President Bush Honors U.S. Recipients of the 2008 Kavli Prize

November 12, 2008

President George W. Bush and his Science Advisor, Dr. John Marburger honored the first U.S. recipients of the Kavli Prize in an Oval Office reception at the White House this afternoon.

Left to right: John H. Marburger III, Director, White House Office of Science & Technology Policy; His Excellency Wegger Chr. Strommen, Ambassador, Royal Norwegian Embassy in Washington, D.C.; Pasko Rakic, Kavli Prize Neuroscience Laureate ; Sandra Biller; U.S. President George W. Bush; Fred Kavli, Founder and Chairman, The Kavli Foundation; Marilyn Brus; Louis E. Brus, Kavli Prize Nanoscience Laureate; Corrie Schmidt; Maarten Schmidt, Kavli Prize Astrophysics Laureate; David H. Auston, President, The Kavli Foundation. (Courtesy: The White House)

Dr. John Marburger, Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy said, “Thanks to the Kavli Foundation for establishing these prestigious awards. We are proud that American scientists are among the first round of recipients, and hope for more in the future. The fields in which the awards are given are among the most exciting and productive in science today, and the work that is being recognized has in each case opened new opportunities for discovery by generations of investigators. Congratulations to the recipients for their outstanding contributions.”

Also joining the laureates at the reception were Wegger C. Strømmen, Ambassador of Norway to the United States; Fred Kavli, Founder and Chairman of The Kavli Foundation; and David Auston, President of The Kavli Foundation.

The laureates were selected for their groundbreaking research that has advanced our understanding of matter on an ultra-small scale, the basic circuitry of the human brain, and the nature of quasars. They are the inaugural recipients of the Kavli prizes, a partnership between the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, The Kavli Foundation, and the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research. The three biannual awards will complement the Nobel Prizes. The seven winners, from the UK, Sweden, the Netherlands, Japan and the US, will receive a share of the $1,000,000 prize for each subject.

2008 United States Kavli Prize Winners

Astrophysics: Maarten Schmidt, California Institute of Technology
Nanoscience: Louis E. Brus, Columbia University
Neuroscience: Thomas Jessell, Columbia University; Pasko Rakic, Yale University School of Medicine