Monday 14 October 2019

Prigogine Award 2019 Ceremony

The Prigogine Medal 2019 Award Ceremony took place at the Polytechnic University of Valencia on Wednesday 2nd October, during the second day of the 13th International Conference on Urban Regeneration and Sustainability (Sustainable City 2019).

The Prigogine Medal was established by the University of Siena and the Wessex Institute of Technology in 2004 to honour the memory of Professor Ilya Prigogine, Nobel Prize Winner for Chemistry

ILYA PRIGOGINE
Ilya Prigogine was born in Moscow in 1917, and obtained his undergraduate and graduate education in chemistry at the Free University in Brussels. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for his contribution to non-equilibrium thermodynamics, particularly the theory of dissipative structures. The main theme of his scientific work was the role of time in the physical sciences and biology. He contributed significantly to the understanding of irreversible processes, particularly in systems far from equilibrium. The results of his work have had profound consequences for understanding biological and ecological systems.

Prigogine’s ideas established the basis for ecological systems research. The Prigogine Medal to honour his memory is awarded annually to a leading scientist in the field of ecological systems. All recipients have been deeply influenced by the work of Prigogine.

Previous Prigogine Laureates:
2004 Sven Jorgensen, Denmark
2005 Enzo Tiezzi, Italy
2006 Bernard Patten, USA
2007 Robert Ulanowicz, USA
2008 Ioannis Antoniou, Greece
2009 Emilio del Giudice, Italy
2010 Felix Müller, Germany
2011 Larissa Brizhik, Ukraine
2012 Gerald Pollack, USA
2013 Vladimir Voeikov, Russia
2014 Mae-wan Ho, UK
2015 Bai-Lian Larry Li, USA
2016 Brian Fath, USA
2017 João Carlos Marques, Portugal
2018 Stuart Kauffman, USA

The 2019 Medal was awarded to Professor Luc Montagnier, 2008 Nobel Prize Winner for Physiology and Medicine.

A press conference was held prior to the event and was well attended by the Spanish Press. See links below for more:
La Vanguardia - The Nobel Luc Montagnier: "The scientific basis of homeopathy is ignored because it silences what bothers the economy"
Levante - The AIDS virus discoverer defends homeopathy in Valencia
Las Provincias - Luc Montagnier collects the Prigogine Medal

National newspapers:
La Razon - Nobel Prize Montagnier: “Many young people are not aware of the risk of AIDS”
El Mundo - A Nobel champion of homeopathy receives a medal at the Polytechnic University of Valencia

Polytechnic University of Valencia news channel:
Nobel laureate Luc Montagnier at the UPV (YouTube)

Luc MontagnierLUC MONTAGNIER
Professor Luc Montagnier graduated in Medicine as well as in Biological Sciences at the University of Paris. At the age of 23, he became an Assistant to a Professor there.
After a fruitful post-doctoral stay at two British laboratories, he spent most of his career at two renowned French institutions, namely the Institut Curie and the Institut Pasteur in Paris. At the Institut Pasteur, where he spent almost 30 years, he founded the Viral Oncology Research Unit within the Department of Virology. His focus was cancer viruses, mainly the oncogenic retroviruses, and the biochemical aspects of interferon and malignant transformation, including membrane changes in relation to the growth in soft agar, for which he contributed to the revelation of a new property of cultured malignant cells.

In 1983, Montagnier led the team which first isolated the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV1) and brought the first evidence that this virus was the causative agent of AIDS. In 1985 he isolated the second AIDS virus (HIV2) from West African patients.

Montagnier’s Laboratory was also the first to show that a large percentage of the white blood cells in HIV infected patients were prone to dying by apoptosis, a process of programmed cell death and to attribute its origin to the oxidative stress occurring in the patients, possibly associated with co-infections.

His current work is in the diagnosis and treatment of microbial and viral factors associated with cancers, neurodegenerative and articular diseases, using innovative technologies. As a strong advocate of preventive medicine, he is especially concerned with prolonging the active life of ageing people.

Beyond Montagnier’s scientific interest is his deep involvement in helping developing countries to acquire knowledge of and access to modern and preventive medicine. As President of the World Foundation for Aids Research and Prevention, he has co-founded two Centres for the prevention, treatment, research and diagnosis of AIDS patients in Ivory Coast and Cameroon.

Ten years ago, Professor Montagnier co-founded CHRONIMED, an international group of physicians treating chronic diseases including, but not limited to, Autism spectrum diseases, Alzheimers, Lyme, Multiple Scleroses and Cancer.

Various treatment modalities are used for these multi-factorial conditions. Most of these treatments were developed upon the research of Montagnier and his Chronimed associates.

At its premises in Geneva, Switzerland, Fondation Luc Montagnier, together with its associated Chronimed clinicians, carries out cutting edge research and treatments, bringing in international investigators in various fields.

