# Kavli Prize

The Kavli Prize was established in 2005 as a joint venture of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research, and the Kavli Foundation. It honors, supports, and recognizes scientists for outstanding work in the fields of astrophysics, nanoscience and neuroscience. Three prizes are awarded every second year. Each of the three Kavli Prizes consists of a gold medal, a scroll, and a cash award of US$1,000,000. The medal has a diameter of 70 millimetres (2.8 in), a thickness of 5 millimetres (0.20 in), and weighs 311 grams (11.0 oz).
The first Kavli Prizes were awarded on 9 September 2008 in Oslo, presented by Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway.

## Selection committees

The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters appoints three prize committees consisting of leading international scientists after receiving recommendations made from the following organisations:
* Chinese Academy of Sciences
* French Academy of Sciences
* Max Planck Society
* United States National Academy of Sciences
* Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters
* Royal Society

## Laureates
### Astrophysics

| Year | Laureate | Institution | Citation |
| 2008 | Maarten Schmidt | California Institute of Technology | "for their seminal contributions to understanding the nature of quasars" |
| 2008 | Donald Lynden-Bell | Cambridge University | "for their seminal contributions to understanding the nature of quasars" |
| 2010 | Jerry E. Nelson | Lick Observatory, University of California, Santa Cruz | "for their contributions to the development of giant telescopes" |
| 2010 | Raymond N. Wilson | European Southern Observatory, Garching | "for their contributions to the development of giant telescopes" |
| 2010 | James Roger Angel | Steward Observatory, University of Arizona | "for their contributions to the development of giant telescopes" |
| 2012 | David C. Jewitt | University of California Los Angeles | "for discovering and characterizing the Kuiper Belt and its largest members, work that led to a major advance in the understanding of the history of our planetary system" |
| 2012 | Jane X. Luu | Lincoln Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology | "for discovering and characterizing the Kuiper Belt and its largest members, work that led to a major advance in the understanding of the history of our planetary system" |
| 2012 | Michael E. Brown | California Institute of Technology | "for discovering and characterizing the Kuiper Belt and its largest members, work that led to a major advance in the understanding of the history of our planetary system" |
| 2014 | Alan H. Guth | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | "for pioneering the theory of cosmic inflation" |
| 2014 | Andrei D. Linde | Stanford University | "for pioneering the theory of cosmic inflation" |
| 2014 | Alexei A. Starobinsky | Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics | "for pioneering the theory of cosmic inflation" |
| 2016 | Ronald W.P. Drever | California Institute of Technology | "for the direct detection of gravitational waves" |
| 2016 | Kip S. Thorne | California Institute of Technology | "for the direct detection of gravitational waves" |
| 2016 | Rainer Weiss | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | "for the direct detection of gravitational waves" |
| 2018 | Ewine van Dishoeck | Leiden University | "for her combined contributions to observational, theoretical, and laboratory astrochemistry, elucidating the life cycle of interstellar clouds and the formation of stars and planets" |
| 2020 | Andrew Fabian | University of Cambridge | "for his groundbreaking research in the field of observational X-ray astronomy, covering a wide range of topics from gas flows in clusters of galaxies to supermassive black holes at the heart of galaxies" |
| 2022 | Roger Ulrich | University of California, Los Angeles | "for their pioneering work and leadership in the development of helio- and asteroseismology" |
| 2022 | Jørgen Christensen-Dalsgaard | Aarhus University | "for their pioneering work and leadership in the development of helio- and asteroseismology" |
| 2022 | Conny Aerts | KU Leuven | "for their pioneering work and leadership in the development of helio- and asteroseismology" |
| 2024 | Sara Seager | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | "for their ground-breaking work on the discovery and characterization of extra-solar planets and their atmospheres" |
| 2024 | David Charbonneau | Harvard University | "for their ground-breaking work on the discovery and characterization of extra-solar planets and their atmospheres" |

