Giya Kancheli, Claudio Abbado win Wolf Prize for 2007

By DIMI REIDER
The Wolf Foundation announced today the winners of the Wolf Award for 2007. The music award this year will be given to Italian composer Giya Kancheli and conductor Claudio Abbado. The mathematics awards will be granted to three scientists - professors Pierre R. Deligné, Phillip A. Griffiths, and David B. Mumford. The medicine awards will go to Israeli researchers professors Chaim Sider and Aharon Rezin, for groundbreaking achievements in cancer research. The winners of this year's chemistry award are professors William E. Moerner, of Stanford University, California, and Allen J. Bard, of Texas University. They are honored for their establishing of the field of spectroscopy - measurement of a quantity as function of either wavelength or frequency, used to study optics, electric fields, acoustics and other areas. Richardo Wolf (1887-1981) was a German-born inventor, businessman and diplomat. He immigrated to Cuba in 1924, and was an outspoken supporter of Fidel Castro. In 1961, Castro appointed him ambassador to Israel. When diplomatic ties between Cuba and Israel were severed in 1973, Wolf made aliya and remained in Israel for the last years of his life. The Wolf Foundation was established in 1975, to honor "outstanding scientists and artists--irrespective of nationality, race, color, religion, sex or political views--for achievements in the interest of mankind and friendly relations among peoples". The awards consist of a diploma and a sum of $100,000, and are dealt out by the president of Israel in an annual ceremony at the Knesset. This year's ceremony will take place next Sunday.