The Shaw Prize awards $1 million in each of 3 areas: Astronomy, Life Science and Medicine, and Mathematical Sciences. The award was created in 2004 by Run Run Shaw who was born in China and made his money in the movie industry. According to wikipedia he has “donated billions of dollars to charity, schools and hospitals.” The prize is administered in Hong Kong and awards those “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.”

2007 Laureates:
Astronomy: Professor Peter Goldreich of the School of Natural Sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton and the Lee A. DuBridge Professor of Astrophysics and Planetary Physics at the California Institute of Technology, USA, in recognition of his lifetime achievements in theoretical astrophysics and planetary sciences.

Life Science and Medicine: Professor Robert Lefkowitz, an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the James B. Duke Professor of Medicine and a Professor of Biochemistry at the Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, USA, for his relentless elucidation of the major receptor system that mediates the response of cells and organs to drugs and hormones.

Mathematical Sciences: Professor Robert Langlands of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and Professor Richard Taylor, Herchel Smith Professor of Mathematics at Harvard University, USA, for initiating and developing a grand unifying vision of mathematics that connects prime numbers with symmetry.

Related: Millennium Technology Prize to Dr. Shuji Nakamura - Kyoto Prize for Technology, Science and the Arts - 2006 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine - Field Medal: Terence Tao