Luc Montagnier has been awarded many Prizes, including Prizes Rosen (1971), Gallien (1985), Korber (1986), Jeantet (1986), the Lasker Prize in Medicine (1986), the Gairdner Prize (1987), Santé Prize (1987), Japan Prize (1988), King Faisal Prize (1993), Amsterdam Foundation Prize (1994), Warren Alpert Prize (1998), Prince of Asturias Award (2000) the induction to the National Invention Hall of Fame (2004). He is Commandeur de l'Ordre National du Mérite (1986) and Grand Officier of the Legion of Honour (2009).

In 2008, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine, for his discovery of HIV, together with Françoise Barre-Sinoussi.

He is the author or co-author of 350 scientific publications and of more than 150 patents.

SPECIAL PRIGOGINE LECTURE
on
New Paradigm in Biology
delivered by Professor Luc Montagnier
at the Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain, on Wednesday 2nd October 2019.

Despite impressive progress in molecular biology, major problems remain unsolved in this complex science, and their solution, which is vital for our future, may require the contribution of other domains such as the quantum field theory of physics.

For further information about the Prigogine Awards, please contact:
Prigogine Award
Wessex Institute
Ashurst Lodge, Ashurst
Southampton
SO40 7AA, UK
Tel: +44 (0) 238 029 3223
Email: wit@wessex.ac.uk

See the following Web pages for details of recent Prigogine Awards:
Further details of all Prigogine Awards can be found on our dedicated page: Prigogine Award

View photos of the ceremony

Monday 12 August 2019

The Brebbia Foundation Award 2019

Second Lieutenant Dogour
The Brebbia Foundation instituted a new prize in 2017, awarded annually to the best graduate of the branch of Engineering at the Military College of Argentina (Colegio Militar de la Nación).

The objective of the Brebbia Foundation is to promote advances in sciences and engineering, including training and research. It also aims to encourage new generations to study engineering sciences.

Second Lieutenant Andrés Ignacio Dogour

The 2019 Brebbia Foundation Award was given during the 149th Officer Graduation Ceremony of the Military College. Second Lieutenant Andrés Ignacio Dogour, won the prize for obtaining the best academic marks in the Engineering branch. It was presented to him by the Director of the Military College, General Roberto Agüero.

In a message of appreciation, Second Lieutenant Dogour wrote:

“It is my pleasure to express my gratitude to your organization for the award given to me through the Military College.

I consider such a prize as a great stimulus for the institution, since it is a source of motivation for the cadets to increase their knowledge and capacities as military men; and for me also, because it encourages me to go ever further.

To achieve a high-quality education in order to become the best possible leader, great motivation is required. Resources like this are used by students who go through this process to enable them to reach the point where they can make a solid commitment to the army's objectives and our nation.

That is why the attitude shown by your organization is not a small detail, but a significant input for the future Argentinian Junior Officers, and therefore, a contribution to the country that we serve with our lives.”

 Second Lieutenant Dugour Award Presentation

Friday 9 August 2019

George Green Medal 2019 Ceremony

George Green Medal
The George Green Medal was established by the University of Mississippi at Oxford, Mississippi, USA, and the Wessex Institute and is supported by Elsevier. It is in honour of the man who single-handedly set up the basis for the modern Boundary Element Method, among other notable achievements.
The Medal is awarded to those scientists who have carried out original work with practical applications in the field of Boundary Elements and other Mesh Reduction Methods, continuing in this manner to further develop the pioneering ideas of George Green. They are also persons of the highest integrity who, by sharing their knowledge, have helped to establish research groups all around the world. The Medal is given once a year and is presented during the BEM/MRM Conference.

ITeCons, Coimbra, Portugal – 2nd July 2019

The George Green Medal 2019 was presented on the occasion of the 42nd International Conference on Boundary Elements and other Mesh Reduction Methods (BEM/MRM 42). The ceremony took place during a special session on Tuesday 2nd July, followed by a keynote address from the medal recipient.

Professor Zhenhan Yao

Prof Yao Zhenhan
The recipient of the 2019 Medal was Professor Zhenhan Yao, Director of the Institute of Solid Mechanics at Tsinghua University in Beijing until his retirement in 2003.
Professor Yao graduated from Tsinghua University in Solid Mechanics in 1966 and became a lecturer at that institution. In 1989 he was promoted to full professor. His research interests are in computational solid mechanics, especially boundary element methods, which he has studied for 40 years and obtained a series of achievements from the theory of conventional BEM to the fast multipole BEM and boundary-type meshless method. In recent years, by reflecting on why BEM has been gradually marginalised in engineering applications, he presented a new High-Accuracy BEM and High-Performance BEM, and taken the local stress analysis of the real beam, plate and shell structure as the breakthrough point to continue to give play to its advantages. He has made a relentless effort to make BEM an indispensable supplement to the FEM.
He has supervised 35 PhD and 20 MSc degrees and has over 300 publications in journals and proceedings of national and international conferences. He has published a book on BEM and FM-BEM in Chinese. He has chaired the China National Conference on Boundary Elements in Engineering many times and is one of the founders of the Asia-Pacific International Conference on Computational Methods in Engineering (ICOME). He is an Associate Editor of the International Journal on Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements (EABE).

