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The Royal Society Prince of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities 2011
“The Royal Society is honoured to be awarded so prestigious a prize as the Prince of Asturias Award. As we celebrated our 350th anniversary last year, one of our goals was to inspire people to see the wonder of the world around them and the enlightenment and advancement that science can offer. This prize offers a clear endorsement of our goal and our success in achieving it”.
Sir Paul Nurse
President of the Royal Society
London, 18th May 2011
“The announcement that the Royal Society has been awarded the Prince of Asturias prize in the field of Humanities and Communications is excellent news and a great credit to the fine judgement of the Prince of Asturias Foundation.
The Royal Society is the oldest academy in the world, having functioned without interruption for 350 years. It has contributed like no other institution to the development of science and its application for the good of mankind.
Its work relating to the communication of science to society is pioneering and exemplary in a world increasingly dependent on science for the generation of wealth, the well-being of all, and the protection of our planet.
As a recipient of the Prince of Asturias Prize for Science and Technology and a fellow of the Royal Society, I feel very proud and happy to have the opportunity of congratulating both institutions wholeheartedly on this momentous occasion”.
Sir Salvador Moncada
1990 Prince of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research
London, 19th May 2011
“I can think of no organisation that has done more to further mankind´s understanding of the world over a longer period than the Royal Society. It is splendid news that The Fundación Príncipe de Asturias should have decided to honour the Society by awarding it this very distinguished prize.”
Sir David Attenborough
2009 Prince of Asturias Award for Social Sciences
London, 19th May 2011
Very good news to hear that the Foundation has awarded The Royal Society its Humanities and Communications Award. For me it epistomises one of the outstanding principles of the Principe de Asturias awards in that the Foundation recognises not only the contributions made by imaginative individuals to different aspects of humanity but also recognises that many things are done by (more than 3!) people working together. These groups can be disconnected groups or societies that unite in some common purpose or also well established or even long established organisations (like The Royal Society) that work to advance principles or knowledge.
The importance of science to our world is so obvious yet, scientists have to continually defend themselves against prejudice and ignorance. I find this public resistance to Science a mystery as it self-evident that rational thought, objective measurement, control experiments and evidence-based medicine are are all examples of what human society desperately needs and are all the results of the scientific method.
"The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge" has worked for hundreds of years to advance the value of understanding our world — and has been one of the organisations that has helped to free humanity from the hegemony of the supernatural. It carries on this work now, in trying to explain the consequences of the scientific thinking and scientific knowledge to society at large, managing a worldwide forum of discussions and injecting "natural knowledge" into political discussion.
Peter Lawrence
2007 Prince of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research
Cambridge, 18th May 2011
“The British organisation The Royal Society is the most prestigious academic institution. It has been in continuous existence since its founding in 1660. Its Fellows have included Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin. Its work in organising conferences, in the field of research and via a variety of journals devoted to research as well as to the history of science have made it worthy of the 2011 Prince of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities. I have had the esteemed honour of being a Foreign Member since 1986 and am writing this laudatio with both pride and joy”.
Antonio García-Bellido
1984 Prince of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research
Foreign Member of The Royal Society, 1986
Madrid, 18th May 2011
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