Proposed by an international community of more than 2,000 leading scientists, the five laureates were selected by an independent international jury of 12 renowned scientists presided this year by Professor Christian Amatore, of the French Académie des sciences.

Each laureate will receive a prize of €100,000 to reward for their contribution to science:

Africa & Arab States  Professor Niveen KHASHAB (Saudi Arabia), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)

Asia Pacific                Professor Michelle SIMMONS (Australia), Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology—University of New South Wales

Europe                        Professor Nicola SPALDIN (Switzerland), Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich)

Latin America             Professor Maria Teresa RUIZ (Chile), Astronomy Department, Universidad de Chile

North America            Professor Zhenan BAO (United States of America), Department of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University

AFRICA AND THE ARAB STATES
Professor Niveen KHASHAB
Lebanese
Associate Professor of Chemical Sciences and Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), SAUDI ARABIA

Analytical chemistry
“For her contributions to innovative smart hybrid materials aimed at drug delivery and for developing new techniques to monitor intracellular antioxidant activity.”

ASIA PACIFIC
Professor Michelle SIMMONS
Australian
Professor, Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology - University of New South Wales, AUSTRALIA

Quantum physics
“For her pioneering contributions to quantum and atomic electronics, constructing atomic transistors en route to quantum computers.”

EUROPE
Professor Nicola SPALDIN
British
Professor and Chair of Materials Theory, ETH Zürich, SWITZERLAND

Solid state physics
“For her groundbreaking multidisciplinary work predicting, describing and creating new materials that have switchable magnetic and ferroelectric properties.”

NORTH AMERICA
Professor Zhenan BAO
USA
Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, USA

Material Chemistry
“For her outstanding contribution to and mastery of the development of novel functional polymers for consumer electronics, energy storage and biomedical applications.”

LATIN AMERICA
Professor Maria Teresa RUIZ
Chilean
Professor, Department of Astronomy, Dept. / Universidad de Chile, CHILE

Astrophysics
“For her discovery of the first brown dwarf and her seminal work on understanding the faintest stars, including stars at the final stages of their evolution (white dwarfs).” 

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  Ludivine DESMONTS-MORNET
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• UNESCO
  George Papagiannis
  +33 (0)45 68 17 06
• Agence MATRIOCHKA for the L’Oréal Foundation
  Delphine HILAIRE
  delphine.hilaire@mtrchk.com
  +33 (0)6 22 68 29 64

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About UNESCO

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