The Dan David Prize, founded in 2000 by Dan David, is an international group of awards that recognize and support outstanding contributions to the study of history and other disciplines that shed light on the human past. Nine prizes of $300,000 are awarded each year to outstanding early- and mid-career scholars and practitioners in the historical disciplines. The Prize has an annual purse of $3 million, making it the largest history award in the world, including $300,000 funding an international postdoctoral fellowship program at Tel Aviv University, where the Prize is headquartered. The Prize is endowed by the Dan David Foundation.

Until 2021 the prize consisted of three annual prizes of $1 million for innovative and interdisciplinary research in three time dimensions: Past, Present and Future. Prize laureates donated 10 percent of their prize money to doctoral scholarships for outstanding Ph.D. students and postdoctoral scholarships in their own field from around the world.

In September 2021, the Dan David Prize announced that it would shift its focus to support the work of "historians, art historians, archaeologists, digital humanists, curators, documentary filmmakers and all those who deepen our knowledge and understanding of the past".

History

The Dan David Foundation was founded in 2000 with a $100 million endowment by Romanian-born Israeli businessman and philanthropist Dan David. The Dan David Prize was founded with the goal of rewarding and encouraging innovative and interdisciplinary research that cuts across traditional boundaries and paradigms. Each year, three prizes of $1 million were awarded in rotating fields to those who made outstanding contributions to humanity. Its founding director from 1999 until 2002 was Gad Barzilai."In Memoriam: Gad Barzilai (1958–2023)", 30 April 2023, Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington Its chairman since 2007 is Itamar Rabinovich."The Middle East: World Crisis?", conference co-organized by the DGAP and The New York Review of Books Foundation, 4–5 June 2016, Berlin

In anticipation of the prize's 20th anniversary in 2021, the Dan David Prize refocused in a new direction, citing the decline of global investment in the humanities and the relative scarcity of major prizes in the humanities. The redesigned prize focuses on supporting outstanding research in the historical disciplines and celebrating scholars and practitioners whose work illuminates the human past and enriches public debate with a deeper understanding of history.

The Prize announced that starting in 2022 it would award up to nine prizes of $300,000 each year to early- and mid-career scholars and practitioners around the world to recognize significant achievements in the study of the past and support the winners' future endeavours. From 2022, there will no longer be a distinction between three prize categories.

Laureates include cellist Yo-Yo Ma (2006), Israeli author Amos Oz (2008), U.S. Vice President Al Gore (2008), Canadian author Margaret Atwood (2010), French economist Esther Duflo, and immunologist Dr. Anthony Fauci (2021).

The prize has occasionally faced political controversy. In 2016, Catherine Hall of University College London rejected the Dan David Prize based on considerations related to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Her prize money was donated to fund scholarships at Tel Aviv University. In 2026, an open letter signed by more than 100 academics urged Australian historian Matthew Champion of Melbourne University to reject the award over the war in Gaza and Israel's regional policies. The intervention drew pushback from university leadership and other scholars who criticized attempts to politicize international academic recognition.

From 2022 recipients of the prize were called winners rather than laureates. The first cohort of prize winners was announced on March 1, 2022.

