The Descartes-Huygens Prize is an yearly scientific prize created in 1995 by the French and the Dutch governments, and attributed to two scientists of international level, a French one chosen by the Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen and a Dutch one chosen by the Académie des sciences, to reward their work and their contributions to the French-Dutch cooperation.

The prize is named in memory of French scientist René Descartes (1596–1650) and Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens (1629–1695), who spent several years working in each other's country.

Descartes-Huygens Prize

Attribution of the prize

The prize consists of an amount of 46000 euros (€23000 for each recipient), contributed by the KNAW, the French Embassy in the Netherlands and the French Minister of Higher Education and Research. It is intended to finance one or more research visits in the Netherlands or in France. It is attributed by juries presided by one of the participating Academies (Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, Académie des sciences and Académie des sciences morales et politiques), alternating between the following disciplines: natural sciences, life sciences, human and social sciences.

Descartes-Huygens Prize

List of the Dutch laureates

1995 - Jook Walraven, physicist

1996 - H. Pannekoek

1997 - Olga Weijers, literary scholar

1998 - Wim van Saarloos, physicist

1999 - Jan Hoeijmakers, geneticist

2000 - Theo Verbeek, philosopher

2001 - Pieter Timotheus (Tim) de Zeeuw, astronomer

2002 - Harry Struijker-Boudier, pharmacologist

2003 - not assigned to Dutch scientist

2004 - , historian

2005 - Anne-Jans Faber, physicist

2006 - Albert Heck, chemist

2007 - Pim den Boer, historian

2008 - Stefan Vandoren, physicist

2009 - Arthur Wilde, cardiovascular researcher

2010 - , historian

2011 - Ieke Moerdijk, mathematician

2012 - Harry Heijnen, cell biologist

2013 - Caroline van Eck, art historian

2014 - Willem Vos, physicist

2015 - Joost Gribnau, epigeneticist

2016 - Louis Sicking, historian

2017 - Daniël Vanmaekelbergh, material scientist

2018 - Katell Lavéant, literary scholar

2019 - , astronomer

2020 - Rampal Etienne, evolutionary ecologist

2021 - Maike Hansen, biophysician

List of the French laureates

1995 - Michel Devoret, physicist

1996 - Denis Escande

1997 - Robert Muchembled, historian

1998 - Philippe Sautet, chemist

1999 - Philippe Devaux

2000 - Virginie Guiraudon, political scientist

2001 - Bernard Meunier, chemist

2002 - , biologist

2003 - Hamida Demirdache, linguist

2004 - Marie-Paule Pileni, physical chemist

2005 - not assigned to French scientist

2006 - Hubert Vaudry, endocrinologist

2007 - Catherine Secretan, philosopher

2008 - Pierre Braunstein, chemist

2009 - Marc Humbert, pulmonary researcher

2010 - François Héran, social demographer

2011 - François Hammer, astronomer

2012 - , biologist

2013 - Bénédicte Fauvarque-Cosson, jurist

2014 - Ludwik Leibler, physicist

2015 - Benoit Viollet, molecular physiologist

2016 - Olivier l'Haridon, behavioural economist

2017 - , physicist

2018 - Marine Cotte, art conservation researcher

2019 - Julien Barc, cardiovascular researcher

2020 - Halima Mouhib, physicist

2021 - Charles-Édouard Levillain, historian

References

Awards of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences

Awards of the French Academy of Sciences

Dutch science and technology awards

French science and technology awards

Descartes-Huygens Prize