International Balzan Prize Foundation

The International Balzan Prize Foundation’s aim is to promote culture, the sciences, and the most meritorious initiatives in the cause of humanity, peace, and fraternity among peoples throughout the world.

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About us

The International Balzan Prize Foundation’s aim is to promote culture, the sciences, and the most meritorious initiatives in the cause of humanity, peace, and fraternity among peoples throughout the world.

Currently, four annual awards are made: two in literature, moral sciences, and the arts; and two in the physical, mathematical, and natural sciences, and in medicine. In 2001, regulations concerning the prizes were changed, and prize winners must now destine half of their awards for research projects carried out preferably by young humanists and scientists.
At intervals of no less than three years, the Balzan Foundation also awards a prize for Humanity, Peace, and Fraternity among Peoples.

The Balzan Foundation acts jointly through two Foundations: one with headquarters in Milan and the other with headquarters in Zurich. At the “Prize” Foundation in Milan, the General Prize Committee, which is composed of eminent European scholars and scientists, chooses the subject areas of the awards and makes the nominations. The “Fund” Foundation in Zurich administers Eugenio Balzan’s estate.

The Latest Prizewinners

The four Balzan Prizes are awarded to scholars and scientists who have distinguished themselves in their fields on an international level. The Balzan Prize for Humanity, Peace, and Fraternity Among Peoples is a special prize awarded at intervals of no less than three years.
USA 2022

Martha C. Nussbaum

2022 Balzan Prize for Moral Philosophy Research Project
USA 2022

Philip V. Bohlman

2022 Balzan Prize for Ethnomusicology Research Project
USA 2022

Robert Langer

2022 Balzan Prize for Biomaterials for Nanomedicine and Tissue Engineering Research Project
Denmark and The Netherlands 2022

Dorthe Dahl-Jensen and Johannes (Hans) Oerlemans

2022 Balzan Prize for Glaciation and Ice Sheet Dynamics Research Project

Updates

News, facts, appointments, events, and articles about the Prize, the Prizewinners, and the Foundation.

Updates

20 March 2023

2023 Balzan Prize: Nominations and Subjects

15 March, the closing date for submitting nominations for the 2023 Balzan Prize, marks the beginning of the phase leading to the announcement of the Prizewinners on 11 September.

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Updates

25 November 2022

2022 Balzan Prizes presented in Rome

750,000 Swiss Francs (765,000 EUR, 810,000 USD, 666,000 GBP) for each of the four awards.The winners must allocate half of the amount to research projects.

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News

12 September 2022

The 2022 Balzan Prizewinners

Martha C. Nussbaum, Philip Bohlman, Robert Langer, Dorthe Dahl-Jensen and Johannes Oerlemans The amount of each prize is 750,000 Swiss Francs for each subject area. Half of the total amount must be used for projects that involve young researchers.

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Publications

The Balzan Foundation collects essays, scholarly contributions, and dissertations by its Laureates in books and periodical publications. Two series, the Annual Balzan Lecture and the Balzan Papers, are published by Leo S. Olschki of Florence.

17 April 2023

“Le détail révélateur” by Jacques Aumont

The eleventh volume of the series of the Annual Balzan Lectures published by Olschki

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1 September 2021

Fourth issue of the magazine Balzan Papers

Multi-disciplinary anthology of the Balzan Foundation, published by Olschki of Florence.

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13 May 2019

Annual Balzan Lecture: Bina Agarwal

Beyond Family Farming: Gendering the Collective: the tenth volume of the series

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14 December 2019

Balzan Papers: the third issue published by Olschki

Providing papers, proceedings from seminars, interviews and in-depth investigations

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Videos: Balzan Prize

Video recordings of major public events organized by the Balzan Foundation

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Photographs

Photo galleries of Balzan Prizewinners from 1961 to the present, taken at awards ceremonies in Rome and Bern.

All Photos

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Fondazione Internazionale Premio Balzan