Top science award names inaugural laureates

The WLA Prize, a science award initiated by the World Laureates Association, unveiled its inaugural laureates in Shanghai on Thursday.

US computer science and statistician Michael I. Jordan received the award in "intelligent science or mathematics" for his "fundamental contribution to the theoretical basis of machine learning and its applications".

German biochemist Dirk Gorlich won the "life science or medicine" award for his "key discoveries about the mechanism of transport of proteins between the cytoplasm and the nucleus and their selectivity".

The money for each individual prize is 10 million yuan ($1.39 million), according to Michael Levitt, vice-chairman of WLA and 2013 Nobel laureate in chemistry, who made the announcement at a press conference.

Wu Xiangdong, executive director of WLA and chairman of the WLA Prize Management Committee, said the two winners will come to Shanghai in early November to attend the award ceremony.

The WLA Prize, which aims to recognize and support eminent researchers and technologists worldwide for their contributions to science, was established at the 4th WLA forum in Shanghai in 2021.

Roger Kornberg, WLA chairman and a Nobel laureate in chemistry in 2006, said the prize will support original basic research and encourage scientists to strive to achieve more for the common good of mankind.

Neil Shen, steward of Sequoia Capital Founding and managing partner of Sequoia China, which is the exclusive sponsor of the WLA Prize, said the company regards the support for the prize as "a permanent public welfare investment in human science and technology".