 -- Two mathematicians and a scientist were among this year’s King Faisal Prize’s seven laureates who received their prizes on March 29, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for having enriched humanity with key and invaluable achievements and discoveries, and excelled in the fields of Medicine, Science, Arabic Language & Literature, and Serving to Islam.

The Medicine Prize was awarded to Professor David Liu, Richard Merkin Professor and Director of the Merkin Institute of Transformative Technologies in Healthcare, who invented the first gene ‘base editor’ in 2016.

Liu used ‘base editors’ in mice to correct the genetic mutation behind progeria, a rare condition characterised by premature aging, retarded development, and early death. Still, more work needs to be done before gene ‘base editors’ can be used in humans.

Meanwhile, The Science Prize (Mathematics) was awarded jointly to Professor Martin Hairer, Chair in Probability and Stochastic Analysis at Imperial College’s Department of Mathematics, and to Professor Nader Masmoudi, a distinguished Professor of Mathematics at the New York University of Abu Dhabi and head of his Research Center on Stability, Instability and Turbulence.

Hairer developed the theory of regularity structures which gave a precise mathematical meaning to several equations that were previously outside the scope of mathematical analysis.

As for Masmoudi, he was able to unlock the mystery around many physics problems which remained unsolved for centuries. He found a flaw in ‘Euler’s’ mathematical equations which for more than two centuries described the motions of fluids under any circumstance.

In addition to Medicine and Science, King Faisal Prize recognised this year the achievements of outstanding thinkers and scholars in the field of Arabic Language & Literature, and honoured exemplary leaders who played a pivotal role in serving Islam, Muslims, and humanity at large.

The Arabic Language and Literature Prize about ‘Arabic Literature Studies in English’ was awarded to Professor Suzanne Stetkevych, Chair of the Department of Arabic & Islamic Studies at Georgetown University, and to Professor Muhsin Al-Musawi, Professor of Arabic and Comparative Literary Studies at Columbia University.

The Service to Islam Prize was awarded to former Tanzanian president, Ali Hassan Mwinyi and to Professor Hassan Mahmoud Al Shafei, while The Islamic Studies Prize for this year on ‘Islamic Heritage of Al- Andalus’ was withheld because the nominated works did not meet the criteria of the prize.

According to a statement, since 1979, King Faisal Prize in its five different categories has awarded 282 laureates from 44 different nationalities who have made distinguished contributions to different sciences and causes.

Each prize laureate is endowed with US$200,000; a 24-carat gold medal weighing 200 grams, and a Certificate inscribed with the Laureate’s name and a summary of their work which qualified them for the prize. (US$1 = RM4.201)

-- BERNAMA