San Diego's Fifth Annual "Kyoto Laureate Symposium" to Showcase American LCD Inventor, American Ecologist and Austrian Orchestra Conductor

21st Annual Kyoto Prize Laureates to make public presentations at SDSU, UCSD and USD April 19-20

SAN DIEGO – March 22, 2006 – The Inamori Foundation and the Kyoto Symposium Organization today announced that they will host the fifth annual Kyoto Laureate Symposium, April 18-20, 2006, bringing the three latest laureates of the Kyoto Prize to San Diego for a three-day celebration of the laureates' lives and works.

"The Kyoto Laureate Symposium brings unprecedented worldwide recognition to the greater San Diego area and is therefore a priceless resource for our region's incumbent institutions of higher learning, as well as our high-tech and biomedical industries," said Malin Burnham, chairman of the Burnham Companies, who serves as volunteer chair of the Kyoto Symposium Organization. "As San Diegans, we are proud that our community serves as home to the Kyoto Laureate Symposium, and our city and county officials join us in welcoming the latest Kyoto Prize laureates."

The Symposium will open at 6:00 p.m. Tuesday, April 18, with a benefit gala at the San Diego Marriott Hotel and Marina, continuing with free public presentations by the laureates April 19-20 on the campuses of Symposium co-hosts San Diego State University; University of California, San Diego; and University of San Diego.

Burnham and Tom Fat, Esq., President of Fat City, Inc., will co-chair the event's benefit gala under the theme, The Kyoto Prize: Celebrating Outstanding Human Achievement, joined by QUALCOMM Chairman Dr. Irwin Jacobs as honorary chair. The event will assist in funding the Kyoto Scholarships, available to San Diego and Tijuana-area high school students through The San Diego Foundation. Six Kyoto Scholarship recipients will be recognized at the gala — three from San Diego and three from Tijuana — in the Kyoto Prize categories of Advanced Technology, Basic Sciences, and Arts and Philosophy. Laureate presentations in each category will be hosted over the following two days.

'Advanced Technology' Laureate Presentation

Dr. George H. Heilmeier, the latest Kyoto Prize laureate in Advanced Technology, will speak from 9:30 to 11:00 a.m., Wednesday, April 19, at San Diego State University's Montezuma Hall. Dr. Heilmeier, 69, of Dallas, is an electronics engineer and chairman emeritus of Telcordia Technologies, Inc. He received the Kyoto Prize for his groundbreaking research in the field of liquid crystals, and his direct contributions to the development of the Liquid Crystal Display (LCD).

Background:

In the 1960s, when the concept of a "wall-hanging TV" was still a distant dream, Dr. Heilmeier developed an interest in the unique properties of liquid crystals, and used them to fabricate flat displays capable of showing alphanumeric characters. These displays, announced in 1968, caused a global sensation, triggering the development of LCDs and intense competition to put them to use in industrial applications. Later, LCDs were combined with large-scale integrated circuits (LSIs), which evolved during the same period, giving rise to great innovations in the consumer electronics industry. Today, LCDs are seen in televisions, PCs, mobile phones, PDAs and countless other essential home appliances and industrial systems. Dr. Heilmeier's pioneering contributions facilitated this recent revolution in display technology. His achievements have thus had a major impact and will be justly remembered by posterity as milestones in the history of technical progress.

"Basic Sciences" Laureate Presentation

Professor Simon A. Levin, the latest Kyoto Prize laureate in Basic Sciences, will speak from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m., Wednesday, April 19, at the University of California, San Diego's Price Center Theatre. Professor Levin, 64, of Princeton, NJ, is an ecologist and director of Princeton University's Center for BioComplexity. He received the Kyoto Prize for establishing the field of Spatial Ecology and expanding scientific understanding of the biosphere as a "complex adaptive system."

Background:

Professor Levin created the field of Spatial Ecology by using mathematical models to understand complex patterns of the biosphere that traditional ecology had difficulty explaining. In his famous early study, Professor Levin demonstrated the unexpected fact that high biodiversity in a marine reef ecosystem could be maintained by moderate disturbance, and that expanding space permits the coexistence of mutually exclusive species in the same ecosystem. Further, Professor Levin's mathematical models demonstrated that analysis of a small region reveals approaches that can be applied to the analysis of phenomena in a larger region. These mathematical models now serve as useful guidelines for environmental protection and are used in a wide range of environmental management applications. His 1999 book, Fragile Dominion, shows that biodiversity has a fragile foundation. In the book, he urges us to look more deeply into these issues and calls for courageous action, given how much humans have benefited from biodiversity and what must be done if these benefits are to be preserved.

"Arts and Philosophy" Laureate Presentation

Maestro Nikolaus Harnoncourt, the latest Kyoto Prize laureate in Arts and Philosophy, will speak and conduct a public rehearsal with local symphony musicians from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m., Thursday, April 20, at University of San Diego's Shiley Theatre, followed by the Symposium's closing ceremony. Maestro Harnoncourt, 76, of St. Georgen, Austria, is a musician and conductor specializing in European early music. He received the Kyoto Prize for his exceptional creativity as a performer and conductor who has contributed to the establishment of the "historically informed performance" of European early music, and who has extended his principles and interpretation to modern music as well.

Background:

In 1953, Maestro Harnoncourt organized the specialist ensemble Concentus Musicus Wien (CMW) in Austria. In the 1970s, a series of operas by Monteverdi that he conducted were received with great public acclaim. His performance appearances have included the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestras; the Chamber Orchestra of Europe; and the Salzburg Festival. While the public is prone to praise superficially beautiful sounds and flamboyant techniques, Maestro Harnoncourt has aimed to restore the glorious cultural position that music occupied prior to the 18th century. He reproduces the authentic sounds of early music by studying its historical context, including performing methods, customs and musical principles — even restoring original instruments and investigating original scores. He regards performers as translators who comprehend the ideas of artists and express such ideas in the language of their period — constantly expanding the range of the art by analyzing theories, practical methods, and both the past and present of music in a macroscopic way.

The Kyoto Prize and the Inamori Foundation

The Kyoto Prize is Japan's highest private award for lifetime achievement, presented each November by the non-profit Inamori Foundation to honor individuals and groups worldwide who have contributed significantly to mankind's scientific, cultural, and spiritual development.

The Foundation was established in 1984 by Dr. Kazuo Inamori, a Japanese entrepreneur and philanthropist, with a personal donation of 20 billion yen. His subsequent donations have raised the Foundation's net assets to approximately 65.5 billion yen, or more than $500 million. Dr. Inamori created the Kyoto Prize after consultation with leaders of the Nobel Foundation, who traveled to Japan with Sweden's Queen Silvia in 1985 to accept the first Kyoto Prize as a special commemorative award.

As of November 2005, the Kyoto Prize has been awarded to 69 laureates from 12 nations — ranging from scientists, engineers and researchers to philosophers, painters, architects, sculptors, musicians and film directors. Each Kyoto Prize consists of a diploma, a medal of 20-karat gold, and a cash award of 50 million yen, or approximately $425,000. The United States has produced the most recipients, with 31 laureates, followed by the United Kingdom (nine), Japan (eight) and France (seven).

Download photos at: http://www.kyotoprize.org