Zubin Mehta to share $1m. Dan David Prize

The prize is given for achievements having an outstanding scientific, technological, cultural or social impact on the world.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
zubin mehta 88 298 (photo credit: Courtesy)
zubin mehta 88 298
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Three Dan David Foundation prizes of $1 million each will be awarded on Thursday in France for the first time. The ceremony will take place at the Palais Garnier in Paris under the patronage of French President Jacques Chirac. The agreement signed last year between the Dan David Prize Foundation and the French Ministry of Culture and Communication declares that the award ceremony will be held alternately each year, at Tel Aviv University and in Paris. First awarded in 2002, the prize is given for achievements having an outstanding scientific, technological, cultural or social impact on the world in fields chosen each year within the three "Time Dimensions" - past, present and future. The laureates chosen for 2007 are: Jacques Le Goff (Past Time Dimension - Historians: Authors of Major Works of History); Zubin Mehta and Pascal Dusapin (Present Time Dimension - Contemporary Music) and James Hansen and Sarah Kurtz & Jerry Olson (Future Time Dimension - Quest for Energy). Dan David, the philanthropist and founder of the foundation who comes from a Francophone family, will be among those attending, along with Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, the french minister of culture and communication. Previous Dan David Prize laureates will also be in attendance, including the 2003 laureate for the Past Time Dimension in the field of Paleoanthropology, Prof. Michel Brunet, the first Frenchman to receive the prize and the discoverer of "Toumai," an almost complete cranium of what is considered today to be the oldest human ancestor. Le Goff has done historical work and writing for 50 years and has been a source of inspiration to historians around the world. Mehta, one of the world's leading conductors, has been musical director of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra for many years. Pascal Dusapin is an outstanding figure within the world of contemporary music. Hansen is a renowned scientist, who has also been active in the public arena on behalf of energy conservation, while Kurtz and Olsen have made key contributions to the development of solar cells, a crucial pathway to the development of alternative sources of energy.