Templeton Prize facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Templeton Prize
Bernard d'Espagnat receiving the Templeton Prize from the Duke of Edinburgh in 2009
Presented by	Templeton Foundation
Country	United States
Reward	£1.1 million (2019)
First awarded	1973
Currently held by	Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

The Templeton Prize is a special award given every year to a living person. Judges choose someone who has done amazing things to explore big questions about the universe and what it means to be human. This includes looking at how science and spirituality connect.

The prize was started by John Templeton in 1972. He wanted to celebrate people who helped us understand the "spiritual dimension" of life. This means thinking about things like purpose, meaning, and our place in the world. The prize is now supported by several Templeton foundations.

What is the Templeton Prize?

The Templeton Prize is given to people who use science to explore deep questions. These questions are about the universe and our role in it. It's about understanding life's spiritual side through new ideas or discoveries.

History of the Award

When the prize first started, it was given to people mainly working in religion. For example, Mother Teresa was the very first winner. But in the 1980s, the award grew to include people who connect science and religion.

The prize's name changed a few times. It used to be called the "Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion." Later, it became the "Templeton Prize for Progress Toward Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities." People from many different faiths, like Hindus, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, and Muslims, have won the prize. They have also been on the judging panel.

Why is the Prize Important?

The money given with the Templeton Prize is usually more than the Nobel Prize. John Templeton believed that the Nobel Prizes didn't focus enough on spirituality. In 2019, the prize was worth £1.1 million.

For many years, Prince Philip would present the award. The ceremonies often took place at Buckingham Palace in London. Many people see the Templeton Prize as a very important award in the field of religion and science.

Some scientists have questioned the prize. They worried it might mix religion and science too much. However, winners like Martin Rees have said that the prize is for exploring big questions. It's not just for promoting religion. Many winners have come from different backgrounds, including those who are not religious. Their work in fields like psychology or biology helps us understand life in new ways.

Templeton Prize Winners

Many amazing people have received the Templeton Prize. They come from different countries and have different beliefs. Each winner has helped us think more deeply about life's big questions.

Year	Laureate		Notes	Ref(s)
1973		Mother Teresa	Founder of the Missionaries of Charity; 1979 Nobel Peace Prize winner
1974		Frère Roger	Founder of the Taizé Community
1975		Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan	Former President of India
1976		Leo Joseph Suenens	A leader in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal
1977		Chiara Lubich	Founder of the Focolare Movement
1978	—	Thomas F. Torrance	Former leader of the Church of Scotland
1979		Nikkyō Niwano	Co-founder of the Risshō Kōsei Kai
1980	—	Ralph Wendell Burhoe	Founder of the journal Zygon
1981		Cicely Saunders	Founder of the hospice and palliative care movement
1982		Billy Graham	A famous evangelist
1983		Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn	Soviet writer and Nobel Prize winner
1984	—	Michael Bourdeaux	Founder of the Keston Institute
1985	—	Sir Alister Hardy	Founder of the Religious Experience Research Centre
1986	—	James I. McCord	Former president of Princeton Theological Seminary
1987		Stanley Jaki	Priest and professor of astrophysics
1988	—	Inamullah Khan	Former secretary-general of the Modern World Muslim Congress
1989		Carl Friedrich Freiherr von Weizsäcker	Physicist and philosopher
	—	George MacLeod	Founder of the Iona Community
1990		Baba Amte	Helped people with leprosy
	—	Charles Birch	Professor from the University of Sydney
1991		Immanuel Jakobovits, Baron Jakobovits	Former Chief Rabbi of Great Britain
1992		Kyung-Chik Han	Evangelist and church founder in Seoul
1993		Charles Colson	Founder of the Prison Fellowship
1994		Michael Novak	Philosopher and diplomat
1995		Paul Davies	Theoretical physicist
1996		Bill Bright	Founder of the Campus Crusade for Christ
1997	—	Pandurang Shastri Athavale	Social reformer and philosopher
1998	—	Sir Sigmund Sternberg	Philanthropist
1999	—	Ian Barbour	Former professor of science, technology and society
2000		Freeman Dyson	Physicist and mathematician
2001	—	Arthur Peacocke	Former dean at Clare College, Cambridge
2002		John Polkinghorne	Physicist and theologian
2003		Holmes Rolston III	Philosopher
2004		George F. R. Ellis	Cosmologist and philosopher
2005		Charles Hard Townes	Nobel laureate and physicist
2006		John D. Barrow	Cosmologist and theoretical physicist
2007		Charles Taylor	Philosopher
2008		Michał Heller	Physicist and philosopher
2009		Bernard d'Espagnat	Physicist
2010		Francisco J. Ayala	Biologist
2011		Martin Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow	Cosmologist and astrophysicist
2012		14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso	Spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, and 1989 Nobel Peace Prize winner
2013		Desmond Tutu	Nobel laureate, social rights activist and retired Anglican archbishop
2014		Tomáš Halík	Roman Catholic priest, theologian, philosopher
2015		Jean Vanier	Catholic theologian and humanitarian
2016		Jonathan Sacks	Former Chief Rabbi of Great Britain, philosopher
2017		Alvin Plantinga	American scholar, philosopher, and writer
2018		Abdullah II of Jordan	King of Jordan
2019		Marcelo Gleiser	Brazilian physicist and astronomer
2020		Francis Collins	Geneticist and physician
2021		Jane Goodall	Ethologist, activist and chimpanzee researcher
2022		Frank Wilczek	Theoretical physicist
2023		Edna Adan Ismail	Health care advocate
2024		Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela	Psychologist
2025		Patriarch Bartholomew	Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople

See also

In Spanish: Premio Templeton para niños

• List of religion-related awards