The Samsung Ho-am Prize ceremony, established to honor founder Lee Byung-chul's belief in talent first and his spirit of social contribution, was held on the 1st, with Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong attending for the fifth straight year to encourage the laureates.
The Ho-am Foundation held the 36th Samsung Ho-am Prize ceremony in the afternoon at the Shilla Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul, with about 270 people in attendance, including the laureates, their families and acquaintances, and Samsung executives. This year, Sven Lidin, president of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, also attended.
This year's laureates are six people: ▲ Science Prize, physics and mathematics institutional sector: Oh Sung-jin, professor at the University of California, Berkeley ▲ Science Prize, chemistry and life sciences institutional sector: Yoon Tae-sik, professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison ▲ Engineering Prize: Kim Beom-man, emeritus professor at Pohang University of Science and Technology POSTECH ▲ Medicine Prize: Eva Hoffmann, professor at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark ▲ Arts Prize: soprano Cho Sumi ▲ Community Service Prize: Oh Dong-chan, head of the medical department at the National Sorokdo Hospital.
Each laureate received a certificate, a medal, and 300 million won in prize money, for a total of 1.8 billion won. Ho-am Foundation Chairman Kim Hwang-sik said, "We highly honor the meaningful achievements of the laureates, who have contributed to the advancement of science, technology, and culture and the arts with creative wisdom, academic passion, and an unyielding spirit of service, and have worked to build a warmer world."
Chairman Lee Jae-yong arrived at the Shilla Hotel about 10 minutes before the event began and headed to the ceremony hall without special comment. Samsung management turned out in full force for the ceremony, including Lee.
From Samsung Electronics, Vice Chairman Jun Young-hyun, CEO and head of Device Solutions (DS), and Roh Tae-Moon, Samsung Electronics CEO and head of Device eXperience (DX) (president), as well as Choi Yun-ho, head of the Business Support Office Strategy Team, Kim Won-kyung, head of Global External Relations, Lee Won-jin, DX head of the Visual Display Business (president), and Park Yong-in, head of the System LSI Business (president), attended. Also attending were Samsung Electro-Mechanics CEO and President Chang Duck-hyun, Samsung SDI CEO and President Choi Joo-sun, and Samsung Display CEO and President Lee Cheong.
The Samsung Ho-am Prize was established in 1990 by the late Senior Chairman Lee Kun-hee to honor his father's will. Each year, it honors ethnic Koreans who have achieved outstanding accomplishments in fields such as science, engineering, medicine, the arts, and social contribution and are recognized as global leaders.
Through this year, a total of 188 laureates have received a combined 37.9 billion won in prize money. In particular, at the suggestion of Chairman Lee Jae-yong to expand support for basic science at the national level, the Science Prize, previously awarded to one person, was expanded in 2021 into two institutional sectors: physics and mathematics, and chemistry and life sciences.