Oviedo (Spain), June 23 (EFE). The jury of the Princess of Asturias Prize for Scientific and Technical Research, awarded today to seven researchers who contributed to the development of any of the approved vaccines against covid-19, have placed their work on its creation in such a short period of time among the most remarkable events in the history of science.

According to the minutes of the jury, chaired by the Spanish physicist Miguel Eschenek, the work of the seven winners – the galactic biologist Catalin Carrico; American immunologist Drew Wiseman. German physicians Ugur Sahin and Ozlim Torici; Canadian biologist Derek Rossi; British vaccinologist Sarah Gilbert and American biochemist Philip Feligner are excellent examples of the importance of basic science to protecting health on a global scale.

In the court’s opinion, distinguished scientists have led, through their long careers in basic research, to innovative applications such as obtaining, in a very short time, effective vaccines to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition, the report emphasizes that the development of new messenger RNA technology, as well as the production of adenovirus-based vaccines, open a path of hope for its use against other diseases.

Last year, the prize was awarded to the four mathematicians whose research has supported the digital age – French Yves Mayer and Emmanuel Candice, Belgium’s Ingrid Dubices and Australia’s Terence Tau – and in previous editions they have been awarded, among others, to biochemists Emmanuel. Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna; Chemists Avellino Korma, Mark E. Davis and Galen de Stuckie and physicists Peter Higgs and François Englert

The Research Prize is the seventh prize in failure out of the eight awarded by the Princess of Asturias Foundation after those awarded to French writer Emmanuel Carrier (Letters), Serbian artist Marina Abramović (Arts); American writer Gloria Steinem (Communication and Humanities); Indian Economist Amartya Sen (Social Science); To Spanish Paralympic swimmer Teresa Perales (sport) and to CAMFED, the organization that seeks to eradicate poverty in sub-Saharan Africa through education (international cooperation).

Each Princess of Asturias award, of which only the Concordia Prize is known, the decision of which will be announced on June 30, is awarded with a sculpture by Joan Miró – a representative symbol of the award – a diploma of accreditation, a badge and fifty thousand euros.

The handover ceremony, which had to be moved last year from the Campoamor Theater in Oviedo to the Reconquista Hotel in the Asturian capital to adapt to a smaller format and without an audience due to the pandemic, will take place, as usual, in October. EFE