The Kyoto Prize is Japan's highest private award for lifetime achievement in the arts and sciences. It is given not only to those that are top representatives of their own respective fields, but to "those who have contributed significantly to the scientific, cultural, and spiritual betterment of mankind". The Kyoto Prize was created in collaboration with the Nobel Foundation and is regarded by many as Japan's version of the Nobel Prize, representing one of the most prestigious awards available in fields that are not traditionally honored with a Nobel.
The Millennium Technology Prize is one of the world's largest technology prizes. It is awarded once every two years by Technology Academy Finland, an independent foundation established by Finnish industries, academic institutions, and the state of Finland. The patron of the prize is the President of Finland. The Millennium Technology Prize is Finland's tribute to innovations for a better life. The aims of the prize are to promote technological research and Finland as a high-tech Nordic welfare state. The prize was inaugurated in 2004.
The Dan David Prize is a major international award that recognizes and supports outstanding contributions to the study of history and other disciplines that shed light on the human past. It awards nine prizes of $300,000 each year to outstanding early- and mid-career scholars and practitioners in the historical disciplines. The Prize has an annual purse of $3 million, making it the largest history award in the world, with the remaining $300,000 funding an international postdoctoral fellowship program at Tel Aviv University, where the Prize is headquartered. The Prize is endowed by the Dan David Foundation.
The Gairdner Foundation is a non-profit organization devoted to the recognition of outstanding achievements in biomedical research worldwide. It was created in 1957 by James Arthur Gairdner to recognize and reward the achievements of medical researchers whose work contributes significantly to improving the quality of human life. Since the first awards were made in 1959, the Gairdner Awards have become Canada's most prestigious medical awards, recognizing and celebrating the research of the world’s best and brightest biomedical researchers. Since 1959, more than 390 Canada Gairdner Awards have been given to scientists from 35 countries; of these recipients, 95 have subsequently gone on to win a Nobel Prize.
Kazuo Inamori, was a Japanese philanthropist, entrepreneur and the founder of Kyocera and KDDI. He was the chairman of Japan Airlines.
The Praemium Imperiale is an international art prize inaugurated in 1988 and awarded since 1989 by the Imperial family of Japan on behalf of the Japan Art Association in the fields of painting, sculpture, architecture, music, and theatre/film.
Isamu Akasaki was a Japanese engineer and physicist, specializing in the field of semiconductor technology and Nobel Prize laureate, best known for inventing the bright gallium nitride (GaN) p-n junction blue LED in 1989 and subsequently the high-brightness GaN blue LED as well.
The IEEE Nikola Tesla Award is a Technical Field Award given annually to an individual or team that has made an outstanding contribution to the generation or utilization of electric power. It is awarded by the Board of Directors of the IEEE. The award is named in honor of Nikola Tesla. This award may be presented to an individual or a team.
The Hypermini is a two-seater electric microcar by Nissan Motors, which produced 219 of the cars in 1999–2001 for the Japanese market.
Yamazaki-Teiichi Prize is an award given annually by the Foundation for Promotion of Material Science and Technology of Japan (MST) to people who have achieved outstanding, creative results, with practical effect, by publishing theses, acquiring patents, or developing methods, technologies and the like and/or people with strong future potential for achieving such results. Chairman of the selection committee is Professor Hideki Shirakawa, the winner of the 2000 Nobel Prize in chemistry. The prize was established in commemoration of the late Teiichi Yamazaki, the first chairman of the MST's Board of Directors, for his contributions to scientific, technological and industrial development and human resource cultivation.
The Fukuoka Prize is an award established by the city of Fukuoka and the Fukuoka City International Foundation to honor the outstanding work of individuals or organizations in preserving or creating Asian culture. There are three prize categories: Grand Prize, Academic Prize, and Arts and Culture Prize.
Karl Alexander Deisseroth is an American scientist. He is the D.H. Chen Professor of Bioengineering and of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University.
The Kihara Memorial Foundation Academic Award is an award for biological sciences in Japan. It is awarded annually by the Kihara Memorial Yokohama Foundation for the Achievement of Life Sciences, to commemorate Hitoshi Kihara, Japan's pioneer geneticist.
Tomizo Yoshida was a prominent Japanese pathologist, famous for discovering the Yoshida sarcoma. In addition, he is known for demonstrating the chemical-induced hepatocarcinogenesis in rats with his mentor Takaoki Sasaki.
Shigenobu Nagamori is a Japanese billionaire businessman, and the chairman and CEO of Nidec, the world's largest manufacturer of micromotors for hard disks and optical drives.
Md. Azizur (Aziz) Rahman was a Canadian Bangladeshi inventor of modern energy-efficient electric motors that span multiple industry applications. He was an electrical engineer, professor, researcher and scientist. He is internationally recognized as one of the founding innovators of modern power engineering and a pioneer in the development and application of interior permanent magnet motors and associated drive technology-used in the world’s first mass-produced hybrid vehicle, the Toyota Prius. Since launching the Prius in 1997, Toyota surpassed global sales of 15 million hybrid vehicles in 2020, all of which use Dr. Rahman's IPM motor drive. His research contributions were broad and adopted in a wide range of electric motor applications ranging from vacuum cleaners, air conditioners, elevators to aircraft.
Maryam Saeedifard is an electrical engineer specializing in power electronics, including multi-level HVDC converters, and the control theory of microgrids, with application to inexpensive and efficient renewable energy power conversion for solar power and wind power. Originally from Iran, and educated in Iran and Canada, she has worked in Switzerland and the US, where she is Dean's Professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Georgia Tech.
Leila Parsa is an electrical engineer from Iran whose research concerns power electronics, electric motors, and their applications in electric vehicles, electric aircraft, electric boats, and the generation of renewable energy. She is a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
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