The Crafoord Prize | |
---|---|
Awarded for | astronomy and mathematics, biosciences, geosciences or polyarthritis research |
Country | Sweden |
Presented by | Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences |
Reward(s) | 6,000,000 kr |
First awarded | 1982 |
Website | crafoordprize |
The Crafoord Prize (Swedish: Crafoordpriset) is an annual science prize established in 1980 by Holger Crafoord, a Swedish industrialist, and his wife Anna-Greta Crafoord. The Prize is awarded jointly by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and the Crafoord Foundation in Lund, with the former selecting the laureates.[1] The prize is awarded in four categories: mathematics and astronomy, geosciences, biosciences (with an emphasis on ecology) and polyarthritis, the disease from which Holger severely suffered in his later years.
According to the Academy, "these disciplines are chosen so as to complement those for which the Nobel Prizes are awarded".[2] Only one award is given each year, according to a rotating scheme – astronomy and mathematics; then geosciences; then biosciences.[2] A Crafoord Prize in polyarthritis is only awarded when a special committee decides that substantial progress in the field has been made.[2] The recipient of the Crafoord Prize is announced each year in mid-January; on Crafoord Days in April or May, the prize is presented by the King of Sweden, who also presents the Nobel Prizes at the ceremony in December.[2][3] As of 2024[update], the prize money is 6,000,000 kr (or US$700,000).[4] The prize has been compared to the Nobel Prize for its prestige in the geosciences.[5]
The inaugural laureates, Vladimir Arnold and Louis Nirenberg, were cited by the Academy for their work in the field of non-linear differential equations. As of 2022, the winners have predominantly been men. The first woman to be awarded the prize was astronomer Andrea Ghez in 2012.