Four scientists win the 2024 Shaw Prize for their outstanding contributions to fields of science

The Shaw Prize Foundation announced on Tuesday that four scientists were given the Shaw Prize for their contributions to the fields of astronomy, medicine and life sciences, and mathematical sciences.

The Shaw Prize in Astronomy was awarded to US-based astronomer Shrinivas Kulkarni for his discoveries about millisecond pulsars, gamma-ray bursts, supernovae, and other variable or transient astronomical objects.

His contributions to time-domain astronomy culminated in the conception, construction and leadership of the Palomar Transient Factory and its successor, the Zwicky Transient Facility, which revolutionized the understanding of the time-variable optical sky.

Malaysian hematologist Swee Lay Thein and US stem cell biologist Stuart Orkin were awarded the Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine.

They were awarded the prize for their discovery of the genetic and molecular mechanisms underlying the fetal-to-adult hemoglobin switch, creating a genome-editing therapy for sickle cell anemia and β thalassemia, blood diseases that affect people around the world.

The Shaw Prize in Mathematical Science was awarded to South African mathematician Peter Sarnak.

He was awarded for his development of the arithmetic theory of thin groups and the affine sieve by bringing together number theory, analysis, combinatorics, dynamics, geometry and spectral theory.