The Prigogine Award was established by the University of Siena and the Wessex Institute of Technology in 2004 to honour the memory of Professor Ilya Prigogine, Nobel Prize Winner for Chemistry.
Ilya Prigogine
Ilya Prigogine was born in Moscow in 1917 and obtained his undergraduate and graduate education in chemistry at the Free University in Brussels. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for his contribution to non-equilibrium thermodynamics, particularly the theory of dissipative structures. The main theme of his scientific work was the role of time in the physical sciences and biology. He contributed significantly to the understanding of irreversible processes, particularly in systems far from equilibrium. The results of his work have had profound consequences for understanding biological and ecological systems.
Prigogine’s ideas established the basis for ecological systems research. The Prigogine Medal to honour his memory is awarded annually to a leading scientist in the field of ecological systems. All recipients have been deeply influenced by the work of Prigogine.
Filip Meysman
Prof. Filip Meysman was raised near Brussels in Belgium, and was originally trained as a Chemical Engineer (1993, KULeuven, Belgium), focusing on waste water treatment technology. Struck by the miraculous nature and complexity of the microbiological processes occurring in wastewater treatment, he took a second MSc degree in Biology (1996, University of Ghent, Belgium), thus attesting to his early cross-disciplinary interest in the natural sciences. During his PhD (2001, University of Ghent, Belgium), he focused on the model simulation of ecosystems, describing the seafloor ecosystem as a biogeochemical reactor using thermodynamic and kinetic approaches.
In his research, Filip Meysman has worked on a variety of cross-boundary problems at the interface between biology, physics, (bio)chemistry and geology, including carbon cycling, ocean acidification, and more recently, marine carbon dioxide removal. As such, he also developed a research interest in theoretical ecology and a far-from-equilibrium thermodynamic description of ecosystems, including alternative stable states and non-linear dynamics (as also explored by Ilya Prigogine). Over his career, he has authored more than150 research articles and received several awards that recognize scientific excellence.
Currently, Filip Meysman heads the GeoBiology research group at the University of Antwerp (Belgium), where he also coordinates the Centre of Excellence on Microbial Systems Technology. His most recent research embraces interdisciplinary approaches (biochemistry-biophysics) to investigate the intriguing and exciting phenomenon of microbial electricity (www.microbial-electricity.eu). A specific goal is to uncover the design principles of natural highly conductive protein materials in order to create novel biobased, organic conductors with extraordinary properties.
Previous Prigogine Laureates
2004 Sven Jorgensen, Denmark
2005 Enzo Tiezzi, Italy
2006 Bernard Patten, USA
2007 Robert Ulanowicz, USA
2008 Ioannis Antoniou, Greece
2009 Emilio del Giudice, Italy
2010 Felix Müller, Germany
2011 Larissa Brizhik, Ukraine
2012 Gerald Pollack, USA
2013 Vladimir Voeikov, Russia
2014 Mae-wan Ho, UK
2015 Bai-Lian Larry Li, USA
2016 Brian Fath, USA
2017 João Carlos Marques, Portugal
2018 Stuart Kauffman, USA
2019 Luc Montagnier, Switzerland
2020 Diederik Aerts, Belgium
2021 Simone Bastianoni, Italy
2022 Robert Gilmore, USA
2023 Søren Nors Nielsen, Denmark
For further information about the Prigogine Awards, please contact:
Prigogine Award
Wessex Institute
Ashurst Lodge, Ashurst
Southampton
SO40 7AA, UK
Tel: +44 (0) 238 029 3223
Email:
See the following Web pages for details of the recent Prigogine Awards:
Further details of all Prigogine Awards can be found on our dedicated page: Prigogine Award
Wessex Institute