Keynote Presentation

“Basic ideas and research progress of a new High-Accuracy and High-Performance Boundary Element Method”
Zhenhan Yao, School of Aerospace Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
Abstract
The accuracy verification of BEM often depends on comparing BEM results with those obtained from the respective FEM solution. As a consequence, the engineering community may take the view that since the results obtained by the BEM are consistent with those obtained by the FEM, it is more convenient to apply the widely used FEM.
In view of the above problem, the basic idea of error analysis for numerical simulation of practical engineering problems was introduced, abandoning the dependence on FEM for accuracy verification. Based on Rizzo type boundary integral equation, a new High-Accuracy BEM (HABEM) was proposed for the elastic static problem. In HABEM, the accuracy verification is reduced to the effective control of the calculation error (mainly the integration error) and the discretization error. Taking the bending of a cantilever thin-plate beam under generalized plane stress as benchmark problem, the advantages of the BEM in reducing dimension and high precision have been shown and then, taking the 3D analysis of the same problem as a benchmark problem, a HABEM for 3D analysis has been established. In addition to the elasticity problems, the extension of this approach to other problems such as acoustic problems has been tried.
On this basis, a fast algorithm was further introduced and the additional errors of the fast algorithm and the iterative solver of linear algebraic equations were controlled to develop the High-Performance BEM (HPBEM). For some simple problems, it could be seen that introducing the ACA fast algorithm and iterative solver GMRES has greatly improved the computational efficiency and expanded the solution scale. However, the iterative solution is difficult to converge for the thin cantilever square plate and slender cantilever beam. This key problem in the development of HPBEM is solved by observing that, for the slender beam and thin plate without local stress concentration, the discretization error can be controlled satisfactorily by subdividing a few elements, provided enough high-order elements are used. However, if lower-order elements are used, many more elements should be subdivided.

Previous Laureates

Details of the previous George Green Medal presentations can be found in the conference reports listed below:

George Green (1793-1841)

George Green was a self-taught genius who mysteriously delivered one of the most influential mathematics and physics works of all time. He educated himself in mathematics and self-published the work “An Essay on the Application of Mathematical Analysis to the Theories of Electricity and Magnetism”. In his very first article he derived the Green’s first, second and third identities, forged the concept of Green’s function, and solved the problem of electrical potential created by a single charge placed inside a spherical metal shell. The ideas of Green’s function forever changed the landscape of science, as many physics and mathematics problems have been solved using this technique. As Green died early, and his work was discovered only posthumously, it remains a mystery today how Green could produce such a masterpiece without the guidance of a great teacher or school and, in fact, without a formal education. Only recently, due to the advent of powerful computers, has it been possible to take full advantage of Green’s pioneering developments.

For further information about the George Green Medal please contact:
George Green Medal
Wessex Institute
Ashurst Lodge, Ashurst
Southampton
SO40 7AA, UK
Tel: +44 (0) 238 029 3223
Email: wit@wessex.ac.uk

Friday 4 January 2019

A message from our Chief Academic Officer

SantiagoHernandez2019 promises to be another busy year for the Wessex Institute and its conference division in particular. The Institute has organised 20 international conferences for 2019 in a variety of disciplines. This demonstrates the broad range of scientific interests of our institution, which has always sought to be engaged in the relevant challenges of our times. All our meetings are supported by renowned academics as part of the International Scientific Advisory Committee (ISAC), which guarantees the scientific relevance of each conference. In addition, each meeting has an assigned conference coordinator who ensures the smooth running of the entire event.

Papers submitted to WIT conferences are always peer-reviewed and those accepted are published in the WIT Transactions which are indexed in Scopus. The Institute is also involved in the publication of a number of international scientific journals to which conference delegates are invited to submit an enhanced version of their conference paper, thereby increasing the opportunity for the dissemination of their research.

WIT meetings have a time honoured tradition of being exceptional occasions for the presentation of new ideas, communicating with colleagues and for the interchange of initiatives. Each conference is attended and chaired by a senior WIT Board member who would welcome the opportunity to discuss ideas for various types of academic collaboration, including the organisation of short courses at WIT, new conferences or joint research projects.

The Institute is located in the beautiful New Forest countryside, near Southampton, and due to its outstanding facilities, it makes a very appropriate location for senior researchers to spend part of their sabbatical leave or for graduate students who wish to spend some months abroad during their PhD years.

We would like to encourage you to attend our conferences, to find out more about WIT’s activities and to discuss any initiatives you may have in mind for collaborative projects.

My very best regards

Santiago Hernandez
Chief Academic Officer