How it all started
Inquiring mind
The 2006 Heineken Prize winners
A personal view
THE WORLD OF HEINEKEN
The eighteenth biennial award of Heineken Prizes will take place on 28 September this year in
Amsterdam, at a special session of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). First
awarded in the 1960s, the Heineken Prizes for Biochemistry Biophysics, Medicine, Environmental
Sciences and History are now the most prestigious international science awards together with the
Nobel Prizes. No fewer than seven of the total of 28 winners of Heineken Prizes for Medicine and
Biochemistry Biophysics have gone on to win a Nobel Prize. New this year is the Heineken Prize for
Cognitive Sciences. In a rare interview, Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken, chairman of the Heineken
Prize foundations, talks about the awards, the science of the mind and the passions of her father.
Alfred Heineken instituted the prizes in 1963, when he set up the Heineken
Foundation for the Promotion of Science and Culture. The first prize, named
after his father Dr. H.P. (Henry) Heineken, was for services to science in the
fields of biochemistry and biophysics. This tied in both with Henry
Heineken's scientific background in biochemistry and with research into the
biochemical processes involved in brewing. It was also, for Alfred Heineken,
a way of honouring his father.
Partly for that reason, Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken, the daughter of Alfred
Heineken and chairman of the foundations, is closely involved with the
Heineken Prizes. What motivated her father to introduce them? "He had an
inquiring mind. Just like his father, his interests extended far beyond the world
of business. He had a passion for art and music and had a profound interest
in scientific research. He wanted to know exactly how everything worked. He
felt that scientists were undervalued by the public and didn't have a high
enough profile, so he decided to do something about it. The cash award of
US$150,000 that goes with the prizes is intended to support scientific
research, although the winners are free to choose what to spend the prize
money on. So we may be helping a little to solve some of the world's
problems. But the primary goal of the Heineken Prizes is to encourage
scientists in their research by giving them the recognition they deserve."
Following the creation of the Alfred Heineken Fondsen Foundation in
1988, several more prizes were instituted. The first of these was the Dr.
A.H. Heineken Prize for Art, introduced in 1988, followed by the Dr. A.H.
Heineken Prize for Medicine in 1989 and the Prizes for History and
Environmental Sciences in 1990. The Dr. A.H. Heineken Prize for Cognitive
Science, instituted by Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken in 2005, three years
after her own father's death in January 2002, will be awarded for the first
time this year.
by firing a special projectile filled with ozone into it." Alfred Heineken also
took a very personal view of European history, and published a book on the
subject in 1992 entitled The United States of Europe (A Eurotopia?). "My
father was convinced," says Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken, "that many
wars could have been avoided if we had a better understanding of each
others' history and its interpretation. He disliked aggression and believed in
tolerance. Historical research could shed new light on the development of
Europe and the world around it."
The Dr. A.H. Heineken Prize for Art differs from the other prizes in
several respects. It is not an international prize. Only Dutch artists can
qualify. The art prize gives encouragement, even more than the prizes for
science, to young and promising artists. In addition to the cash prize of
€50,000, the winner has the option of presenting an exhibition, publishing a
retrospective of his or her work or some other form of recognition. What
the art prize has in common with the other awards is that it relates to
another of Alfred Heineken's interests. "My father could really fall in love
with a work of art. His quest was to discover new artistic talent and support
young Dutch artists. And that's just what the prize is designed to do,"
explains Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken.
The scientific disciplines for which the prizes are awarded closely reflect
Alfred Heineken's interests. "My father was always interested in medicine,"
says Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken. "And the environment was a major
concern of his long before it was widely acknowledged as an issue. He
thought about it a lot, not only from the point of view of the brewery,
where clean water is essential, but also in terms of the impact on the wider
world. For example, he was very worried about the hole in the ozone layer
and, wearing his inventor's hat, even considered the possibility of closing it
Dr. H.P. Heineken Prize for Biochemistry and Biophysics 2006
Professor Sir Alec J. Jeffreys (1950), United Kingdom, for his
discovery of the genetic fingerprint.
Dr. A.H. Heineken Prize for Medicine 2006
Professor Mary-Claire King (1946), United States, for proving
the existence of the first hereditary breast cancer gene.
Heineken Prize for Environmental Sciences 2006
Professor Stuart L. Pimm (1949), United States, for his
research on species extinction and conservation.
Heineken Prize for History 2006
Professor Joel Mokyr (1946), United States, for his research
into the origins of the modern industrial economy.
Dr. A.H. Heineken Prize for Cognitive Science 2006
Professor John R. Anderson (1947), United States, for his
ground-breaking theory of human cognition.
Dr. A.H. Heineken Prize for Art 2006
Job Koelewijn (1962), the Netherlands, for his richly
variegated, poetic oeuvre.
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