Winners of 2024 Wolf Prize announced

The Wolf Prize, an international award granted in Israel, has announced its 2024 laureates from six different countries in the fields of Medicine, Mathematics, Physics, Agriculture, and Music. 

The Wolf Prize is awarded annually and "recognizes scientists and artists worldwide for their outstanding achievements in advancing science and the arts in the interest of humanity," the Wolf Foundation said. Furthermore, "over a third of the Wolf Prize laureates have subsequently received the Nobel Prize in corresponding disciplines."

Nine laureates from the United States, England, France, Switzerland, Israel, and Hungary will receive the award this year.

Prize in Medicine

The 2024 Wolf Prize in Medicine has been awarded to Professor José-Alain Sahel, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, USA, and Sorbonne Université, France. It has also been given to Professor Botond Roska, Institute of Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology Basel (IOB), Switzerland.

"Professors Botond Roska and José-Alain Sahel are awarded the Wolf Prize for collectively pioneering a novel vision restoration approach by designing and applying optogenetic technology to render surviving neurons in the eye light-sensitive, functionally replacing photoreceptors lost to damage and genetic disease," the Wolf Foundation said. 

Prize Agriculture

The 2024 Wolf Prize in architecture was awarded to  Professor Elliot M. Meyerowitz, Caltech, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute. It was also given to  Professor Joanne Chory of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and  Professor Venkatesan Sundaresan of the University of California, Davis.

The award was given "For key discoveries on plant developmental biology of relevance to crop improvements."

Prize in Mathematics

In a joint award, the 2024 Wolf Prize in Medicine was given to Professors Adi Shamir, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, and Noga Alon, Princeton University, USA, "For their pioneering contributions to mathematical cryptography, combinatorics, and the theory of computer science."

Prize in Physics 

In the category of Physics the award has been given to to Professor Martin Rees, Cambridge University, England, "for fundamental contributions to high-energy astrophysics, galaxies and structure formation, and cosmology".

Prize in Music 

Lastly, the 2024 Wolf Prize in Music has been awarded to György Kurtág, Hungary, “for his contribution to the world’s cultural heritage, which is fundamentally inspirational and human.”