Ettore Majorana–Erice–Science for Peace Prize

Ettore Majorana–Erice–Science for Peace Prize
Awarded forContributions to science in the service of peace
LocationErice, Rome, Vatican City
CountryItaly
Presented byWorld Federation of Scientists
RewardMonetary prize
Established1988
First award1989

The Ettore Majorana–Erice–Science for Peace Prize (Italian: Premio Ettore Majorana–Erice–Scienza per la pace) is an international award established in 1988 by the Sicilian regional government to recognise scientists, statesmen, and public figures whose work has promoted international scientific cooperation and the peaceful use of science.

History

The prize is administered by the Ettore Majorana Foundation and Centre for Scientific Culture, a scientific and educational institution based in Erice, Sicily, dedicated to the promotion of international scientific cooperation and the ethical and peaceful use of science.[1]

Recipients of the prize are selected by a vote of scientists who are signatories of the Erice Statement[a], together with other authoritative figures from the worlds of culture and scientific research.[1] In practice, the prize has often been presented by the World Federation of Scientists, an international association founded in 1973 with longstanding ties to the Ettore Majorana Foundation and Centre for Scientific Culture.[3]

The prize is intended to recognise individuals of high scientific standing whose work reflects the principles of science in the service of peace, as articulated within the Erice scientific community.[1] Contemporary Erice sources describe these shared values as the “Erice Geist” (spirit of Erice), a term used to denote a commitment to international scientific cooperation, openness, and the use of science in the service of peace.[4]

Early awards of the prize were announced and conferred at Erice in the late 1980s and early 1990s, under the auspices of the Ettore Majorana Centre and its then director Antonino Zichichi, and were reported in international scientific periodicals.[5] From the early 2000s onward, an increasing number of award ceremonies were held in Rome and the Vatican City, with several presentations hosted at the headquarters of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, reflecting a closer association with the Vatican scientific community in the prize’s later years.

Recipients

A retrospective account published by the Italian Physical Society reported that the prize recognised a broad range of eminent figures, including Nobel laureates and world leaders such as Luc Montagnier, Mikhail Gorbachev, Joseph Rotblat, Herbert A. Hauptman, David Hubel, and Robert Huber.[4] Other recipients and award years are listed in the table below.

Year Recipient(s) Location Source
1989 Linus Pauling Erice, Italy Acta Crystallographica Section A[6]
1989 Murray Gell-Mann American Academy of Achievement[7]; NobelPrize.org[8]
1989 Abdus Salam International Journal of Modern Physics A[9]
1989 Sidney D. Drell Academia Europaea[10]; Hoover Institution CV[11]
1990 Pyotr Kapitsa, Paul Dirac, Andrei Sakharov, Edward Teller, Victor F. Weisskopf Erice, Italy Europhysics News[12]
1990 Tsung-Dao Lee Colummbia University Record[13]
1991 Richard L. Garwin Erice, Italy Columbia University Record[13]
1992 Jerome Karle Erice, Italy Library of Congress[14]
1992 Henri Rieben Erice, Italy Fondation Jean Monnet pour l’Europe[15]
1992 Chien-Shiung Wu Erice, Italy Columbia University Record[13]; HellenicaWorld[16]
1994 Jean-Marie Lehn Pontifical Academy of Sciences[17]
1994 Henry W. Kendall MIT News[18]
2003/4 Robert Clark Rome, Italy CERN Courier[19]
2003/4 Maurice Cosandey Rome, Italy CERN Courier[19]
2003/4 K. Alex Müller Rome, Italy CERN Courier[19]
2004 Pope John Paul II Vatican City Vatican.va[3]
2005 Richard Wilson Erice, Italy Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs[20]
2007 Helmut Kohl Strasbourg, France European Parliament Multimedia Centre[21]
2008 Paul Ching Wu Chu and Maw-Kuen Wu Vatican City Academia Sinica Newsletter[22]; Academia Sinica[23]
2008 Jan Szyszko Vatican City Wiadomości WP[24]
2009 Gerard 't Hooft Vatican City Gerard 't Hooft CV[25]; Erice Prize certificate[26]
2009 Samuel Ting Vatican City Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer honours page[27]; Zenit[28]
2009 Werner Arber Vatican City Zenit[28]; Annual Report 2011[29]
2011 Yuan Tseh Lee Vatican City Taiwan Today[30]

