On 8 and 9 May 2018 we welcomed the three 2017 Kyoto Prize Laureates – semiconductor engineer Dr Takashi Mimura, plant physiologist Dr Graham Farquhar, and musicologist Dr Richard Taruskin – who gave public talks, lead academic workshops and took part in a number of activities across the University of Oxford.
Laureates
Takashi Mimura
Invention of the High Electron Mobility Transistor (HEMT) and its development for the progress of information and communications technology
Dr Mimura invented the High Electron Mobility Transistor (HEMT) with a new structure, in which two layered semiconductors are stacked. He revealed that HEMT has excellent high-frequency characteristics because of its high mobility nature of electrons. This invention has led to significant advancements both in information and communications technology and in physics studies of electrons confined in ultrathin conductive layers.
Kyoto Prize award category: Advanced Technology - Electronics
Graham Farquhar
Development of process-based models of photosynthesis and their contributions to the science of global environmental changes
Dr Farquhar has developed process-based models of photosynthesis, enabling the prediction of the environmental responses of carbon dioxide exchange between vegetation and the atmosphere, as well as models for the fractionation of the stable isotopes of carbon and oxygen during photosynthesis and transpiration. Doing so, he has made major contributions to the advancement of environmental and climate change sciences.
Kyoto Prize award category: Basic Sciences - Biological Sciences (Evolution, Behavior, Ecology, Environment)
Richard Taruskin
A musicologist and critic of prodigious erudition who has transformed contemporary perspectives on music through historical research and essays that defy conventional critical paradigms
Dr Taruskin has pioneered a new dimension in Western music culture through musicology research that transcends conventional historiographical methodologies, issuing sharp critical analysis backed by exhaustive knowledge of many diverse fields. His unrivaled perspective has significantly influenced both performance and study, elevating the importance and creative value of critical discourse to the music world.
Kyoto Prize award category: Arts and Philosophy - Music
Media
Watch Dr Richard Taruskin speaking to an audience at the Blavatnik School of Government as part of the Kyoto Prize at Oxford events.
Watch Dr Richard Taruskin speaking to an audience at the Blavatnik School of Government as part of the Kyoto Prize at Oxford events.
Watch Dr Takashi Mimura speaking to an audience at the Blavatnik School of Government as part of the Kyoto Prize at Oxford events.
Watch Dr Takashi Mimura speaking to an audience at the Blavatnik School of Government as part of the Kyoto Prize at Oxford events.
Watch Dr Graham Farquhar speaking to an audience at the Blavatnik School of Government as part of the Kyoto Prize at Oxford events.
Past events
Public Lecture by Dr Graham Farquhar, Kyoto Prize 2017 Laureate for Basic Sciences
With his work spanning physics, applied mathematics and plant physiology, Dr Farquhar’s remarkable work on models of photosynthesis has helped understand and mitigate the effects of climate change on plants, including developing drought-resistant strains of wheat. In his lecture he will share insights…
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Public Lecture by Dr Richard Taruskin, 2017 Laureate for Arts and Philosophy, and a performance by the Villiers Quartet and Jeremy Young, piano
In this lecture combined with music, Dr Taruskin will focus on Shostakovich’s popular Piano Quintet – supported by the University of Oxford’s quartet in residence. Musicologist, critic, historian and author of landmark study “The Oxford History…
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