Champalimaud Science Award announced to scientific community

The António Champalimaud Science Award was introduced to the scientific community during the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) annual meeting by Larry Takemoto, president of ARVO.

The inaugural €1 million (U.S. $1.3 million) science prize will be awarded in 2007. The annual award will encourage both scientists and organizations to alleviate blindness and develop scientific projects in vision research, said Leonor Beleza, president of the Champalimaud Foundation.

The award will be given alternatively between contributions to overall vision research and contributions, primarily in developing countries, to alleviation of visual problems.

The jury of the award includes a distinguished panel of scientists involved in vision research and public figures involved in meeting the needs of the developing world. Members of the jury include: Mark Bear, José Cunha-Vaz, Jacques Delors, António Guterres, Gullapalli N. Rao, Mary Robinson, Joshua Sanes, Amartya Sen, Carla Shatz, Paul Sieving, Alfred Sommer, and Susumu Tonegawa.

More details about the award are available at www.fchampalimaud.org.