Crown Prince Salman, deputy prime minister and minister of defense, gave away on Sunday the awards to the winners of the 36th edition of the prestigious annual King Faisal International Prize 2014, on behalf of Custodian of The Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah.
The prizes distributed at the glittering event included medals, certificates and cash rewards to winners of the KFIP. Five distinguished scholars from various parts of the world including a Saudi scholar received top honors.
The announcement of the winners was made at a glamorous event held in Riyadh under the patronage of Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, minister of education and chairman of the King Faisal Foundation, who delivered the welcome address. Deputy Crown Prince Muqrin was also present.
The awards were in five categories — service to Islam, Arabic language and literature, Islamic studies, medicine, and science.
The King Faisal International Prize for Science (Mathematics) for 2014 was awarded to: Professor Gerd Faltings Germany .
Professor Faltings has made groundbreaking contributions to algebraic geometry and number theory. His work combines ingenuity, vision and technical power.
He has introduced new tools and techniques which are now constantly used in modern mathematics.
His deep insights into the p-adic cohomology of algebraic varieties have been crucial to modern developments in number theory. His work on moduli spaces of abelian varieties has had great influence on arithmetic algebraic geometry. He has introduced new geometric ideas and techniques in the theory of Diophantine approximation, leading to his proof of Lang’s conjecture on rational points of abelian varieties and to a far-reaching generalization of the subspace theorem. Professor Faltings has also made important contributions to the theory of vector bundles on algebraic curves with his proof of the Verlinde formula
The Prize for Medicine (Non-Invasive Diagnosis of Fetal Diseases) for this year 2014 (1435H) has been awarded to: Professor Yuk Ming Dennis Lo, UK. China Professor Yuk Ming Dennis Lo has transformed the field of prenatal genetic diagnosis through his discovery of cell free fetal nucleic acids in the maternal blood and the identification of their placental source. He built upon this pivotal discovery to develop and translate techniques for risk free determination of fetal aneuploidy and monogenic disease, and ultimately the sequencing of the full fetal genome from cell free DNA. Because of his pioneering role in the field of non-invasive diagnosis of fetal disease he has been awarded the King Faisal International Prize in Medicine for the year 2014.
The Prize for Arabic Language and Literature (Studies on Modern Arabic Novel) for this year 2014 (1435H) was awarded to: Dr. Abdullah Ibrahim Allawi Albussabah of Iraq ,In appreciation of his distinguished contributions to the study of the modern Arabic novel.
Dr. Albusabah has employed different literary analytical methods in his book. His thorough knowledge of the Arabic narrative and world literary arts has enabled him to refine this complex specialty and analyze it in a persuasive manner, and to elucidate the discourse between the Arabic narrative and main stream narrative in world literature.
The King Faisal International Prize for Islamic Studies (Topic: Cultural Heritage of Makkah Al-Mukarrama) for this year 2014G (1435H) was awarded to Professor Abdulwahab Ibrahim Abou Sulaiman Member of the Council of Senior Islamic Scholars in Saudi Arabia
He was awarded for his illustrious academic studies which monitor and document cultural exchanges between people in the Holy Haram and its surroundings, particularly his text: Bab Al-Salam which portrays the issue during important historical periods. His studies are distinguished by objectivity, profundity and richness of resources .
The King Faisal International Prize for Service to Islam for this year 2014 (1435H) has been awarded to Shaikh Dr. Ahmed Abou Bakr Lemu Nigeria Chairman, Council of Trustees, Islamic Relief Commission Office Shaikh Dr.Ahmed Limu is a composed intellectual, a devout Muslim, and an advocate of moderation and open-mindedness. He is a member of several international Islamic organizations worldwide.
His efforts toward education, development and call to Islam are evident from his hundreds of lectures, seminars and classes.
Mohammed Al-Othaimeen, secretary general of the King Faisal Prize, said the topics for the 2015 King Faisal International Prize are: Science; Chemistry, Medicine; Intestinal Microflora and Human Health, Arabic Language and Literature; Ventures toward Arabization of Scientific and Medical Metters, Islamic Studies; Cultural Heritage of Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah.
