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Prince of Asturias Laureate for Technical and Scientific Research Craig Venter has died
He was granted the Award in 2001, along with Francis Collins, Hamilton Smith, John Sulston and Jean Weissenbach, for “discovering the human genome sequence”
Joint 2001 Prince of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research Craig Venter has died.
The Jury agreed to grant him the Award along with Drs Francis Collins, Hamilton Smith, John Sulston and Jean Weissenbach, “whose teams lead the world research into the genome”. Their research centres are The Sanger Centre in the United Kingdom, the National Human Genome Research Institute and Celera Genomics, in the USA, and Genoscope in France. The discovering of the human genome sequence, the fruits of the efforts of a large number of scientists, is an event in Science that is of momentous importance to Mankind. Powerful, large-scale gene analysis methodologies, ranging from detailed chromosome mapping to rapid DNA fragment sequencing and assembly had first to be developed for such a breakthrough to be made”, as the Minutes of the Jury state
Chaired by Julio Rodríguez Villanueva, said Jury was composed of José Luis Álvarez Margaride, María del Carmen Andrade Perdrix, Antonio Fernández-Rañada, Luis Fernández-Vega Sanz, Santiago Grisolía, María del Carmen Maroto Vela, Rafael Nájera Morrondo, César Nombela, Fernando Ortiz Maslloréns, Rafael Puyol, Francisco Sevilla, Guillermo Suárez Fernández, Raúl Villar and José Antonio Martínez Álvarez (as acting secretary).
The Awards Ceremony, which took place on 26th October, was presided over by HM King Felipe VI, then Prince of Asturias. Besides the address by His Majesty, Doris Lessing, George Steiner and the then president of the Foundation, José Ramón Álvarez Rendueles, gave speeches at the ceremony.
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