The Feltrinelli International Prize for Medicine 2023 has been awarded by the Accademia dei Lincei to Özlem Türeci and Ugur Sahin, the creators of the mRna vaccines, such as those used in the COVID-19 pandemic, the Italian academy announced. The two researchers are also co-founders of the biopharmaceutical firm BioNTech.
For Physics, the International Feltrinelli Prize goes to Ioannis (John) Iliopoulos, for proposing the existence of a new type of quark with Sheldon Glashow and Luciano Maiani. Among the young winners is robotics expert Calogero Oddo, inventor of the first robotic hand with a sense of touch. The awards ceremony is slated for 23 June in Rome, at the Accademia dei Lincei, during the ceremony closing the academic year 2022- 2023.
The two international prizes, each worth 100,000 euros, are joined by the young prizes, each worth 50,000 euros: the Bioengineering Prize goes to Oddo, of the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in Pisa; the Environmental Chemistry award to Raffaele Cucciniello of the University of Salerno; and the award for Epidemiology to Michele Carugno of the University of Milan. As it has every year since 1950, the Accademia dei Lincei gives prizes dedicated to the entrepreneur Antonio Feltrinelli to those who distinguish themselves in the arts, sciences and letters. Over the years, among the recipients in physical, mathematical and natural sciences have been Albert Sabin, Luigi Cavalli Sforza and Rita Levi Montalcini.
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