President Obama Meets U.S. Laureates of Kavli Prizes

President Barack Obama met in the Oval Office the six U.S. recipients of the 2012 Kavli Prizes. President Obama received the laureates to recognize and honor their landmark contributions to the three fields for which the Prizes are awarded — astrophysics, nanoscience, and neuroscience.

Joined by the President’s science and technology advisor, John P. Holdren, President Obama greeted Kavli Prize Laureates Cornelia Isabella Bargmann (The Rockefeller University), Michael E. Brown (California Institute of Technology), Mildred S. Dresselhaus (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Ann M. Graybiel (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), David C. Jewitt (University of California, Los Angeles), and Jane X. Luu (Massachusetts Institute of Technology).

Accompanying the laureates were Rockell N. Hankin, Vice-Chairman of The Kavli Foundation, Robert W. Conn, President of The Kavli Foundation, and Wegger Chr. Strommen, the Norwegian Ambassador to the United States.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition has announced that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has joined its National Advisory Council, which is chaired by Colin Powell and includes every other living former Secretary of State as members. (Read: Hillary Clinton Joins Global Leadership Coalition)

And Desmond Tutu, the former Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, has won the 2013 Templeton Prize for his lifelong work in advancing spiritual principles such as love and forgiveness which have helped to liberate people around the world. (Read: Desmond Tutu Wins Templeton Prize)

The Kavli Prizes are a partnership between The Kavli Foundation (U.S.), the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, and the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research.

The Kavli Laureates received their awards for making fundamental contributions to our understanding of the outer solar system, to the differences in material properties at nano- and larger scales, and to how the brain receives and responds to sensations such as sight, sound and touch.

The Kavli Prize consists of a scroll, a gold medal and a cash award of one million dollars in each field, with the prizes awarded every two years.

The 2012 Kavli Prize Laureates were announced last year and received their awards in a ceremony held in Oslo, Norway. The call for nominations for the 2014 Kavli Prizes occurs this fall.

In the picture above: President Barack Obama greets the 2012 U.S. Kavli Prize Laureates in the Oval Office, March 28, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza).