On October 21, 2025, the prestigious Shaw Prize was awarded to four eminent scientists at a grand ceremony held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. The laureates, recognized for their groundbreaking contributions across three categories, each received a cash award of $1.2 million. The event highlighted the global significance of their work and underscored Hong Kong’s commitment to fostering scientific innovation.
In the field of Astronomy, the prize was jointly awarded to John Richard Bond, a professor at the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, and George Efstathiou, an astrophysics professor at the University of Cambridge. Their pioneering research in cosmology has led to precise determinations of the universe’s age, geometry, and mass-energy content.
Wolfgang Baumeister, director emeritus and scientific member of the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, was honored in the Life Science and Medicine category. His development and application of cryogenic-electron tomography have revolutionized the three-dimensional visualization of biological samples in their natural cellular environments.
Kenji Fukaya, a professor at the Beijing Institute of Mathematical Sciences and Applications and the Yau Mathematical Sciences Center of Tsinghua University, received the Mathematical Sciences prize. His innovative work on symplectic geometry, particularly the conceptualization of the Fukaya category, has had a profound impact on the field.
Hong Kong’s Chief Executive, John Lee, lauded the laureates for their exceptional contributions to science and civilization. He emphasized the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s dedication to advancing innovation and technology through substantial investments in research and development. Lee also paid homage to the late physicist Chen Ning Yang, a Nobel laureate and founding member of the Shaw Prize, for his transformative influence on modern physics and his commitment to China’s scientific and educational progress.
Established in 2002 and managed by the Shaw Prize Foundation, the Shaw Prize has been awarded annually since 2004, celebrating remarkable scientific achievements on an international scale.