Laureates (2002–2021) YearThemeLaureate 2002 Past – HistoryWarburg LibraryPresent – Technology, Information and SocietyDaniel HillisFuture – Life sciencesSydney Brenner, John Sulston, Robert Waterston2003 Past – PaleoanthropologyMichel BrunetPresent – Print and electronic mediaJames Nachtwey, Frederick WisemanFuture – cosmology and astronomy John N. Bahcall 2004 Past – Cities: Historical legacy Rome, Istanbul, Jerusalem Present – Leadership: Changing our World Klaus Schwab Future – Brain sciences Robert Wurtz, Amiram Grinvald, William Newsome2005Past- ArchaeologyGraeme Barker, Israel FinkelsteinPresent – The performing arts: film, theater, dance, musicPeter BrookFuture – Materials science Robert S. Langer, George M. Whitesides, C. N. R. Rao2006Past – MusicYo-Yo MaPresent – JournalismMagdi Allam, Monica Gonzalez, Adam Michnik, Goenawan MohamadFuture – Treatment of cancerJohn Mendelsohn, Joseph Schlessinger2007Past – HistoriansJacques Le GoffPresent – Contemporary musicPascal Dusapin, Zubin MehtaFuture – Quest for energyJames E. Hansen, Jerry Olson, Sarah Kurtz2008Past – Creative Rendering of the PastAmos Oz, Tom Stoppard, Atom EgoyanPresent – Social responsibilityAl GoreAl Gore – Present 2008 Laureate – Dan David Prize, TAU Future – GeosciencesEllen Mosley-Thompson & Lonnie Thompson, Geoffrey Eglinton2009Past – Astrophysics – History of the UniversePaolo de Bernardis, Andrew E. Lange, Present – LeadershipTony BlairFuture – Global Public healthRobert Gallo2010Past – March Towards DemocracyGiorgio NapolitanoPresent – Literature: Rendition of the 20th CenturyMargaret Atwood, Amitav GhoshFuture – Computers and TelecommunicationsLeonard Kleinrock, Gordon E. Moore, Michael O. Rabin2011Past – EvolutionMarcus FeldmanPresent – Cinema and SocietyCoen BrothersFuture – Ageing: Facing the ChallengeCynthia Kenyon, Gary Ruvkun2012Past – History/BiographyRobert Conquest, Martin GilbertPresent – Plastic artsWilliam KentridgeFuture – Genome ResearchDavid Botstein, Eric Lander, J. Craig Venter2013Past – Classics, the Modern Legacy of the Ancient WorldGeoffrey LloydPresent – Ideas, Public Intellectuals and Contemporary PhilosophersMichel Serres, Leon WieseltierFuture – Preventive MedicineEsther Duflo, Alfred Sommer2014Past – History and MemoryKrzysztof Czyzewski, Pierre Nora, Saul FriedländerPresent – Combating Memory LossJohn A. Hardy, Peter St George-Hyslop, Brenda MilnerFuture – Artificial Intelligence, The Digital MindMarvin Minsky2015Past – Retrieving the Past: Historians and their SourcesPeter Brown, Alessandro PortelliPresent – The Information RevolutionJimmy WalesFuture – BioinformaticsCyrus Chothia, David Haussler, Michael Waterman2016Past – Social History – New DirectionsInga Clendinnen, Arlette FargePresent – Combatting PovertyAnthony B. Atkinson, François Bourguignon, James J. HeckmanFuture – NanosciencePaul Alivisatos, Chad Mirkin, John Pendry2017Past – Archeology and Natural SciencesSvante Pääbo, David ReichPresent – LiteratureJamaica Kincaid, A. B. YehoshuaFuture – AstronomyNeil Gehrels, Shrinivas Kulkarni, Andrzej Udalski2018Past – History of ScienceLorraine Daston, Evelyn Fox Keller, Simon SchafferPresent – BioethicsEzekiel Emanuel, Jonathan Glover, Mary WarnockFuture – Personalized MedicineCarlo M. Croce, Mary-Claire King, Bert Vogelstein2019Past – Macro HistoryKenneth Pomeranz, Sanjay SubrahmanyamPresent – Defending DemocracyMichael Ignatieff, Reporters Without BordersFuture – Combatting Climate ChangeChristiana Figueres2020Past – Cultural Preservation and RevivalLonnie G. Bunch III, Barbara Kirshenblatt-GimblettPresent – Gender EqualityGita Sen, Debora DinizFuture – Artificial IntelligenceDemis Hassabis, Amnon Shashua2021Past – History of Health and Medicine Alison Bashford, Katharine Park, Keith WailooPresent – Public Health Anthony FauciFuture – Molecular Medicine Zelig Eshhar, Carl H. June, Steven Rosenberg

Winners (2022–present)