The Blavatnik Award for Young Scientist

In 2007, Len Blavatnik, industrialist of Access Industries fame, philanthropist, and head of the Blavatnik Family Foundation, and the New York Academy of Sciences came together to create The Blavatnik Young Scientists Awards. The award is for promising postdoctoral researchers and faculty members. Individuals pioneering developments in the life sciences, physical sciences, chemistry, and engineering and those forty-two and below are eligible to be nominated for this award.

The award was initially only provided to individuals belonging to institutions in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, but in the last few years, it has expanded to include institutions and researchers in the rest of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, and Israel. The award is inspiring innovation and development in young people all over the world, which is an absolute necessity to address the crises of today.

The award is meant to recognize and encourage the innovative spirits of young scientists working in the fields of engineering, physical sciences, life sciences, and chemistry, inspiring future generations of scientists to achieve even greater heights. Winners receive a monetary prize that could range from ten thousand to a quarter of a million dollars, depending on the competition. This money is meant to provide the winners, also referred to as Laureates, the unrestricted resources necessary to continue their important work, helping to solve some of the many problems facing society today.

The Blavatnik Young Scientists Awards is allowing the younger generation the money and motivation to surpass their predecessors. The sciences are in dire need of the passion and energy that comes so naturally to the young to continuously move forward.

In times such as these, stagnation cannot be allowed to persist. In a world that tends to minimize the importance of science, the scientists, researchers, and academics of the future need all of the help they can get to create a better tomorrow for all of us.