Microsoft Award facts for kids
The Royal Society and Académie des sciences Microsoft Award was a special prize given each year. It was created by two important science groups: the Royal Society in the UK and the Académie des sciences in France. This award honored scientists in Europe who used computers and special computer programs to make big discoveries in science. The company Microsoft Research helped pay for this award.
The award was for any scientist who did amazing work where computers and science met. This included areas like Biological Sciences (studying living things), Physical Sciences (like physics and chemistry), Mathematics, and Engineering. The prize showed how important it is for different science fields to work together with computing. It also highlighted the need to support European scientists so that Europe could be a leader in science. A group of experts from both the Royal Society and the Académie des sciences chose the winner. The winner received a trophy and €250,000. Most of this money (€242,500) was meant to help the scientist do more research, while €7,500 was prize money for them.
The first award was given in 2006, and the last one was in 2009. Now, a different award, the Royal Society Milner Award, has taken its place.
Past Winners of the Award
This award recognized scientists who used computers to solve big science problems. Here are the amazing people who won:
| Year | Winner | Where They Worked | What They Won For | How They Used the Prize Money | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Dennis Bray | University of Cambridge | For using computers to show how tiny bacteria, like E. coli, move around. This movement is called chemotaxis. | He used the money to set up a special computer lab. This lab helped him do more detailed computer studies of how bacteria move. | |
| 2007 | Giorgio Parisi | La Sapienza | For his work on how tiny particles behave (called quantum chromodynamics) and how disordered systems work (called spin glasses). | He started a project called IANUS. This project used special computer chips (called field programmable gate arrays or FPGAs) to create computer models of complex systems. | |
| 2008 | Nicholas Ayache | INRIA | For his work on using computers to understand medical image analysis. This helps doctors see inside the body better. | He used the money to study the shapes of 3D body parts. He also worked on combining different types of medical images. His research helped create computer models that combine how the body is built (its anatomy) with how it works (its physiology). | |
| 2009 | Peer Bork | EMBL | For using computers to study all the tiny living things, like bacteria, that live inside the human body. This is called the human microbiome. |
Microsoft Awards Today
Today, Microsoft gives out awards to its best business partners in different countries. These awards are for companies that work well with Microsoft.
See also
- List of computer-related awards
- List of computer science awards
