Hungarian mathematician László Lovász receives the Barcelona Hypatia European Science Prize#
Barcelona - 5th February: AE member and current President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences Prof. Dr. László Lovász received the Barcelona Hypatia European Science Prize, in the category of Science and Technology, from the hands of the Mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau.#
The prize recognised his personal contributions to Mathematics, and also his strong promotion of the values of academic freedom to pursue basic sciences and research and teaching in all areas of the Humanities and Social Sciences in Hungary. The laudations pointed to the actions of the ‘Orban government’, where this freedom and the independence of action (within the Academy and some other institutions) is currently under threat from the Orban administration which is seeking to restrict the Hungarian Academy and has vetoed a number of University courses in Hungarian Universities that are “not economically” valued (by the current administration). The Academia Europaea expresses its full support to Professor Lovasz and to all of all our Hungarian members, in their desire to maintain their right to undertake academic research without external interference for political purposes.
Dr. László Lovászwith the Barcelona Hypatia European Science Prize, in the category of Science and Technology
Dr. László Lovász received the Barcelona Hypatia European Science Prize, in the category of Science and Technology, from the handsof the Mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau. The Selection Jury chose to award the prize to Dr. Lovász in recognition of his outstanding career and research conducted at the highest international level, which has generated social impact in Hungary and abroad, putting mathematics as a scientific discipline to the service of society. Dr. Lovász is a renowned mathematician and President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and his career especially stands out in the fields of combinatorial optimisation, algorithms, complexity, graph theory and random walk (RW).
During the ceremony, Dr. Lovász delivered his distinguished lecture entitled,“Graph Theory – from puzzles to a new paradigm”, and speeches were given by: Gerardo Pisarello, First Deputy Mayor of Barcelona for Economy and Labour, Digital Technologies and International Relations; Dr. Sierd Cloetingh, President of Academia Europaea; and Dr. Eva Kondorosi, of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, who presentedthe laudatiofor the winner of the prize.
The Mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, reminded all in attendance that Barcelona is a city that “loves and science and wants to position itself in the world as a city of reference for science, technology and innovation.” Ms. Colau referred to recent initiatives implemented bythe Barcelona City Council, such as the City and Science Biennialor the Hypatia Prize, part of the Barcelona Science Plan, a “strategic project”. She also highlighted how science can be a “tool for reaffirming the values of democracy and improving people’s lives, as science is our instrument for overcoming the global challenges we face. Investing in science is not just investing in a better future; it’s investing so that there is a future”.
Ms. Ada Colau, Mayor of Barcelona during the award ceremony.
Considered one of the best mathematicians alive, Dr. Lovász has made innovative discoveries in mathematics. His main contributions include the weak perfect graph conjecture, the Lovász local lemma, and the Lenstra–Lenstra–Lovász (LLL) lattice basis reduction algorithm.
Dr. Lovász has received numerous awards and prizes, such as the Fulkerson, Grünwald, Pólya, Kyoto, John von Neumann, Gödel, Széchenyi, Knuth and Wolf prizes, and he has been appointed to more than a dozen academic and scientific societies, in the United States, Europe (Academia Europaea), Germany (Leopoldina), Holland and Sweden.
As former President of the International Mathematical Union, he promoted collaborations with mathematicians and the public acceptance of mathematics as a scientific discipline to the service of society. As President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences since 2014 and current President of the World Science Forum (WSF), Dr. Lovász has been a champion of scientific freedom, having made significant, lasting contributions toward dialogue between science and society throughout the world.
First edition of the Barcelona Hypatia European Science Prize#
The Barcelona City Council, in collaboration with the Academia Europaea-Barcelona Knowledge Hub, launched this first edition of the Barcelona Hypatia European Science Prize within the framework of the “Barcelona City of Science” programme, which seeks to project the city as a European capital of research and innovation. The main goal of the Prize is to spotlight science, as well as to promote, support and enhance the value of excellent research conducted in Europe and of its impact on society.
The Hypatia Prize features a monetary award of 30,000 euros and will be awarded annually, rotating each year among three major areas of knowledge: Science and Technology (category of this first edition); Life and Health Sciences (2019); and Humanities and Social Sciences (2020).
For this first edition, the five members comprising the Selection Jury were: Dr. Sierd Cloetingh, Jury President and also President of Academia Europaea; Dr. Ricard Guerrero, Jury Secretary; and Dr. Anna Omedes, Dr. María Josefa Yzuel, and Dr. IgnasiCasanova, Jury Members. Also in attendance, having a voice but not a vote, was Ms. Kimberly Katte, Manager of the Barcelona Knowledge Hub of the Academia Europaea.
Dr. László Lovászwith some members of the jury during the award ceremony held at the Saló de Cent of the Barcelona city h
The Hypatia Prize constitutes one of the mainprogrammes of the Barcelona Science Plan, a strategic initiative of Barcelona City Council to promote the research and innovation infrastructures of the city. Its main objective is to consolidate Barcelona as a European capital of research and innovation.
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