Four academics — along with Tony Blair, the former British prime minister — have been named as recipients of this year’s Dan David Prize. The prize is given each year in fields selected in three categories, for achievements related to the past, the present, and the future. Each carries a $1-million award.

Three professors of physics — Paolo de Bernardis of the University of Rome La Sapienza, Andrew E. Lange of the California Institute of Technology, and Paul Richards, an emeritus professor at the University of California at Berkeley — shared the 2009 Past Astrophysics-History of the Universe prize.

Mr. de Bernardis and Mr. Lange were co-leaders of a 1998 experiment, called “Boomerang,” that peered back to the early life of the universe. Mr. Richards was part of a Berkeley-led team that conducted similar studies. Together, their findings helped shape scientists’ understanding about the geometry and density of the universe.

Robert C. Gallo, director of the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland at Baltimore, was awarded the prize for Future Global Public Health. The citation credits Dr. Gallo’s achievements at Maryland and previously as an AIDS researcher with the National Cancer Institute for their contributions to improving global public health.

Mr. Blair, who stepped down in 2007 after 10 years as prime minister, received the Present Leadership prize.

The awards are named for Dan David, a Romanian native who made his fortune in the photography business. The prizes are endowed by the Dan David Foundation, which has its headquarters at Tel Aviv University. —Charles Huckabee