Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences


The Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences is awarded once a year by the Inamori Foundation. The Prize is one of three Kyoto Prize categories; the others are the Kyoto Prize in Advanced Technology and the Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy. The first Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences was awarded to Claude Elwood Shannon, the “Establishment of Mathematical Foundation of Information Theory”. The Prize is widely regarded as the most prestigious award available in fields which are traditionally not honored with a Nobel Prize.

Fields

The Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences is awarded on a rotating basis to researchers in the following four fields:

Biological sciences

Mathematical sciences

Earth and planetary sciences, astronomy and astrophysics

Life sciences

Cognitive science