TOKYO-- January 25, 2022 -- The Japan Prize Foundation announced the winners of the 2022 Japan prize today. Prof. Katalin Karikó (Hungary/USA) and Prof. Drew Weissman (USA) are co-winners of the Japan Prize in the fields of Materials and Production, and Prof. Christopher Field (USA) has been awarded the Japan Prize in the fields of Biological Production, Ecology/Environment.

With this year’s prize, Karikó and Weissman are being recognized for their pioneering research contributing to the development of mRNA vaccines, and Field is being recognized for his outstanding contributions to the estimation of global biospheric productivity and climate change science using advanced formulas based on observation.

This year, the Foundation asked approximately 15,500 prominent scientists and engineers from around the world to nominate researchers working in this year’s fields, and we received 208 nominations in the field of Materials and Production, and 138 nominations for the field of Biological Production, Ecology/Environment. This year’s winners were selected from that total of 346 candidates.