Wolf Prize facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Wolf Prize |
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| Presented by | Wolf Foundation |
| Country | Israel |
| Reward | US $100,000 |
| First awarded | 1978 |
The Wolf Prize is a special international award given out in Israel. It has been presented almost every year since 1978. This prize honors scientists and artists who are still alive. They receive it for their amazing "achievements that help all people and create friendly relationships among them." This means anyone can win, no matter their country, background, or beliefs.
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What is the Wolf Prize?
The Wolf Prize is given by the Wolf Foundation in Israel. This foundation was started by Ricardo Wolf. He was an inventor born in Germany who later served as Cuba's ambassador to Israel.
The prize is given in six different areas:
- Agriculture (farming and food science)
- Chemistry (the study of matter)
- Mathematics (numbers and shapes)
- Medicine (health and healing)
- Physics (the study of energy and forces)
- Arts (this prize changes each year between architecture, music, painting, and sculpture)
Each winner gets a special certificate and US$100,000. The awards ceremony usually happens at the Knesset, which is Israel's parliament building. Even though the foundation says the prize is "awarded annually," it isn't given out every single year. For example, between 2000 and 2010, most fields only had six prizes awarded, and physics only had four.
Why is the Wolf Prize Important?
The Wolf Prizes in physics and chemistry are often seen as the most important awards in those fields, right after the Nobel Prize. The physics prize is especially known for picking people who later win the Nobel Prize. Out of 26 winners between 1978 and 2010, 14 of them went on to win a Nobel Prize. Five of those even won the Nobel Prize the very next year!
In medicine, the Wolf Prize is probably the third most important, after the Nobel Prize and the Lasker Award. For a long time, the Wolf Prize was considered the closest thing to a "Nobel Prize in Mathematics." This was before the Abel Prize was created. The more famous Fields Medal is only given every four years to mathematicians under 40 years old. In agriculture, the Wolf Prize is also often called the "Nobel Prize in Agriculture."
Recent Wolf Prize Winners
The most recent Wolf Prizes were given out in June 2022 to these amazing people:
- Agriculture—Pamela Ronald for her important work on how rice plants can resist diseases and handle tough environmental conditions.
- Chemistry—Bonnie L. Bassler, Carolyn R. Bertozzi, and Benjamin F. Cravatt III for their big discoveries about how cells communicate. They also created new ways to study how sugars, fats, and proteins work in these processes.
- Mathematics—George Lusztig for his groundbreaking work in an area of math called representation theory.
- Physics—Paul Corkum, Ferenc Krausz, and Anne L'Huillier for their pioneering work with super-fast lasers and attosecond physics (studying events that happen in incredibly tiny fractions of a second).
- Architecture—Yoshiharu Tsukamoto and Momoyo Kaijima for their work that shows how important it is for architecture to understand local cultures and how people live. Also, Elizabeth Diller for her outstanding work that connects architecture with art, especially in public spaces.
Winners by Country
This chart shows how many Wolf Prize winners come from different countries. This information is updated to include the 2023 winners. Some winners might be counted more than once if they have citizenship in more than one country.
| Country | Number of laureates |
|---|---|
 United States |
190 |
 United Kingdom |
41 |
 Israel |
25 |
 France |
23 |
 Japan |
15 |
 Canada |
15 |
 Hungary |
14 |
 Soviet Union /  Russia |
14 |
 Germany |
13 |
 Italy |
11 |
 Austria |
10 |
 Belgium |
8 |
 Sweden |
7 |
 Switzerland |
6 |
 Spain |
5 |
 Netherlands |
5 |
 Argentina |
4 |
 Taiwan |
4 |
 Poland |
3 |
 India |
2 |
 Portugal |
2 |
 Denmark |
2 |
 China |
1 |
 Brazil |
1 |
 Mexico |
1 |
 Egypt |
1 |
 South Africa |
1 |
 Rhodesia |
1 |
 Jordan |
1 |
 Norway |
1 |
 Finland |
1 |
 Uruguay |
1 |
 Georgia |
1 |
 Cyprus |
1 |
See also
In Spanish: Premio Wolf para niños
- Lists of art awards
- List of general science and technology awards
- List of mathematics awards
