Khwarizmi Intl. Award announces KIA Laureates

TEHRAN, Mar. 04 (MNA) – Among the list of first KIA Laureates in the 28th session of the event that were announced today are Iran’s head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Ali Akbar Salehi and Prof. Fu-Tong Liu from Taiwan. During the closing ceremony of the 28th edition of Khwarizmi International Award (KIA) taking place on Tuesday at Tehran’s Summit Conference Hall, the jury selected seven accomplished foreign researchers as the Laureates of the prestigious Khwarizmi International Award. The award was announced and presented to the KIA Laureates by the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Hassan Rouhani. The First KIA Laureates were Prof. Fu-Tong Liu for his study on Galectins in health and disease; Prof. Claudio Hetz from Chile for Targeting protein homeostasis to treat neurodegenerative diseases; and Prof. Andreas Manz from Switzerland for Lab on Chip technology for use in analytical chemistry and applied biosciences. The First KIA Laureates in the national section were announced as Dr. Homayoun Kanouni for his studies on cold tolerance on chickpea and Head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Ali Akbar Salehi for his endeavors to launch a nuclear plant to produce radio-drugs. In 1987, the leading Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology IROST decided to institute an award which acknowledges the Iranian outstanding achievements in the field of Science and Technology. IROST proposed the creation of the Khwarizmi Award in memory of Abu Jafar Mohammad Ibn Mousa Khwarizmi, the great Iranian Mathematician and Astronomer (770-840 C.E). The fifth session of the Khwarizmi Award saw the creation of the foreign section and the Khwarizmi Award became international.