Marcel Benoist Prize

The Marcel Benoist Prize, offered by the Marcel Benoist Foundation, is a monetary prize that has been offered annually since 1920 to a scientist of Swiss nationality or residency who has made the most useful scientific discovery. Emphasis is placed on those discoveries affecting human life. Since 1997, candidates in the humanities have also been eligible for the prize.

The Marcel Benoist Foundation was established by the will of the French lawyer Marcel Benoist, a wartime resident of Lausanne, who died in 1918. It is managed by a group of trustees comprising the Swiss interior minister and heads of the main Swiss universities. It has been dubbed the "Swiss Nobel Prize."

History

The first award was given to immunologist Maurice Arthus (1862–1945) at the University of Lausanne. Other winners have included computer scientist Niklaus Wirth, astronomer Michel Mayor, and cardiologist Max Holzmann. , eleven Marcel Benoist winners have later also won the Nobel Prize: Paul Karrer, Leopold Ruzicka, Walter R. Hess, Tadeus Reichstein, Vladimir Prelog, Niels Kaj Jerne, Johannes G. Bednorz, Karl. Alexander Müller, Richard R. Ernst, Kurz Wüthrich, and Michel Mayor.

In 2009, Françoise Gisou van der Goot (École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne) was the first woman to win the Marcel Benoist Prize.

Laureates

1920: Maurice Arthus 1921: Conrad Brunner 1922: Paul Karrer 1923: Albert Heim 1924: Heinrich Zangger 1925: Alfred Gysi 1926: Emile Argand 1927: Hermann Sahli 1928: Jules Gonin 1929: Paul Niggli 1930: Aloys Müller 1931: Walter R. Hess 1932: Maurice Lugeon 1933: Robert Doerr 1934: Max Askanazy 1935: Jakob Eugster 1936: Alfredo Vannotti 1937: Charles Dhéré 1938: Leopold Ruzicka 1939: Fritz Baltzer 1940: Friedrich T. Wahlen 1941: Hermann Mooser 1942: Arthur Stoll 1943: Paul Scherrer 1944: 1945: Ernst Albert Gäumann 1946: Alexander von Muralt 1947: Tadeus Reichstein 1948: Hans E. Walther 1949: Albert Frey-Wyssling 1950: Emile Guyénot 1951: Anton Fonio 1952: Otto Gsell 1953: Alfred Fleisch 1954: Ernst Hadorn 1955: Max Holzmann 1956: Siegfried Rosin 1957: Jakob Seiler 1958: Klaus Clusius 1959: Albert Wettstein 1960: Pierre Duchosal 1961: Werner Kuhn 1962: Alfred Hässig 1963: Gerold Schwarzenbach 1964: Vladimir Prelog 1965: Georges de Rham 1966: Edouard Kellenberger and Alfred Tissières 1967: Kurt Mühlethaler and Hans J. Moor 1968: Michel Dolivo 1969: Walter Heitler 1970: Charles Weissmann 1971: Manfred Bleuler 1972: Albert Eschenmoser 1973: Lucien Girardier, Eric Jéquier and Georges Spinnler 1974: Ewald Weibel 1975: M. Gazi Yasargil 1976: Theodor K. Brunner, Jean Charles Cerottini and Jean Lindenmann 1977: Hans Günthard and Edgar Heilbronner 1978: Niels Kaj Jerne 1979: Michel Cuénod 1980: Hans Kummer 1981: Karl Illmensee 1982: Franz Fankhauser 1983: Hans R. Brunner 1984: Harald Reuter 1985: Richard R. Ernst 1986: Johannes G. Bednorz and Karl Alexander Müller 1987: Maurice E. Müller, Martin Allgöwer and Hans R. Willenegger 1988: Ulrich Laemmli 1989: Niklaus Wirth 1990: Bruno Messerli, Hans Oeschger and Werner Stumm 1991: Duilio Arigoni and Kurt Wüthrich 1992: Gottfried Schatz 1993: no prize 1994: Martin Schwab 1995: Henri Isliker and Alfred Pletscher 1996: Bernard Rossier 1997: Jürg M. Fröhlich 1998: Michel Mayor 1999: Jörg Paul Müller and Luzius Wildhaber 2000: Dieter Seebach 2001: 2002: Rüdiger Wehner 2003: Denis Duboule 2004: Adriano Aguzzi 2005: Othmar Keel 2006: Timothy J. Richmond 2007: Ari Helenius 2008: Ernst Fehr 2009: Françoise Gisou van der Goot (first time that the prize is awarded to a woman) 2010: Daniel Loss 2011: Michele Parrinello 2012: Michael N. Hall 2013: Michael Grätzel 2014: Nicolas Gisin 2015: Laurent Keller 2016: Johan Auwerx 2017: Thomas Stocker 2018: Lars-Erik Cederman 2019: Nicola Spaldin 2020: Rudolf Aebersold 2021: Thomas Berger 2022: Ursula Keller 2023: Ted Turlings 2024: Pascal Gygax 2025: Tobias J. Kippenberg 2026:

Marcel Benoist Prize

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