Blaise Pascal Medal in Computer Science
|
Boris
Verkhovsky, USA |
|
Professor Verkhovsky is a
Professor of Computer Science at
the New Jersey Institute of
Technology. From his prior
affiliations at the Academy of
Sciences of the USSR, Princeton
University, IBM TJW Research
Center, Bell Laboratories and
now at the NJIT, he acquired
vast research experience. Among
his discoveries are algorithms
for multi-index problems of
linear programming, optimal
search algorithms for extrema of
multi-modal functions,
constrained shortest-path
algorithm, optimal control of
large-scale systems under
uncertainty, delinearization
algorithms for various numerical
problems, average complexity of
divide-and-conquer algorithms
etc. He is a recipient of
numerous awards including the
USSR Ministry of
Radio-Electronics Award; the
Academy of Sciences of the USSR
Award; Alvin Johnson Award;
Millennium Award and Medal of
Excellence. Verkhovsky was
Wallace Eckert Scientist at the
IBM Research, Associate
Professor at Princeton, Member
of Technical Staff at Bell Labs
and held Charles Dana Endowed
Chair Professorship. |
Blaise Pascal Medal in Earth Sciences
|
Enders Robinson, USA |
Professor Robinson is known as “father of digital geophysics.” He is
Professor Emeritus of the Columbia University, USA. In 1969, Dr.
Robinson received the Medal Award of the Society of Exploration
Geophysicists in recognition of outstanding contributions to the digital
processing of seismic data and the Conrad Schlumberger Award of the
European Association of Exploration Geophysicists for a rationalization
and formalization of the geophysicist's approach to data enhancement. In
1983, he was made an honorary member of the Society of Exploration
Geophysicists, and in 1984 he received the Donald G. Fink Prize Award of
the IEEE. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the
EAS. |
Blaise Pascal Medal in Physics and
Chemistry
|
Enzo Tiezzi, Italy |
|
Born in Siena in 1938, he teaches Physics Chemistry in Siena University.
The author of seminal publications in the fields of magnetic resonance
and physics chemistry. Professor Tiezzi is a recipient of numerous
national and international awards. Prof. Tiezzi belongs to a group of
scientists who, led by his mentor and Nobel Prize winner, Prof.
Prigogine, who are trying to bring about a new balance in our
civilisation. The underlying essential message is that we cannot
continue with the cultural dichotomy that started with Galileo's work
and we need to bring together the interests of man and nature. The aim
of modern science should be to live in harmony and to stop using and
developing technologies which run contrary to nature. Dr. Tiezzi is a
member of the EAS. |
Blaise Pascal Medal in
Biomedical Sciences
|
Jan Balzarini, Belgium -
Eric De
Clercq, Belgium |
Prof. De Clercq is awarded the medal and the certificate
Prof. J. Balzarini |
Prof. Balzarini and Prof. De
Clercq from Leuven University, Belgium made important contributions in
biomedical sciences.
Their current work on novel Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) inhibitors
is considered one of the most important contributions in antiviral
research.
Prof. Balzarini and Prof. de Clercq’s work also includes studies of the
RNA genome of the lentivirus human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)
that is significantly richer in adenine nucleotides than the
statistically equal distribution of the four different nucleotides that
is expected. This compositional bias may be due to the
guanine-to-adenine (G A) nucleotide hypermutation of the HIV genome,
which has been explained by dCTP pool imbalances during reverse
transcription. The adenine nucleotide bias together with the poor
fidelity of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase markedly enhances the genetic
variation of HIV and may be responsible for the rapid emergence of
drug-resistant HIV-1 strains. The researchers have attempted to
counteract the normal mutational pattern of HIV-1 in response to
anti-HIV-1 drugs by altering the endogenous deoxynucleoside triphosphate
pool ratios with antimetabolites in virus-infected cell cultures. They
showed that administration of these antimetabolic compounds resulted in
an altered drug resistance pattern due to the reversal of the
predominant mutational flow of HIV (G A) to an adenine-to-guanine (A G)
nucleotide pattern in the intact HIV-1-infected lymphocyte cultures.
Forcing the virus to change its inherent nucleotide bias may lead to
better control of viral drug resistance development. Both Dr. Balzarini
and Dr. De Clercq have numerous awards and citations. They are members
of the EAS. |
