Tang Prize Newsletter

The latest recipients of the biennial Tang Prize will be announced June 18-21, 2016, in four categories—Sustainable Development, Biopharmaceutical Science, Sinology, and Rule of Law. The announcement will be followed by the award ceremony later this year on September 25.

Founded in December 2012, the Tang Prize encourages a more holistic and cross-disciplinary approach to reflect the new challenges humanity faces in today's complicated world. It is an award given in recognition of outstanding achievements regardless of nationality, ethnicity, or political beliefs.

2016 Tang Prize Laureate Announcement
Time：June 18-21(Sat-Tue) 10a.m.
Venue：Tang Prize Foundation Offices
Watch it Streaming Live at：www.tang-prize.org or www.youtube.com/user/theTangPrize 
(Stream begins each day at 10 AM, GMT +8)

To honor and give vision to the contributions of the new laureates, the Tang Prize commissioned London-based designer Lin Cheung to create a series of diplomas which will be given to the laureates at the awarding ceremony this September. The set of four diplomas, one per prize category, began in the designer's mind with the idea to go "beyond paper"—to test the boundaries of paper as a printed document.

The design "makes paper into something more than paper," said Tang Prize CEO Jenn-Chuan Chern. From the flat media we see every day in newspapers and books to a standing, dynamic design, Cheung has broken the boundaries we usually associate with paper. As her forte is in metalworking rather than flat media, Cheung used the new opportunity as an advantage. "She looked at paper from a blank slate, starting from zero. But that allowed her a greater freedom for creativity. What was ordinary became extraordinary and everlasting—paper became a symbol for sustainability."

Read more about the Artist pushes boundaries of paper with Tang Prize certificate design>>

Leaders of the world's nations came together to sign the Paris Agreement in New York on April 22, 2016 (Earth Day.) 175 parties brought the agreement into effect, which is an attempt to hold rising global temperatures below 2 degrees Celsius from preindustrial levels.

In a recent correspondence with the Tang Prize Foundation, Brundtland said of the occasion: "this Earth Day, with the highest number of governments ever to sign an international agreement, is a great confirmation of the significance and importance of the Paris Climate Agreement last December." The road to this agreement has been long and uncertain, says Brundtland, but this year's agreement provides an actionable global plan for the coming years.

Read more about the Tang Prize Laureate Brundtland: Signing of Climate Agreement Sets Actionable Goals>>

In its second year of ten in promoting education in biology, the Tang Prize Lecture series at Experimental Biology took place on April 5, 2016, in San Diego. There the 2014 Tang Prize Laureate in Biopharmaceutical Science Tasuku Honjo addressed an audience of 300-plus on cancer immunology and his work on the inhibitory receptor PD-1.

Combinations of multiple inhibitor drugs working through the PD-1 pathway have provided many sufferers with a mode of therapy safer than nonspecific treatments, like chemotherapy, which tend to target both cancer and healthy cells. One of the notable examples of the new treatment's success was touted in the article "Closing in On Cancer" in the March 5, 2016 issue of New Scientist. Former-President Jimmy Carter was recently given a clean bill of health thanks to drugs which works on the PD-1 receptor. In Carter’s case, it was a brain tumor; but the treatment has seen promising responses from other cancer types as well. While it is not a definitive victory over cancer, it does suggest a turning point in the war.

Read more about Tang Prize Laureate on the State of Cancer Immunotherapy>>

Dr. Liat Ben David, Director-General of the Wolf Foundation, visited the Tang Prize offices this Friday (April 29) to discuss international prizes and education. Coming herself from a background in science education, Ben David stressed the importance of laureates as role models and leaders for the next generation.

Ben David found common ground between the two prizes in the areas of sustainable development and biopharmaceutical science, which are covered by both the Wolf and Tang Prizes. This commonality between the two prizes could be widened, suggested Ben David, by cooperation between the two sides in educational promotion. As the Director General stressed, prizes like the Tang and Wolf are, after all, founded to improve humanity as a whole. And education is one way to ensure that one generation's students become the next generation's scholars.

The Wolf Prize was founded by an inventor who wanted to inspire progress and innovation in society. Ricardo Subirana y Lobo Wolf erected the prize on two basic principles: human capital, and the concept of a complete mind. Founded in 1975 and awarded first in 1978, the Wolf Prize is now recognized as one of the world's most prestigious prizes in the arts and sciences.

Read more about Wolf Prize Director-General: Science Education is a “Pillar of Humanity”>>

On May 4, Boris Vladimirovich Gusev, president of the Russian Academy of Engineering (RAE), awarded Samuel Yin with the Engineering Prowess Award of the RAE, one of the academy's highest honors. Yin is chairman of Ruentex Group and chief development officer, chief technology officer, and chief engineer of Ruentex Construction Group, as well as founder of the Tang Prize. The Moscow-based academy has recognized Yin for his invention of "five-spiral reinforcement" technology (known also as: Yin's Spiral), a time and material-saving technology for the reinforcement of concrete columns.

Gusev said that this spiral reinforcement technology, which was originally meant for cylindrical concrete columns, has been applied to the rectangular and square columns which so often serve as structural columns in buildings and bridges. This breakthrough application, he adds, has greatly boosted the structural integrity of structures that use it, while also shrinking their carbon footprint.

Read more about the RAE Awards Samuel Yin for Engineering Prowess>>

A representation of the spirit of Chinese culture and music, the Tang Prize Concert brings the majestic sounds and grand sights that symbolize the accomplishments of the prize laureates. Performances include Rolf-Peter Wille and Yen Chun-Chieh playing F. Poulenc: Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra, which was chosen to represent the spirit and traditions of the prize. This will be followed by a rendering of Taiwanese composer Ma Shui-long’s The Invisible Temple, played by the Taipei Symphonic Orchestra and the Taipei Philharmonic Chorus with Qiu Jun-qiang conducting.

The Tang Prize has also invited Yiu-Kwong Chung, the composer of the Fanfare for the Tang Prize, and Lee Che-Yi to arrange a special suite of musical pieces to honor each of the laureates.

Join us for this very special night!

Concert Date: September 26, 2016
Venue: National Concert Hall, No. 21-1, Zhongshan S Rd, Zhongzheng District, Taipei City, 100

*The 2016 Tang Prize Concert is a ticketed event.
Proceeds from the concert will be used for public activities in the following year.

Purchase your tickets here: http://goo.gl/D2zoyr>>

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