Albert Einstein WORLD AWARD OF SCIENCE
Prof. Geoffrey Alan Ozin
Canada Research Chair and Distinguished University Professor of University of Toronto
The members of the Interdisciplinary Committee have chosen Professor Ozin
as the winner of the 2011
ALBERT EINSTEIN" World Award of Science for his pioneering accomplishments in the field of nanochemistry that have helped to define and establish the rapidly expanding discipline, which has now become the cornerstone of modern chemistry.
As one of the foremost architects of nanochemistry, he managed to predict how nanomaterials would bring about the "nanotechnology revolution".
For more than four decades, Professor Ozin has embraced a multidisciplinary approach to the synthesis of nanomaterials, applying it to physics, materials science, engineering, biology and medicine to solve a variety of problems.
His career's work, which includes pioneering studies of new classes of nanomaterials, nanoporous materials, nanophotonic crystals and most recently nanomachines, epitomizes how cutting-edge research in nanochemistry can be effectively directed towards tackling contemporary challenges in nanotechnology through novel, practical solutions applied to a whole variety of fields.
The group of scientists and students led by Professor Ozin have created nanoscale architectures able to control electrons and photons in unprecedented ways. Several applications are foreseen for the fruits of his nanomaterials research, including greater efficiency solar cells for clean energy generation, more efficacious photocatalysts to clean up environmental pollutants, full colour energy conserving displays, improved banknote and product authentification devices, optical circuits for more powerful computers, and the development of futuristic nanomachines for medical applications, such as chemically-powered targeted drug delivery vehicles for cancer therapy.
Geoffrey Ozin has also been a leader in education, taking generations of students far beyond the traditional chemistry syllabus. As a renowned educator he has published the best selling undergraduate text book Concepts in Nanochemistry (VCH-Wiley, 2009) and graduate textbook (Nanochemistry: A Chemical Approach to Nanomaterials, RSC, 2009). They are now both widely adopted around the world for teaching nanochemistry.
Over the span of his career, he has continued to push back boundaries and enrich knowledge in the field of Chemistry. He has published 625 articles in top- ranking journals, garnering over 25,000 citations.
Professor Ozin has won numerous awards for his contributions to chemistry, including the most recent 2010 Premier Discovery Prize for Natural Sciences and Engineering, the highest honour that the Province of Ontario can bestow upon one of its scientists. He currently holds the unique rank of Distinguished University Professor at the University of Toronto, a tribute bestowed on only 0.1% of the 3000 faculty.
The significance, timeliness and technological relevance of Professor Ozin's work and the knowledge transfer to academic, government and industrial scientists around the globe has brought true benefit to humankind through numerous inventions and innovations.
Leonardo da Vinci WORLD AWARD OF ARTS
Todd Siler
Visual artist, writer, inventor and polymath
This recognition is for his extraordinarily creative and innovative contributions to contemporary and visual arts, for stimulating creativity, inspiring innovation and uniting art and science to enrich the experience of creative learning.
It is a prize granted to Todd Siler for his revolutionary work in stimulating human creativity, expressed in his original art works, his inspired publications, in particular his books "Think like a Genius" (Bantam Books, 1997) and "Breaking the Mind Barrier" (Simon and Schuster, 1990; Touchstone Books, 1992) and his incredibly extensive educational work.
His lifelong development and practice of "ArtScience," a process he created in 1975, seeks to fully integrate the arts & sciences towards advancing humankind, strengthening civil society, and improving the state of the world while creating a sustainable future. There are now over 30,000 organizations worldwide using the ArtScience process, principles and practices.
Todd has produced a rich corpus of paintings, drawings, collages and other works, including large-scale public pieces, which embody his original ideas on the connections between art and science.
In 1975, Dr. Siler invented the Metaphorming process, which is a set of universal creativity and communication tools for realizing human potential. The process enables people to think, create, communicate, and perform at their highest level to achieve their goals. In addition, he has created various types of educational software, such as Think Like a Genius, and holds various patents on a range of inventions.
Todd Siler received his Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Studies in Psychology and Art from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; in 1986, he became the first and only visual artist to receive a doctorate from the Institute. He is a member of the board of directors for the Foundation for Human Potential in Chicago, and an International Advisory Board Member for the World Knowledge Forum in Seoul, Korea, as well as a Forum Fellow and presenter at the 1999 and 2001 Annual Meetings of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
For over 25 years, Todd Siler has presented numerous keynote addresses, lectures and workshops throughout the world on creativity, innovation, collaborative learning, informal learning, and other related topics. His multiple lectures have explored the possibilities of applying arts-based learning tools to advance art-science-technology innovations and educational initiatives; they were delivered to specific and general audiences at leading museums, cultural centers and schools for the arts and sciences.
Internationally recognized as a visual artist, Todd Siler´s art has been represented over the past 30 years by one of the premiere art galleries in the world, Ronald Feldman Fine Arts in New York City. His artworks are in numerous private and public collections, including The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (20th Century Collection), The Museum of Modern Art, The Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, The Israel Museum in Jerusalem, The Pushkin Fine Arts Museum in Moscow and the Belsar Verlag Print Archives in Stuttgart and Zurich, among many others.
Mr. Siler has spent his life teaching us, through his artwork, workshops and lectures, as well as his publications and inventions, how to use the creativity locked up in our brain. As Robert W. Galvin, Chairman of the Executive Committee of Motorola Inc, comments, "Todd inspires us to energize the least used talent of our brain: exceptional creativity"