Kyoto Prizes for 2009 Go to Current and Former Professors

Three university professors will receive the 2009 Kyoto Prizes, the Inamori Foundation announced today.

The awards in advanced technology, basic science, and the arts and philosophy come with prizes of approximately $520,000 each.

Isamu Akasaki, university professor at Nagoya University, received the award in advanced technology. He was recognized for his work leading to the development of blue-light-emitting devices, which are used in displays for cellphones, traffic signals, and blue-ray discs.

Peter Raymond Grant and Barbara Rosemary Grant, both emeritus professors of zoology at Princeton University, won the award in basic science. They were honored for their work on the morphology and behavior of organisms and how they are “altered rapidly by natural selection in response to recurrent environmental changes.”

The award in the arts and philosophy went to the music composer and conductor Pierre Boulez, a former professor at the Collège de France. He also was music director of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.

The winners will receive their prizes at a ceremony in Kyoto, Japan, in November. —Marc Beja