The Bodossaki Foundation reintroduces the institution of the Awards by awarding two members of Komvos-Node, honouring and recognizing their entire scientific career and contribution to the advancement of science.
Professor of astrophysics and space researcher Chryssa Kouveliotou and biomedical researcher Nektarios Tavernarakis are awarded for their decisive contribution to the development of science.
As announced by the Foundation, the two distinguished scientists are honoured with the Bodossaki Award for their pioneering and comprehensive life’s work, which, in addition, gives Greek intellectual production a global reputation.
The award ceremony will take place at the Zappeion Hall on Tuesday 25 of June 2024. The two Bodossaki Excellence Awards will be presented by the President of the Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou.
The Institution
After 13 years of absence, the Bodossaki Foundation relaunches the institution of the Awards. It has set up a new Commendation Committee consisting of eight internationally renowned foreign scientists.
The members of the committee have been honoured with the highest distinctions in their field worldwide, being holders of the Nobel, Spinoza and ACM Turing Prizes. In addition, they are prominent members of scientific academies at an international level.
Every two years, two Excellence Awards, each accompanied by a cash prize of €100,000, are awarded in two scientific fields. This year, the Excellence Awards will be given in the fields of Sciences and Biomedical Sciences.
The Committee
Η επιτροπή αποτελείται από τους εξής (με αλφαβητική σειρά):
- • Sir Richard Blundell, David Ricardo Professor of Political Economy, Department of Economics, UCL, CBE FBA
• Arup Chakraborty, Institute Professor; Professor of Chemical Engineering, Physics, & Chemistry, Core Faculty Member and Former Founding Director, Institute for Medical Engineering & Science, MIT, Founding Steering Committee Member, Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, & Harvard, Member NAE, NAS, NAM
• Daan Frenkel, Emeritus Professor of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, ForMemRS, Member KNAW, AAAS, TWAS, NAS, Academia Europaea, Recipient of Spinoza Prize
• Shaffi Goldwasser, Director, Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing, and C. Lester Hogan Professor in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, UC Berkeley, RSA Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, MIT, and Professor of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics, Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, Recipient of ACM Turing Award
• Frank Grosveld, Professor, Former Head of the Department of Cell Biology, Erasmus MC, FRS, Member KNAW, Recipient of Spinoza Prize and the Louis Jeantet Prize
• Paola Ricciardi-Castagnoli, Scientific Director of Toscana Life Sciences Foundation and Chief Scientist of Menarini Biomarkers Singapore, former Chair of Immunology and General Pathology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Founder and Scientific Director, Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN), A-STAR Singapore, Member GNAS Leopoldina, EMBO
• Daniela Rus, Andrew (1956) and Erna Viterbi Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Director of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), MIT, Member NAE, AAAS
• Jean Tirole, Honorary Chairman, Foundation JJ Laffont-Toulouse School of Economics (TSE), Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse (IAST), and Scientific Director, TSE-Partnership, Recipient of Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.
The committee also includes (ex officio): Athena Desypri – Chairperson of the Board of the Bodossakis Foundation, and Theodoros Theodorou – the Vice-Chairman of the Board, Professor at the School of Chemical Engineering of the National Technical University of Athens, and a Member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE).
The co-chairs of the committee are Professors Daan Frenkel and Frank Grosveld.
The contribution of Greek academics to the sciences
The two co-chairs introduce the awardees:
Prof. Daan Frenkel: “The Bodossaki Prize honours the enormous contribution of Greek academics to the sciences and humanities and focuses attention on the common roots of Greek academics worldwide. It highlights role models so that young Greek students can aspire to an academic career at the highest possible level.”
Prof. Frank Grosveld: “The Bodossaki Award is a prestigious distinction for the contribution of Greek scientists to the promotion of science at national and international level and to the education and training of the next generation. I was honoured to participate in this difficult selection process, because the number of outstanding Greek scientists is much higher than one would expect for the size of the Greek population, an impressive fact that deserves to be celebrated!”
The Awards
Bodossaki Excellence Award 2024 in the field of Physical Sciences:
Chryssa Kouveliotou: decoding celestial phenomena
The internationally renowned astrophysicist Chryssa Kouveliotou, who has been working in NASA for more than 25 years, has contributed substantially and systematically during her career to a deeper understanding of transient celestial phenomena.
Her research in the field of High Energy Astrophysics and in particular the study of phenomena related to black holes, neutron stars and gamma-ray bursts has broadened her knowledge and understanding of celestial phenomena.
As a postdoctoral researcher at NASA, she discovered, by studying data from a mission to the Sun, the first phenomena subsequently identified as magnetars, neutron stars with extreme magnetic fields. She was then invited to NASA/MSFC to work on a new mission, in which she studied the phenomena arising from stellar collapses and merges.
