HONG KONG―Six U.S.-born researchers joined the ranks of Shaw Prize laureates Tuesday, as the annual award marked its 10th anniversary for recognizing scientists and scholars in the fields of astronomy, life science and medicine, and mathematical sciences.
六名出生于美国的研究人员周二荣获邵逸夫奖(Shaw Prize)。邵逸夫奖每年评选一次，今年是第十届。这个奖项表彰的是天文学、生命科学及医学以及数学领域的科学家和学者。
The Shaw Prize was established in 2002 and began honoring individuals annually in 2004. It is named after the 105-year-old Hong Kong media titan and philanthropist Run Run Shaw. It is often referred to informally as the Nobel Prize of Asia.
邵逸夫奖创办于2002年，从2004年开始每年颁奖给个人。该奖项以105岁的香港媒体巨子、慈善家邵逸夫命名，常被称为亚洲的诺贝尔奖(Nobel Prize)。
Several previous recipients of the Shaw Prize have gone on to win Nobel Prizes, including Shinya Yamanaka, of Japan, who won the Shaw Prize in life science and medicine in 2008. Last year, Dr. Yamanaka shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with John B. Gurdon of the U.K. for their work in cellular reprogramming.
邵逸夫奖之前的多位得主后来都获得了诺贝尔奖，包括2008年获得邵逸夫奖生命科学与医学奖的日本科学家山中伸弥(Shinya Yamanaka)。去年，山中伸弥与英国科学家格登(John B. Gurdon)因细胞重编程方面的工作分享了诺贝尔生理学或医学奖。
Each prize receives US$1 million, and in the case of two or more winners for one prize, the award money is shared.
邵逸夫奖每个奖项的奖金为100万美元，如果两人或多人共同获奖，他们将分享100万美元的奖金。
This year, Steven A. Balbus and John F. Hawley were honored "for their discovery and study of the magnetorotational instability, and for demonstrating that this instability leads to turbulence and is a viable mechanism for angular momentum transport in astrophysical accretion disks," the selection committee said. Accretion "plays a key role in star formation, mass transfer in stellar binaries, and the growth of supermassive black holes," the committee said.
天文学奖甄选委员会说，今年的天文学奖授予拜尔巴斯(Steven A Balbus)和霍利(John F. Hawley)，以表彰他们对磁性旋转不稳定性的发现和研究。他们的工作说明了磁性旋转不稳定性引发湍流，并足以解释天体物理学里吸积盘的角动量输运机制。甄选委员会说，吸积盘在恒星形成、双子星中的质量转移以及超大质量黑洞的发展中发挥着重要作用。
Prof. Kenneth Young, a member of the Shaw Prize council and professor of physics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, explained in an interview: "If you start off with a system that is rotating and it comes together like an [ice] skater who brings his arms in, it speeds up the rotation―that's angular momentum."
邵逸夫奖理事会成员、香港中文大学(Chinese University of Hong Kong)物理学教授杨纲凯在接受采访时解释说，对于一个旋转的系统，当系统像滑冰运动员把手臂收起来一样团作一团时，旋转速度会加快，这就是角动量。
Dr. Balbus, who was born in Philadelphia in 1953, is Savilian professor of astronomy at the University of Oxford in the U.K. Dr. Hawley, who was born in Annapolis, Md., in 1959, is associate dean for the sciences, and a professor and chair of the astronomy department at the University of Virginia.
拜尔巴斯1953年出生于美国费城，现为英国牛津大学(University of Oxford) Savilian天文学讲座教授。霍利1959年出生于美国马里兰州安纳波利斯，现为弗吉尼亚大学(University of Virginia)天文学系主任、教授，理学院副院长。
The prize for life science and medicine was shared by Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael W. Young "for their discovery of molecular mechanisms underlying circadian rhythms," the committee said, which are guided by biological clocks and drive the waking and sleeping cycle. The same fundamental mechanisms of circadian rhythms first identified by the three scientists in fruit flies "also operate in other organisms, including humans," the committee said. "Links have already been made between these mechanisms and human disease," it said.
生命科学与医学奖甄选委员会说，今年的生命科学与医学奖授予霍尔(Jeffrey C. Hall)、罗斯巴殊(Michael Rosbash)和杨(Michael W Young)，以表彰他们发现昼夜节律的分子机制。昼夜节律由生物钟控制，形成觉醒和睡眠周期。甄选委员会说，这三位科学家最早是在果蝇身上发现昼夜节律的基本机制的，这一基本机制同样适用于包括人类在内的其他生物。委员会说，在这些机制与人类疾病之间已经找到了联系。
Dr. Hall was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1945 and is visiting professor at the University of Maine. Dr. Rosbash was born in Kansas City, Mo., in 1944 and is professor of biology at Brandeis University. Dr. Young, who was born in 1949 in Miami, is vice president for Academic Affairs and professor at the Rockefeller University.
霍尔1945年出生于美国纽约布鲁克林，现为缅因大学(University of Maine)客席教授。罗斯巴殊1944年出生于美国密苏里州堪萨斯城，现为布兰戴斯大学(Brandeis University)生物学教授。杨1949年出生于美国佛罗里达州迈阿密，现为洛克菲勒大学(Rockefeller University)学术事务副校长及教授。
The mathematical sciences prize was awarded to David L. Donoho for his "contributions to modern mathematical statistics and in particular the development of optimal algorithms for statistical estimation in the presence of noise and of efficient techniques for sparse representation and recovery in large data-sets," the committee said.
数学科学奖甄选委员会说，今年的数学科学奖授予多诺霍(David L. Donoho)，以表彰他以表彰他对现代数理统计学的深远贡献：他开创了在有噪声情况的最优统计估计算法，而他又建立了在大数据中实现稀疏表示和复原的高效率技巧。
The prime objective of Dr. Donoho's research is to apply mathematical and statistical tools to solve real-life problems, said Prof. Pak-chung Ching of CUHK and a member of the Shaw Prize council. For example, modern global communication often involves voice signals having to go through several networks as they are transmitted, Prof. Ching said, but sometimes the audio quality contains interference. "How are we going to recover the original signal?" he said. Using statistical means, Dr. Donoho developed algorithms that would diminish noise and interference "by recovering or reconstructing the original signal as much as possible," Prof. Ching said.
香港中文大学教授、邵逸夫奖理事会成员程伯中说，多诺霍研究的主要目的是运用数学及统计学工具解决现实生活中的问题。程伯中说，比如，现代全球通讯常常涉及到声音信号在传送过程中必须通过多个网络，但有时声音质量含有干扰。他说，我们如何才能还原原来的信号呢?程伯中说，利用统计学方法，多诺霍通过尽可能地还原或重建原来的信号，开发出可以降低噪音和干扰的算法。
Dr. Donoho was born in 1957 in Los Angeles and is professor of statistics at Stanford University.
多诺霍1957年出生于美国加州洛杉矶，现为斯坦福大学(Stanford University)统计学教授。
The Hong Kong-based Shaw Prize Foundation recognizes individuals "without regard to race, nationality, gender or religious belief, who have made remarkable achievements in these areas and who have contributed exceptionally to the advancement of civilization and the well-being of mankind," Prof. Young said just before the awards were announced.
杨在获奖者名单公布前说，香港邵逸夫奖基金会(Shaw Prize Foundation)表彰在学术及科学研究或应用上获得突破成果，和该成果对人类生活产生深远影响的科学家，原则是不论得奖人的种族、国籍、性别和宗教信仰。
This year's laureates will receive their awards at a ceremony in Hong Kong on Sept. 23.
今年的获奖者将在9月23日香港举行的颁奖仪式上领奖。(WSJ)