President Reuven Rivlin on Tuesday hosted the ceremony announcing the 2021 Wolf Prize Laureates, awarded every year for unique contributions in the fields of science and art.

Acting Council Chairperson of the Wolf Foundation Prof. Dan Schectman, Minister of Education and Chairman of the Wolf Foundation Council Yoav Gallant and CEO of the Wolf Foundation Reut Inon Berman also participated in the ceremony.

The Wolf Foundation is a state-owned Israeli foundation that aims to promote excellence in science and the arts. Every year the President of the State of Israel presents the prestigious Wolf Prize, an international award given to scientists and artists from around the world, for “advancing science and art for humanity and for friendship between peoples, regardless of religion, gender, race, geographical location or position.”

The prizes awarded in the field of science are in the disciplines of medicine, agriculture, mathematics, chemistry and physics. In the field of art, the prize is awarded in the disciplines of painting and sculpture, music and architecture.

Since the foundation's inception in 1975, 354 scientists and artists have won the Wolf Prize and about a third of the Wolf Prize Laureates have subsequently won the Nobel Prize, in the fields shared by the two prizes. The Wolf Prize is being awarded this year for the 43rd time by the Wolf Foundation, established by the late Dr. Ricardo Wolf - inventor, diplomat and philanthropist - with his wife Francisca Subirana-Wolf, who donated their fortune to establish the foundation

2021 Wolf Prize Laureates:

• Physics - Prof. Giorgio Parisi, for his groundbreaking discoveries in disordered systems, particle physics and statistical physics.
• Medicine - Prof. Joan Steitz, Prof. Lynne Maquat and Prof. Adrian Kraine, for their groundbreaking studies in the field of RNA biology and RNA regulatory mechanisms that demonstrated that RNA is not a passive template between DNA and protein, but rather plays a dominant role in regulating and diversifying gene expression.
• Chemistry - Prof. Leslie Leiserowitz and Prof. Meir Lahav, for their collaborative work in establishing the fundamental reciprocal influences of three dimensional molecules upon structures of organic crystals.
• Music - Stevie Wonder, for his tremendous contribution to music and society enriching the lives of entire generations of music lovers and to Olga Neuwirth for her exceptional mastery, artistic talent, and media skills. Both Olga Neuwirth and Stevie Wonder have pushed the boundaries of their art and made it a tool that serves universal and idealistic humanist values.

“The Wolf Prize is awarded, by law and according to the charter of the Wolf Foundation, to groundbreaking scientists and artists for their achievements on behalf of humanity’. This is no exaggeration. This year, the three laureates in the field of medicine are pioneering researchers of RNA, the mechanism on which the coronavirus vaccines are based and which at this very minute is saving humanity from the pandemic. At the same time, the research of the laureates in chemistry and physics, while they do not directly apply to the pandemic, are no less brilliant and daring scientific breakthroughs. As we have learned over the last year, we cannot predict what scientific developments we will need to deal with the challenges of an unpredictable future,” the president said.

He added, “Apart from the medical and economic challenges, over the last year we have also dealt with a challenge of no lesser proportions – to preserve our sanity and our spirit. Over the long days of lockdown, our lives were put on hold with no warning and the arts – literature, music, film – were sometimes our only escape. This year’s winners in the field of arts are two musicians from different ends of the spectrum – popular contemporary and high classical music. Each one of them can bring us out of the depths and lift our souls in a way that sometimes we don’t even fully understand.”

The president concluded his remarks by saying, “The Wolf Prize expresses the State of Israel’s acknowledgement that human progress is an achievement not to be taken for granted. It is an achievement that requires continuous investment and the cultivation of creative and critical thinking that does not give easy or superficial answers but struggles and works hard to uncover the secrets of the world and the meaning of our existence.”

Minister of Education and Chairman of the Wolf Foundation Council Yoav Gallant said, “We are delighted to announce winners of Israel’s most important international prize, the 2021 Wolf Prize laureates. Behind each and every one of the achievements of the laureates are decades of dedicated work for society as a whole. In the best traditions of the Wolf Prize, this evening’s winners cross borders and societies. Winning the prize carries an obligation, along with the huge privilege, and a responsibility and commitment to educating future generations. I wish all of tonight’s winners continued research, leading and excelling in their fields and setting an example to young people all around the world.”

The minister of education commented on the two Israeli winners of the Wolf Prize in Chemistry, saying, “Prof. Leslie Leiserowitz and Prof. Meir Lahav from the Weizmann Institute of Science have brought great honor to the State of Israel this evening. Their success is the success of the country as a whole, and I am pleased that the committee chose them, highlighting their extraordinary research that solved a 140-year-old scientific puzzle. Congratulations to all the winners from around the world. Your success is a mark of honor for you, your families and your countries.”