The Carlsberg Foundation Research Prizes 2022
Published:
31.08.2022
The Carlsberg Foundation’s Research Prizes 2022 have been awarded to ice core researcher and physicist Dorthe Dahl-Jensen and semiotician and historian of ideas Frederik Stjernfelt.
Ice core researcher and physicist Dorthe Dahl-Jensen from the Niels Bohr Institute at University of Copenhagen receives the prize for her outstanding research into the Arctic ice, the importance of fresh water for marine life, and changes in the climate over the Earth’s history and semiotician and historian of ideas. Semiotician and historian of ideas Frederik Stjernfelt from Department of Communication and Psychology at Aalborg University receives the prize for his many years of research in fields as diverse as semiotics, philosophy of science, literary theory, biosemiotics, the history of ideas and political philosophy.
The Prize Committee’s reasoning for nominating Dorthe Dahl-Jensen for the Carlsberg Foundation Research Prize
Dorthe Dahl-Jensen receives the prize for her outstanding research into the Arctic ice, the importance of fresh water for marine life, and changes in the climate over the Earth’s history. She has spearheaded the drilling, sampling and interpretation of data from ice cores, and her research has fundamentally transformed our understanding of the climate system.
For example, her dating of Greenlandic ice cores has shown how the atmosphere has been affected by both human activity and natural events over the past 2,000 years, including deforestation, industrialisation and volcanic eruptions.
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The Prize Committee’s reasoning for nominating Frederik Stjernfelt for the Carlsberg Foundation Research Prize
Frederik Stjernfelt receives the prize for his many years of research in fields as diverse as semiotics, philosophy of science, literary theory, biosemiotics, the history of ideas and political philosophy. He has contributed important new insights into everything from the study of signs to the basis for freedom of speech in modern democracies and cultural movements on both sides of the political spectrum. Besides his commitment to basic research, he has also taken on an admirable role as a keen communicator, critic and debater to the pleasure and benefit of those outside academia.
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Download press photos of the prizewinners
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Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, professor at University of Copenhagen
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Frederik Stjernfelt, professor at Aalborg University
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About the Carlsberg Foundation Research Prize
The Carlsberg Foundation Research Prizes were instituted in 2011 to mark the bicentenary of the birth of founder J. C. Jacobsen. The objective of the Carlsberg Foundation Research Prizes is to honour two active researchers, in Denmark or abroad, who have made vital contributions to basic research and enjoy great scientific recognition. The prizes are meant to encourage further research and can be spent, as required, on research stays abroad, field work, equipment or salary for scientific assistance.
The prizes are awarded on the recommendation of in international Prize Committee appointed by the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters and the Carlsberg Foundation. Each prize amounts to DKK 1 million. From this, DKK 250.000 is a personal gift and DKK 750.000 is for research.