Hong Kong-based Shaw Prize Foundation awarded prizes worth US$3 million to six scientists for their significant contributions in areas ranging form cell biology to the expansion of the universe.

Two of the recipients are Professor Saul Perlmutter of the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory of the University of California, Berkeley and Professor Xiaodong Wang of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.

The Shaw Prize is an international award managed and administered by the Shaw Prize Foundation based in Hong Kong. The Prize, established under the auspices of Sir Run Run Shaw, honors individuals, regardless of race, nationality and religious belief, who have achieved significant breakthrough in academic and scientific research or application and whose work has resulted in a positive and profound impact on mankind. Sir Shaw has also founded The Sir Run Run Shaw Charitable Trust and The Shaw Foundation Hong Kong, both dedicated to the promotion of education, scientific and technological research, medical and welfare services, and culture and the arts.