Excerpt

The Acceptance Speech of

Professor

TERENCE CHI-SHEN TAO

Co-Winner of the 1430H / 2010G King Faisal International Prize
for Science

Your Majesty, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques,
King Abd Allah Ibn Abd Al-Aziz,
HRH Prince Sultan Ibn Abd Al-Aziz
Crown Prince, Deputy Premier
Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General
Your Highnesses,
Your Excellencies,
Distinguished Guests

I am deeply honored and humbled to be a co-winner of this year's King Faisal International Prize in science, together with Enrico Bombieri, whose work I have admired ever since I was a student. I am also very grateful for the opportunity to visit Saudi Arabia for the first time.

Mathematics is a truly international activity, and also one of our oldest. From the ancient Babylonians and Egyptians came the foundations of arithmetic; the ancient Greeks gave us geometry, number theory, and logic. In the centuries that followed, Europe fell into a dark age, but the Arab world preserved these classical works, while making further major contributions to mathematics, such as algebra, algorithms, and the Arabic numerals that are now used worldwide.

Modern mathematics rests on these foundations, and on the further contributions of countless mathematicians from all the countries of the world. I myself am an Australian of Chinese descent, working in the United States, but my colleagues come from all over the world, from Europe to Russia to the Middle East, all working towards the same common goal, to increase our understanding the patterns and phenomena that arise from the laws of both the natural world and the man-made one.

Because of all this, I am very pleased to see that this prize recognizes achievement on its own merits, regardless of national origin; in mathematics, at least, I feel that this is how it should be. I also feel that such a recognition of the value of the sciences is an important one in any part of the world, but perhaps especially here in the Arab world, given its crucial historical role in the development of science and mathematics. Saudi Arabia is of course world-famous for its natural resources and as the center of the Islamic faith, but it is of course far more than just these two things. In particular, science and learning are important for any country; I am encouraged that these activities are supported and promoted here, and I hope to see many contributions to mathematics and science from the bright young people in this country in the future.

Excerpt

H.E. RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN
Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey

Winner of the 1430H / 2010G King Faisal International Prize
for Service to Islam

Your Majesty, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques,
King Abd Allah Ibn Abd Al-Aziz,
HRH Prince Sultan Ibn Abd Al-Aziz
Crown Prince, Deputy Premier
Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General
Your Highnesses,
Your Excellencies,
Distinguished Guests

I would like to extend my heartfelt greetings to all of you and express once again that it is a distinct pleasure for me to receive the King Faisal International Award on behalf of my country, my people and myself.

Availing myself of this opportunity, I would like to convey my appreciation to the King Faisal Foundation, its distinguished executives and the members of the award committee.

It goes without saying that there are many common denominators that unite us as peoples of this region. However, I do believe that one of these denominators is more important than the others: we are all believers of a religion whose name means “peace.” Throughout history, everywhere we breathed, everywhere we were present, we advocated peace, humanitarian values and human rights.

Again, for centuries, at the core of all the civilizations that we brought into existence have always been “humanity” and all are called as “civilization of love”.

Today, as required by the responsibility history imposes upon us, I do believe that it is our duty to produce once again most beautiful examples of that civilization of love and utter aloud the message of peace, which constitutes the foundation of our civilization, to the entire world.

As opposed to those who are inclined to perceive Muslims in a different manner and those who attempt to foment prejudices, we must promote tolerance, dialogue, mutual understanding and peaceful co-existence and act a leader and example to the rest of the world in this regard.

No matter what their color, language or faith might be, we love every single human being, all the created because of the Creator, and uphold their rights and law above everything else.

Our principle is to be “honest and straightforward as commanded” in all our endeavors. Never compromising this principle, we are obliged to defend justice on all grounds with fortitude.

Justice is the most important value that should be administered, upheld and preserved in all walks of life. The root cause of most of the ongoing problems in the world is lack and deprivation of justice, and injustice constitutes the major reason for the existing tragedies.

Turkey exerts sincere efforts to bring about peace, stability and security in our region and on global scale. We all are assiduously trying to gradually expand the dialogue process that we have initiated with our neighbors to our region and beyond, and to build a more viable world.

It disturbs all of our conscience that the Middle East is known as a geography of blood and cries. We all want this region to be known, as it was known throughout history, for its science, arts, literature, peace and safety, solidarity and sharing.

