The Royal Society Prince of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities 2011

At its meeting in Oviedo, the Jury for the 2011 Prince of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities, made up of Mr. José Antonio Álvarez Gundín, Ms. Adela Cortina Orts, Mr. José Manuel Diego Carcedo, Ms. Inés Fernández-Ordóñez Hernández, Mr. Javier González Ferrari, Mr. Álex Grijelmo García, Mr. José Luis Gutiérrez Suárez, Mr. Miguel Ángel Liso Tejada, Ms. Catalina Luca de Tena y García-Conde, Mr. Francisco Luzón López, Ms. Ana Rosa Migoya Diego, Mr. Alberto Oliart Saussol, Ms. Rosario Otegui Pascual, Mr. José Luis Pardos Pérez, Mr. José Ramón Pérez Ornia, Mr. José Antonio Sánchez Domínguez, Mr. Ricardo Senabre Sempere, Mr. Enrique de Ybarra e Ybarra, chaired by Mr. Manuel Olivencia Ruiz and with Mr. Ramón López Vilas acting as secretary, has decided to confer the 2011 Prince of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities on the British organisation, The Royal Society.

The Royal Society is the oldest scientific community in the world, having been in continuous existence for 350 years. Its main priorities include the fostering of scientific research and the dissemination of knowledge for the benefit of humanity. The Royal Society is made up of over one thousand five hundred Fellows, including seventy-five Nobel Prize Laureates and nine Prince of Asturias Award Laureates, such as Stephen Hawking and the Spanish scientist, Antonio García Bellido. Isaac Newton, Gottfried Leibniz, Charles Darwin, Benjamin Franklin and Albert Einstein figure among its past Fellows.

The Royal Society supports numerous professorships and post-doctoral fellowships, as well as providing research grants at different universities. It publishes a large number of journals and organises international conferences, which currently focus on the social implications of neuroscience.

The Jury underscores the multidisciplinary nature of the institution, in which the links between science, humanities, society and politics are made evident.

Oviedo, 18th May 2011