2010 Dan David Prize Winners Announced: Giorgio Napolitano, President of the Republic of Italy; Amitav Ghosh, Margaret Atwood Michael Rabin, Leonard Kleinrock, Gordon Moore

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Feb 16, 2010, 09:00 ET

TEL AVIV, Israel, February 16 /PRNewswire/ -- The international Dan David Prize, which annually awards three prizes of US$1 million each for outstanding achievement, announced the names of its 2010 laureates today.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100215/377683 )

The Dan David Prize is named after international businessman and philanthropist Dan David and is headquartered at Tel Aviv University. The laureates, who donate 10% of their prize money towards 20 doctoral and postdoctoral scholarships, will be honoured at a ceremony on

May 9, 2010 at Tel Aviv University in the presence of the President of the State of Israel,

Mr. Shimon Peres.

The 2010 Dan David Prize laureates, in the Past, Present and Future Time Dimensions, are:

    Past - in the field of "March Towards Democracy"

    - Mr. Giorgio Napolitano, President of the Republic of Italy, for
      his dedication to the cause of Parliamentary democracy, thereby
      contributing to a strengthening of democratic values and institutions
      in Italy and Europe; and for his courage and intellectual integrity
      which have been crucial in healing the wounds of the Cold War in
      Europe, as well as the scars left in Italy in the wake of fascism.

    Present - in the field of "Literature - Rendition of the 20th
    Century"

    - Mr. Amitav Ghosh (India/NY, USA) for his novels which offer a panoramic
      treatment of twentieth-century history from a postcolonial perspective
      and a transnational understanding of the self seen as the intersection
      of the many identities produced by the collision of languages and
      cultures.

    - Ms. Margaret Atwood (Toronto, Canada) for being a versatile and
      prolific writer who in her novels has explored both Canadian and
      transnational issues of the twentieth-century, such as colonization,
      feminism, structures of political power and oppression, and the
      violation and exploitation of nature.

    Future -in the field of "Computers and Telecommunications"

    - Prof. Michael Rabin (Harvard University, USA/Hebrew University, Israel)
      for his major research results, which have had a significant impact on
      the shape of Computer and Communication Technology today and in the
      years to come, and in particular for his work on ways to improve
      privacy and create unbreakable ways to encrypt data, making secrecy,
      privacy and protection ever more crucial to society.

    - Prof. Leonard Kleinrock (University of California, LA, USA) for his
      seminal research contributions in communication networks, establishing
      the fundamental principles upon which many of the most important
      aspects of information communications and the Internet are based.

    - Dr. Gordon Moore, (Woodside, CA, USA) for his remarkable intuition
      leading him to proclaim "Moore's Law", which has become the guiding
      principle for the semiconductor industry to deliver ever-more-powerful
      chips while decreasing the cost of electronics, and for his co-founding
      of the outstanding microprocessor pioneer, Intel.



    Press Contact
    Israeli and Foreign Media:
    Ms. Orly Fromer
    Director of Media Relations and Spokesperson
    Tel Aviv University
    Tel: +972(0)3-6424020
    Fax: +972(0)3-6408355
    E-mail: [email protected]

    Tel: +972-3-6406614/5,
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    Email: [email protected],
    Website: http://www.dandavidprize.org

SOURCE Dan David Prize