Notes

  1. ^ The Erice Statement is sometimes referred to as the Erice Manifesto. An addendum drafted in 2023 uses both designations when referring to the original 1982 declaration.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Legge regionale 8 novembre 1988, n. 31". Edizioni Europee (in Italian). Retrieved 17 February 2026.
  2. ^ "Erice Manifesto". Erice Manifesto. Ettore Majorana Foundation and Centre for Scientific Culture. Retrieved 3 February 2026.
  3. ^ a b "Address of John Paul II to the World Federation of Scientists". Vatican.va. Holy See. 7 December 2004. Retrieved 17 February 2026.
  4. ^ a b Cifarelli, Luisa (2022). "The Erice Subnuclear Physics School reopens its doors". Il Nuovo Saggiatore della Società Italiana di Fisica.
  5. ^ "Science for Peace Prize" (PDF). EurophysicsNews. 21 (11): 219. 1990. Retrieved 17 February 2026.
  6. ^ Mealli, Carlo (2024). "What I gained from Erice" (PDF). Acta Crystallographica Section A. A80: e677. Retrieved 17 February 2026.
  7. ^ "Murray Gell-Mann, Ph.D." American Academy of Achievement. Retrieved 17 February 2026.
  8. ^ "Murray Gell-Mann – Biographical". NobelPrize.org. Retrieved 17 February 2026.
  9. ^ Pati, Jogesh C. (1999). "With Neutrino Masses Revealed, Proton Decay Is the Missing Link". International Journal of Modern Physics A. 14: 2949–2976. arXiv:hep-ph/9811442. doi:10.1142/S0217751X99001433.
  10. ^ "Sidney D. Drell — biography and honours". Academia Europaea. Retrieved 17 February 2026.
  11. ^ "Sidney D. Drell — professional biography" (PDF). Hoover Institution. Retrieved 17 February 2026.
  12. ^ "Science for Peace Prize" (PDF). Europhysics News. 21 (11): 219. 1990. Retrieved 17 February 2026.
  13. ^ a b c "Three Columbia Physicists Awarded Italy's Science for Peace Prize". Columbia University Record. 2 December 1994. Archived from the original on 10 August 2022. Retrieved 17 February 2026.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  14. ^ "Jerome and Isabella Karle Papers: A Finding Aid". Library of Congress. Retrieved 17 February 2026.
  15. ^ Rieben, Henri (1995). Reconcilier et unir les Européens. Lausanne: Fondation Jean Monnet pour l’Europe. p. 105.
  16. ^ "Chien-Shiung Wu". HellenicaWorld. Retrieved 17 February 2026.
  17. ^ Pontifical Academy of Sciences: Extra Series (PDF). Pontifical Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 17 February 2026.
  18. ^ "Henry Kendall, Nobel-winning physicist, dies at age 72". MIT News. 24 February 1999. Retrieved 17 February 2026.
  19. ^ a b c "World Federation of Scientists: Meeting report". CERN Courier. 45 (1): 46. 2005.
  20. ^ "Richard Wilson: awarded the 2005 "Erice" Prize for Science and Peace". The Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. Retrieved 17 February 2026.
  21. ^ "Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl receives the 'Ettore Majorana Prize – Erice – Science for Peace'". European Parliament Multimedia Centre. 23 October 2007. Retrieved 17 February 2026.
  22. ^ "Academicians Awarded Italian Science for Peace Prize". Academia Sinica Newsletter. Retrieved 17 February 2026.
  23. ^ "院士簡歷: 吳茂昆 Maw-Kuen Wu" [Academician Profile: Wu, Maw-Kuen]. Academia Sinica. Retrieved 17 February 2026.
  24. ^ "Były polski minister środowiska uhonorowany w Watykanie" [Former Polish environment minister honoured at the Vatican]. Wirtualna Polska. 17 December 2008. Retrieved 17 February 2026.
  25. ^ "Curriculum Vitae of Prof. Gerardus 't Hooft". Retrieved 17 February 2026.
  26. ^ "Ettore Majorana Prize – Erice – Science for Peace certificate (Gerard 't Hooft)". Retrieved 17 February 2026.
  27. ^ "Samuel C. C. Ting — honours". Retrieved 17 February 2026.
  28. ^ a b "4 Nobel Prize Winners Given Peace Award in Vatican". Zenit. 31 January 2011. Retrieved 17 February 2026.
  29. ^ "Annual Report 2011" (PDF). Stichting Dr. H.P. Heineken Prize for Science. Retrieved 17 February 2026.
  30. ^ "Taiwanese Nobel laureate Lee Yuan-tseh presented with Ettore Majorana Erice-Science for Peace Prize". Taiwan Today. 31 January 2011. Retrieved 17 February 2026.
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