THE 2026 BALZAN PRIZEWINNERS – Press Release
The 2026 Balzan Prizes: Research without Borders
The Prize for Humanity, Peace and Fraternity among Peoples also to be awarded.
Each of the prizes is for 750,000 Swiss francs (800,000 euros, 930,000 USD, 685,000 GBP).
Today in Milan, the President of the International Balzan Foundation – Prize, Maria Cristina Messa, and the Chair of the Balzan General Prize Committee, Marta Cartabia, announced the winners of the four annual Balzan Prizes for Science and Culture, two in the physical and natural sciences and two in the humanities. This year, the special Prize for Humanity, Peace and Fraternity among Peoples was also awarded.
The winners of the four annual awards
■ Elena Esposito (Italy), Università di Bologna and University of Bielefeld, for The Social Science of Digital Technology
■ Rasmus Nielsen (USA-Denmark), University of California Berkeley, and Ziheng Yang (UK), University College London, for Molecular Evolution: Decoding Patterns of Genomic Change
■ David Nirenberg (USA), Institute for Advanced Study Princeton, for Jewish Studies
■ Geoffrey W. Coates (USA), Cornell University, and Marc A. Hillmyer (USA), University of Minnesota, for Biodegradable Polymers from Renewable Sources.
The choice was based on the validity, current interest, and coherence of the research, identifying specific factors of excellence that can contribute to the understanding of our world and our time, promoting the advancement of knowledge without borders, in accordance with the guiding principles of the Balzan Foundation.
Interdisciplinarity is the key criterion, based on the conviction that only meaningful exchanges between different fields of knowledge and research can enable us to tackle the complex problems facing nature and society.
The four prize-winning subjects are selected anew each year by the General Prize Committee: two in literature, moral sciences, and the arts, and two in the physical, mathematical, and natural sciences and medicine). This approach allows new or emerging lines of research to be recognized.
Each Prize is for 750,000 Swiss francs (800,000 euros, 930,000 USD, 685,000 GBP), half of which must be allocated to research projects carried out by young scholars and scientists.
The winner of the Prize for Humanity, Peace, and Fraternity among Peoples
■ Emergency Response Rooms (Sudan)
The Prize for Humanity, Peace, and Fraternity among Peoples is a special prize awarded by the General Prize Committee, assisted by a preparatory commission, at varying intervals of not less than three years. The award honours individuals or institutions that have achieved distinction for outstanding humanitarian work.
The amount of this prize is also 750,000 Swiss francs.
The 2026 Balzan Prizes will be presented in Rome on 19 November in the presence of the President of the Italian Republic.
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