The 2023 FNP Prizes Awarded

"We know the winners of the FNP Prize, considered the most important scientific distinction in Poland. In 2023, the FNP awarded the prize to four outstanding scientists: Prof. Krzysztof Liberek, Prof. Marcin Stępień, Prof. Rafał Latała, and Prof. Maria Lewicka. The Foundation awarded the prizes for the 32nd time. The FNP Prize honors outstanding achievements and scientific discoveries that push the boundaries of cognition and open new research perspectives, provide an exceptional contribution to Poland’s civilizational and cultural advancement and assure the country with a significant position for undertaking the most ambitious challenges of the modern world. The amount of the award is PLN 200,000. Prof. Krzysztof Liberek from the Intercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology of the University of Gdańsk and the Medical University of Gdańsk received the 2023 FNP Prize in the field of life sciences for demonstrating the role of chaperone proteins in recovering proteins from aggregates and folding them into the active form. Prof. Marcin Stępień from the Faculty of Chemistry of the University of Wrocław received the 2023 FNP Prize in the field of chemical and materials sciences for designing and obtaining new aromatic compounds with unique structures and properties. Prof. Rafał Latała from the Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics, and Mechanics of the University of Warsaw received the 2023 FNP Prize in the field of mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences for developing mathematical tools which led to the proof of Talagrand’s Bernoulli Conjecture. Prof. Maria Lewicka from the Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń received the 2023 FNP Prize in the field of humanities and social sciences for formulating and verifying a psychological model of place attachment and place memory. The FNP Prize is an individual award granted by the Council of the Foundation by way of competition in four areas: life and earth sciences; chemistry and materials sciences; mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences and humanities and social sciences. Candidates for this honor may be nominated by distinguished scientists personally invited by the Foundation’s Executive Board and Council. The FNP Council serves as the competition committee and selects the winners based on opinions from independent experts and reviewers – mainly from abroad – who assess the candidates’ achievements. The FNP Prizes have been awarded since 1992. Including this year’s winners, there have been a total of 117 laureates. They include such eminent researchers as Tomasz Dietl, Marcin Drąg, Elżbieta Frąckowiak, Lech Gradoń, Ryszard Horodecki, Leszek Kaczmarek, Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska, Maciej Lewenstein, Krzysztof Matyjaszewski, Karol Modzelewski, Karol Myśliwiec, Bohdan Paczyński, Marek Samoć, Jan Strelau, Timothy Snyder, Jerzy Szacki, Andrzej Szczeklik, Andrzej K. Tarkowski, Andrzej Trautman, and Anna Wierzbicka. The award ceremony will be held on December 6, 2023, and will be transmitted online on the Foundation's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/FundacjaFNP. The members of the Foundation Council for the current term are professors:

• Tomasz Guzik (Medical College of Jagiellonian University) – Chair of the Council,
• Grażyna Jurkowlaniec (Institute of Art History, Faculty of Arts and Culture Sciences, University of Warsaw) – Vice-Chair of the Council,
• Piotr Garstecki (Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw),
• Jan Kotwica (Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research, Polish Academy of Sciences, Olsztyn),
• Tomasz Łuczak (Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań),
• Aleksandra Łuszczyńska (SWPS University of Humanities and Social Sciences),
• Maria Nowakowska (Faculty of Chemistry, Jagiellonian University).