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The Heineken Prize winners 2004 (left to right): Professor Simon A. Levin, Thomas Le Goff representing his father
Jacques Le Goff, Professor Willem Levelt (President of the Academy), His Royal Highness the Prince of Orange,
Dr Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Daan van Golden and Dr Andrew Z. Fire
A prime example of this rapid progress is medical science, which
has truly advanced in leaps and bounds. Thanks to improved
nutrition and health care, people live longer on average. Now we
are faced with the dilemma of how to ensure we do so with as
few ailments as possible. Freddy Heineken also took great
interest in medical science. Given another choice in life, he
himself maintained that he would have liked to perform research
to find a cure for cancer.
Dear prize winners,
First of all, congratulations on winning your awards. The Heineken
Awards are prestigious prizes, which command substantial
PAGE 12
international acclaim. They are presented biannually in four
categories of science: biochemistry and biophysics, medicine,
history and the environmental sciences, while there is one award
in the category of art. These categories were not chosen at
random. The award for biochemistry and biophysics was
established first, in memory of Alfred Heineken's own father, the
chemist Henry Pierre Heineken. It is the Netherlands' major
award for science, and a number of former recipients were later
also awarded a Nobel Prize.
Freddy Heineken had a passion for fine things. Art played a
significant role in his life, in fact, paintings and sculptures held a
particular appeal for him. As his daughter admits: "He could