### Nanoscience

| Year | Laureate | Institution | Citation |
| 2008 | Louis E. Brus | Columbia University | "for their large impact in the development of the nanoscience field of the zero and one dimensional nanostructures in physics, chemistry and biology" |
| 2008 | Sumio Iijima | Meijo University | "for their large impact in the development of the nanoscience field of the zero and one dimensional nanostructures in physics, chemistry and biology" |
| 2010 | Donald Eigler | IBM Almaden Research Center | "for their development of unprecedented methods to control matter on the nanoscale" |
| 2010 | Nadrian C. Seeman | New York University | "for their development of unprecedented methods to control matter on the nanoscale" |
| 2012 | Mildred S. Dresselhaus | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | "for her pioneering contributions to the study of phonons, electron-phonon interactions, and thermal transport in nanostructures" |
| 2014 | Thomas W. Ebbesen | University of Strasbourg | "for transformative contributions to the field of nano-optics that have broken long-held beliefs about the limitations of the resolution limits of optical microscopy and imaging" |
| 2014 | Stefan W. Hell | Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry | "for transformative contributions to the field of nano-optics that have broken long-held beliefs about the limitations of the resolution limits of optical microscopy and imaging" |
| 2014 | John B. Pendry | Imperial College London | "for transformative contributions to the field of nano-optics that have broken long-held beliefs about the limitations of the resolution limits of optical microscopy and imaging" |
| 2016 | Gerd Binnig | IBM Zurich Research Laboratory | "for the invention and realization of atomic force microscopy, a breakthrough in measurement technology and nanosculpting that continues to have a transformative impact on nanoscience and technology" |
| 2016 | Christoph Gerber | University of Basel | "for the invention and realization of atomic force microscopy, a breakthrough in measurement technology and nanosculpting that continues to have a transformative impact on nanoscience and technology" |
| 2016 | Calvin Quate | Stanford University | "for the invention and realization of atomic force microscopy, a breakthrough in measurement technology and nanosculpting that continues to have a transformative impact on nanoscience and technology" |
| 2018 | Emmanuelle Charpentier | Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology | "for the invention of CRISPR-Cas9, a precise nanotool for editing DNA, causing a revolution in biology, agriculture, and medicine" |
| 2018 | Jennifer Doudna | University of California, Berkeley | "for the invention of CRISPR-Cas9, a precise nanotool for editing DNA, causing a revolution in biology, agriculture, and medicine" |
| 2018 | Virginijus Šikšnys | Vilnius University | "for the invention of CRISPR-Cas9, a precise nanotool for editing DNA, causing a revolution in biology, agriculture, and medicine" |
| 2020 | Harald Rose | Universität Ulm | "for sub-ångström resolution imaging and chemical analysis using electron beams" |
| 2020 | Maximilian Haider | CEOS GmbH | "for sub-ångström resolution imaging and chemical analysis using electron beams" |
| 2020 | Knut Urban | Forschungszentrum Jülich | "for sub-ångström resolution imaging and chemical analysis using electron beams" |
| 2020 | Ondrej Krivanek | Nion Co | "for sub-ångström resolution imaging and chemical analysis using electron beams" |
| 2022 | Jacob Sagiv | Weizmann Institute of Science | "for Self-Assembled Monolayers (SAMs) on solid substrates; molecular coatings to control surface properties" |
| 2022 | Ralph Nuzzo | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | "for Self-Assembled Monolayers (SAMs) on solid substrates; molecular coatings to control surface properties" |
| 2022 | David Allara | Pennsylvania State University | "for Self-Assembled Monolayers (SAMs) on solid substrates; molecular coatings to control surface properties" |
| 2022 | George M. Whitesides | Harvard University | "for Self-Assembled Monolayers (SAMs) on solid substrates; molecular coatings to control surface properties" |
| 2024 | Robert S. Langer | Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology | "for pioneering work integrating synthetic nanoscale materials with biological function for biomedical applications" |
| 2024 | Armand Paul Alivisatos | University of Chicago | "for pioneering work integrating synthetic nanoscale materials with biological function for biomedical applications" |
| 2024 | Chad A. Mirkin | Northwestern University | "for pioneering work integrating synthetic nanoscale materials with biological function for biomedical applications" |

