January 2005 Archives

Nine countries, namely France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding in which they have agreed to jointly prepare the foundation of the European X-ray free electron laser (XFEL) facility. XFEL opens up new possibilities in the vast field of structural research, by generating extremely brilliant, ultra-short X-ray pulses with laser-like properties. More information on this European project is available at http://xfel.desy.de/content/e169/index_eng.html

The Science and Technology Foundation of Japan announced the names of the three laureates for the 2005 (21^st) Japan Prize. They are Dr. Makoto Nagao (President, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology) for his "Pioneering Contributions to Natural Language Processing and Intelligent Image Processing" in the prize category of "Information and Media Technology" and Dr. Masatoshi Takeichi (Director, RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology) and Dr. Erkki Ruoslahti (Distinguished Professor of The Burnham Institute, also Scientific Advisory Board Chairman of The Nanotech Company, LLC) for their "Fundamental Contribution in Elucidating the Molecular Mechanisms of Cell Adhesion" in the prize category of "Cell Biology". The three scientists will receive certificates of merit, and commemorative medals. There is also a cash award of 50 million yen for each prize category. The presentation ceremony is scheduled to be held in Tokyo at the National Theatre on Wednesday 20, April 2005, in the presence of the emperor and empress. The prize categories for 2006 (22^nd) Japan Prize will be "Global Change" and "The Development of Novel Therapeutic Concepts and Technologies". For further details of the Japan Prize, contact M. Ueda, The Science and Technology Foundation of Japan, Phone: +81-3-3432-5951, Fax: +81-3-3432-5954, info@japanprize.jp, http://www.japanprize.jp/English.htm