The Milan-based International Balzan Prize Foundation has announced the 2023 recipients of the Balzan Prizes for science and culture and the award of a special peace prize.

Awarded annually since 1978, the prizes recognize individuals for their outstanding achievements in one of four rotating subject areas: two in literature, the moral sciences, and the arts and two in medicine and the physical, mathematical, and natural sciences. The prizes are focused on interdisciplinary work and the belief that “only the fruitful cross-fertilization of knowledge and research from different fields can make it possible to tackle the complex problems posed by nature and society.” Since 1961, the foundation has awarded $130 million in prizes, of which nearly $42 million has been directed to research.

The 2023 Balzan Prize recipients are David Damrosch of the United States at Harvard University for the study of world literature; Jean-Jacques Hublin of France at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (Germany) for the study and teaching of human evolution and paleoanthropology; Eske Willerslev of Denmark at the University of Copenhagen for the use of ancient DNA to expand the understanding of human evolution; and Heino Falcke of Germany at the Radboud University (the Netherlands) and Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (Germany) for the development of high-resolution optical technology to capture images of the immediate surroundings of black holes. Each prize includes a cash award of 750,000 Swiss francs ($840,000), half of which is intended to be used for future research projects.

In addition, the 2023 Prize for Humanity, Peace and Brotherhood Among Peoples—last awarded in 2018—was given to the Francesca Rava Foundation (FRF) in Italy in recognition of its response to humanitarian and natural disasters in Italy and Latin America and for specific initiatives to combat educational and food shortages among children in Latin America. FRF also will receive an award of $840,000.

“For us it is an important recognition of our work in emergencies, in collaboration with the [Italian] navy, and for our sacrifices of 20 years, together with…all our stakeholders,” wrote FRF in a statement.

(Photo credit: Wikimedia/Dutch Research Council-NWO)