### Neuroscience

| Year | Laureate | Institution | Citation |
| 2008 | Sten Grillner | Karolinska Institute | "for discoveries on the developmental and functional logic of neuronal circuits" |
| 2008 | Thomas Jessell | Columbia University | "for discoveries on the developmental and functional logic of neuronal circuits" |
| 2008 | Pasko Rakic | Yale University School of Medicine | "for discoveries on the developmental and functional logic of neuronal circuits" |
| 2010 | Richard H. Scheller | Genentech | "for discovering the molecular basis of neurotransmitter release" |
| 2010 | Thomas C. Südhof | Stanford University School of Medicine | "for discovering the molecular basis of neurotransmitter release" |
| 2010 | James E. Rothman | Yale University | "for discovering the molecular basis of neurotransmitter release" |
| 2012 | Cornelia Isabella Bargmann | Rockefeller University | "for elucidating basic neuronal mechanisms underlying perception and decision" |
| 2012 | Winfried Denk | Max Planck Institute for Medical Research | "for elucidating basic neuronal mechanisms underlying perception and decision" |
| 2012 | Ann M. Graybiel | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | "for elucidating basic neuronal mechanisms underlying perception and decision" |
| 2014 | Brenda Milner | Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University | "for the discovery of specialized brain networks for memory and cognition" |
| 2014 | John O’Keefe | University College London | "for the discovery of specialized brain networks for memory and cognition" |
| 2014 | Marcus E. Raichle | Washington University in St. Louis | "for the discovery of specialized brain networks for memory and cognition" |
| 2016 | Eve Marder | Brandeis University | "for the discovery of mechanisms that allow experience and neural activity to remodel brain function" |
| 2016 | Michael M. Merzenich | University of California, San Francisco | "for the discovery of mechanisms that allow experience and neural activity to remodel brain function" |
| 2016 | Carla J. Shatz | Stanford University | "for the discovery of mechanisms that allow experience and neural activity to remodel brain function" |
| 2018 | A. James Hudspeth | Rockefeller University | "for their scientific discoveries of the molecular and neural mechanisms of hearing" |
| 2018 | Robert Fettiplace | University of Wisconsin–Madison | "for their scientific discoveries of the molecular and neural mechanisms of hearing" |
| 2018 | Christine Petit | Collège de France | "for their scientific discoveries of the molecular and neural mechanisms of hearing" |
| 2020 | David Julius | University of California, San Francisco | "for their transformative discovery of receptors for temperature and pressure". |
| 2020 | Ardem Patapoutian | Scripps Research and Howard Hughes Medical Investigator | "for their transformative discovery of receptors for temperature and pressure". |
| 2022 | Jean-Louis Mandel | University of Strasbourg | "for pioneering the discovery of genes underlying a range of brain disorders" |
| 2022 | Harry T. Orr | University of Minnesota Medical School | "for pioneering the discovery of genes underlying a range of brain disorders" |
| 2022 | Huda Zoghbi | Baylor College of Medicine | "for pioneering the discovery of genes underlying a range of brain disorders" |
| 2022 | Christopher A. Walsh | Harvard Medical School | "for pioneering the discovery of genes underlying a range of brain disorders" |
| 2024 | Nancy Kanwisher | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | "for the discovery of a highly localized and specialized system for representation of faces in human and non-human primate neocortex" |
| 2024 | Winrich Freiwald | Rockefeller University | "for the discovery of a highly localized and specialized system for representation of faces in human and non-human primate neocortex" |
| 2024 | Doris Ying Tsao | University of California, Berkeley | "for the discovery of a highly localized and specialized system for representation of faces in human and non-human primate neocortex" |