Soon after, she won a grant to search for and study magnetar bursts, and established neutron stars with extreme magnetic fields (magnetars) as a new and important category of astrophysical objects, opening up a new field in which research is now booming.
Chryssa Kouveliotou left NASA in 2013 with the highest degree in research, in order to continue her academic career at George Washington University as Professor of Astrophysics, while also founding the Astronomy, Physics and Statistics Institute for Science (APSIS) at GWU.
With a rich research background, she has been included in Time Magazine’s list of the 25 most influential people in space science, as well as the list of the 250 most cited researchers in space science worldwide, with 493 peer-reviewed journal publications.
Chryssa Kouveliotou is a member of the US National Academy of Science, US Academy of Arts and Sciences, a foreign member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences and a corresponding member of the Academy of Athens. In her long career she has received numerous top honours such as the Descartes (2002), Rossi (2003) and D. Heineman (2012) awards, recently the Shaw Prize in Astrophysics (2021), and the Greek Government honoured her with the Cross of the Order of the Commander of the Order of Honor for excellence in science (2015).
Bodossaki Excellence Award 2024 in the field of Biomedical Sciences
Nektarios Tavernarakis: Unveiling the Secrets of the Cell, Memory, and Aging
Nektarios Tavernarakis is at the forefront of modern biomedical research in the fields of aging, cell death, and neurodegeneration. Among his significant scientific discoveries are specific categories of enzymes involved in necrotic cell death, the revelation of the role of key regulators of protein synthesis in aging, and his pivotal contribution to the discovery of mechanisms controlling mitochondrial quality, which are related to the regulation of cellular energy homeostasis and aging.
Among other achievements, Nektarios Tavernarakis also highlighted the role of autophagy in specific areas of the brain in the regulation of synaptic plasticity and behavior under stress conditions, and identified new molecular mechanisms that protect cells and organisms from necrotic attacks.
During his long career at the Foundation for Research and Technology and the University of Crete, he founded the first multiphoton biomedical imaging facility in Greece and the Master’s Program in Bioinformatics. Additionally, he has created the conditions for connecting the Foundation for Research and Technology and the country’s research network with the European and international research community, so that Greece can actively participate in and contribute to shaping research developments and policies in Europe.
He actively participates in the National Roadmap for Research Infrastructures, coordinating the National Bioimaging Infrastructure, and is also the coordinator of the National Network for Personalized Medicine in Neurodegenerative Disorders, supporting the development of scientific research within Greece. At the same time, he leads the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) as the only Greek president to date, a position he was elected to in recognition of his outstanding research and administrative career in cutting-edge scientific research.
Nektarios Tavernarakis is, among other distinctions, a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), the National Academy of Sciences of Germany, the European Academy of Sciences, and a corresponding member of the Academy of Athens. Throughout his long scientific career, he has received numerous awards, including the EMBO Young Investigator Award, the Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the Helmholtz International Fellow Award, the Galien Scientific Research Award, the Aretaeio Award in Biomedical Sciences from the Academy of Athens, and the Scientific Award from the Bodossakis Foundation in 2005 in the field of Biosciences.
Commitment to Supporting the Production of Scientific Work
The deep belief of Prodromos Bodossakis Athanasiadis – founder of the Foundation, was that the benefits scientific excellence offers to society as a whole are significant and substantial.
In this context, the Bodossakis Foundation remains dedicated to the continuous and multifaceted support of scientific work production, as stated by the Chairperson of the Board of the Bodossakis Foundation, Athena Desypri:
“The Aristeio Bodossakis aims to recognize and honor the entire scientific career and contribution of Greek scientists who have played a pivotal role in the advancement of their respective fields, with a conscious commitment and passion for scientific research, the promotion, and the development of knowledge. The selection process for the awardees once again highlighted the scientific wealth and the breadth of the achievements of Greek scientists.”
Bodossaki Excellence Award Laureates
To date, seven distinguished figures from the international scientific community have been awarded the Bodossakis Award for their exceptionally important work.
These include Professors George Chrousos (2011), Charalambos Moutsopoulos (2011), Evangelos Mudrianakis (2009), Dimitrios Christodoulou (2006), Athanasios Fokas (2006), Kyriakos Nikolaou (2004), and Ioannis Iliopoulos (2002).
It is worth noting that Chrysa Kouveliotou and Nektarios Tavernarakis are members of Komvos-Node. Additionally, four out of seven awardees are also members of Komvos-Node: George Chrousos, Demetrios Christodoulou, Athanasios Fokas, and John (Jean) Iliopoulos.
