The Crafoord Prize

The Anna-Greta Holger Crafoord Fund was established in 1980 to promote basic scientific research through yearly donations to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Holger Crafoord (1908-1982) was very active in Swedish industry. From 1964 and on, he developed and manufactured the artificial kidney, a sort of biological dialyzer that would become of vital importance in the world. His company also developed a series of medical instruments that contributed to earn him an enormous fortune.

In 1976 he became an honorary doctor of medicine at the University of Lund, followed by his wife, Anna-Greta Crafoord (1914-1994), in 1987.

Specifically, the purpose of the Fund is to promote and award research in the fields not covered by the Nobel Prizes in natural sciences, namely, mathematics, geosciences, biosciences (with special emphasis in ecology and rheumatoid arthritis), and astronomy. The awards follow a closed cycle based on the annual sequence:

1. mathematics,
2. geosciences,
3. biosciences,
4. astronomy,
5. geosciences,
6. biosciences,
7. mathematics.

The first Crafoord Prize was awarded in 1982 to V.I. Arnold, from Moscow State University, for his contribution to the theory of non-linear differential equations. The Prize amounts to $500,000 US, a gold medal, and a diploma.

The Crafford Prize is thus every six years assigned to astronomy. The first recipient was Lyman Spitzer, Jr. (1985), then Allan R. Sandage (1991) and in 1997 there were two winners, Fred Hoyle and Edwin E. Salpeter.

More information on the Crafoord and Nobel Prizes are found in the electronic pages of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences at the address www.kva.se/eng/pg/prizes/index.asp.