Inamori Foundation Presents 25th Annual Kyoto Prizes for Lifetime Achievement to Blue LED Pioneer, Evolutionary Biologists and Composer

Dr. Isamu Akasaki, Drs. Peter and Rosemary Grant, and Maestro Pierre Boulez to participate in San Diego's Kyoto Prize Symposium in April 2010

KYOTO, JAPAN —November 10, 2009 –KYOTO, JAPAN – Nov. 10, 2009 – The Inamori Foundation (President: Dr. Kazuo Inamori) today presented its 25th Annual Kyoto Prizes, Japan’s highest private awards for global achievement.

Each Kyoto Prize laureate received a diploma, a 20-karat gold medal, and a cash gift of 50 million yen (approximately US$550,000) per prize category in recognition of lifelong contributions to society. The laureates will reconvene in San Diego, Calif. April 20-22, 2010, to participate in North America’s ninth annual Kyoto Prize Symposium at San Diego State University; University of California, San Diego; and the University of San Diego.

The 2009 Kyoto Prize laureate in “Advanced Technology” is Dr. Isamu Akasaki, (citizenship: Japan, b. 1929), a semiconductor scientist, a university professor at Nagoya University and professor at Meijo University. Dr. Akasaki conducted decades-long research on gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductors in his effort to make possible blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs).  He persisted after other researchers had given up, and eventually created GaN-based positive-negative (P-N) junctions, making the blue LED a practical possibility for the first time in history.  This achievement stimulated research on blue LEDs worldwide, and served as the first step toward their eventual commercialization in the 1990s. Dr. Akasaki’s pioneering research has not only led to numerous and diverse new applications in electronic equipment, including Blu-ray technology, but also offers great promise for protecting the global environment as blue LEDs are adopted for general-purpose lighting with superior energy-conserving qualities.

The 2009 Kyoto Prize laureates in “Basic Sciences” are Dr. Peter Grant (citizenship: Canada and UK; permanent U.S. resident; b. 1936) and Dr. Rosemary Grant (citizenship: UK; permanent U.S. resident; b. 1936). The Grants are evolutionary biologists, professors emeriti at Princeton University, and the first husband-and-wife team to receive the award. Over more than 35 years of field study on the Galápagos Islands, the Grants have demonstrated that natural selection allows the morphology and behavior of Darwin’s finches to change rapidly in response to environmental fluctuations. They have revealed how beak size and shape evolve through natural selection within a dramatically changing environment, according to certain mechanisms and conditions. The Grants were the first to closely trace evolution as it actually occurs in the field, and first to study, in detail, all aspects relating to the observed evolutionary changes — such as the ecological factors responsible for natural selection; evolutionary responses; the directions in which many traits evolve; and the mechanisms that maintain the genetic variation necessary for evolutionary change. The Grants’ empirical research has made the most important contribution since Darwin toward making evolutionary biology a science in which proof is possible.

The 2009 Kyoto Prize laureate in “Arts and Philosophy” is Maestro Pierre Boulez (France, b. 1925), an internationally acclaimed composer, conductor, author, and honorary director of the Paris-based Institute for Research and Coordination Acoustic/Music (IRCAM). Always seeking to advance the genre of classical music, he has consistently set new trends in music composition, conducting, writing, and organizational operation.  Maestro Boulez has been described as the “greatest composer of serial music” and has adopted the concept of “aleatory” in many of his works.  As a conductor, his repertoire has included classical, romantic, modern and contemporary genres. Maestro Boulez also devoted himself to the development of software and hardware for computer-based real-time audio processing at IRCAM at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, becoming a pioneer in the advancement of computer music.  Maestro Boulez remains active in music today, recording and conducting leading orchestras around the world.

About the Inamori Foundation
The non-profit Inamori Foundation was established in 1984 by Dr. Kazuo Inamori, founder and chairman emeritus of Kyocera and KDDI Corporation. The Kyoto Prize, founded in 1985, reflects Dr. Inamori’s belief that human beings have no higher calling than to strive for the greater good of society ― and that mankind’s future can be assured only through the balanced development of scientific progress and spiritual maturity. Kyoto Prize laureates are selected through a strict and impartial process that considers candidates from around the world. As of November 10, 2009, the Kyoto Prize has been awarded to 81 individuals and one group. The laureates represent 13 nationalities, and include scientists, engineers, researchers, philosophers, painters, architects, sculptors, musicians and film directors. The U.S. has produced the most recipients (33), followed by Japan (13), the UK (12), and France (eight).

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