Research projects, Contests / awards

The physician Svante Pääbo, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, is to receive the Körber European Science Prize 2018 from the Körber-Stiftung. The prize, endowed with 750,000 euros, will be presented on 7 September at 11 a.m. in Hamburg City Hall in the presence of the Mayor, Dr. Peter Tschentscher. Science journalist Ranga Yogeshwar will introduce the prize winner and his research.

At 4 p.m. on September 6, Svante Pääbo will give a lecture at the Institute of Zoology at the invitation of the University of Hamburg under the title "Human Origins from a Neandertal Perspective". The Körber Lecture will be held in English.

Svante Pääbo is being honoured for his pioneering achievements in the field of palaeogenetics, of which he is considered the founder. One of Pääbo's most important scientific breakthroughs is the decoding of the Neanderthal genome. His work has revolutionised our understanding of the evolutionary history of anatomically modern Homo sapiens. It has been significantly conducive to the realisation that Neanderthals and other extinct human groups have contributed to the ancestry of present-day humans.

The Körber European Science Prize has been awarded each year since 1985 for a major breakthrough in the physical or life sciences in Europe. It honours excellent and innovative research approaches with high application potential. With 750,000 euros in prize money it is among the world's most highly-endowed prizes. Six winners of the Körber Prize have already gone on to receive the Nobel Prize.

Further information is available at http://www.koerber-prize.org as well as photos of the award ceremony from 3 p.m. on 7 September.

Downloads: http://koerber-stiftung.de/koerber-prize-2018
- Press Release
- CV Svante Pääbo
- Photos: Portraits Svante Pääbo, Automated sample preparation, DNA sequencer

Further information:
Körber-Stiftung
Matthias Mayer
Telefon +49 40 80 81 92-142
E-Mail: mayer@koerber-stiftung.de
www.koerber-stiftung.de