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