I am very happy to express that our calls for peace, reconciliation, dialogue and justice resonate in an increasingly wide geography and bring hope to those souls who are thirsty for peace, as if they come across an oasis in a desert.

It is my firm belief that, all the countries in our region with which we share a common history and culture, would like to see that wars and conflicts that are continuing for years come to end, as much as we do.

It is encouraging to see that we are not alone in this struggle.

The King Faisal International Award constitutes a very meaningful contribution that supports, encourages and strengthens us in this struggle.

I would like to thank once again the King Faisal Foundation for deeming me worthy of this distinguished award.

While expressing that I will to carry this great honor with pride as long as I breathe, I would like to salute you all and extend my best regards and affection.

Translation

KING ABD ALLAH BIN ABD ALAZIZ AL SAUD

Winner of the 1428H / 2008G King Faisal International Prize
for Service to Islam

Sunday 1 Rabi I 1429H (9 March 2008G)

In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate

Praise be to Allah and Peace and Prayers be upon our Prophet, Muhammad

Brothers and Sisters,

     Frankly, the first thing that came to my mind when I heard of my nomination to the Prize commemorating my brother, King Faisal, may Allah have mercy on him, for Service to Islam, was to apologize because there are so many Muslims whose feats and sacrifices make them worthier than me of this distinction. However, my confidence in the prudence and discern of the Prize’s Committee, have made me hesitate in taking that decision. With the guidance of Allah, I decided to accept the Award, not for my person but on behalf of all Muslim men and women who have served Islam silently, away from publicity and without waiting to be rewarded.

Brothers and Sisters,

     The Muslim scientist in his laboratory, the soldier defending his land, the preacher calling for moderation, the worker resisting temptations, the righteous and conscientious judge and the student striving to acquire knowledge – all of these serve Islam. In their name, wherever they are in the lands of Islam, I accept this honor and dedicate it to them all.

     I conclude by thanking the Foundation for selecting me, praying to the Almighty to help me shoulder the responsibility of serving first my religion, then my country and my family – the people of Saudi Arabia and the Muslims at large.

Assalam Alaikum.

Excerpt

EUGENE BRAUNWALD

Co-Winner of the 1422H / 2002G King Faisal International Prize
for Medicine

These important awards are particularly noteworthy this year because they come at a time which has been so unsetting for people all over the world, especially for people in this region as well as those in my country, the United States. These prizes, under the auspices for the King Faisal Foundation, celebrate activities that unite persons of good will everywhere they celebrate efforts to advance civilization and human well being through progress in the arts and sciences.

Excerpt

MICHAEL BERRIDGE

Winner of the 1406H / 1986G King Faisal International Prize
for Science

In this modern world we are all very dependent upon each other and to operate efficiently nations must learn to communicate with each other. In addition to honoring intellectual achievement, I believe that the King Faisal International Prize helps in such understanding by bringing different people together.

It is a great honor for me to receive The King Faisal International Prize the "custodians" of a civilization that in former times taught sciences to the West. Islam has embraced many peoples, seeking out knowledge from the far corners of the world, writing it down, and developing science by theory and experiment. In the Dark Ages of Europe it was the Muslim world that kept alive the flame of science.

The Science of alchemy was brought into Europe in the Middle Ages by the writings Al-Razi and provided a key strand in the development of medical chemistry in Europe. The writings of Ibn Sina provided Europe's principal text on medicine for centuries; for example Ibn Sina is mentioned in the “Canterbury Tales" by Geoffrey Chaucer, one of the most important manuscripts of English literature, and dating from the 14th century. This was an age in which the cross fertilization of Europe and the Muslim world was at its most intense. In our own age, the King Faisal Foundation stands for such traditions of thought and scholarship that transcend the barriers of language and culture.

GREGORY PAUL WINTER
Co Winner of the 1995
King Faisal International Prize
for Medicine

While preparing for this trip to Saudi Arabia I was thinking about the crucial contributions of Arab and Muslim scholars and scientists to our civilization. Six hundred years before Descartes, Averroes and Avecenne imposed the tripe axes on space by exporting from the human body the ideas of height, width, and depth. This idea is completely non trivial and has incredible consequences for quantitative science.

For several centuries of Muslim history there was great activity in many areas of science and philosophy and art. This activity was stimulated by the prosperity and the enlightenment of the great centers of Muslim civilization.

Can some of this glorious history of science happen again in the Muslim world? Some of the elements necessary are present.

DENNIS PARNELL SULLIVAN
Winner of the 1994
King Faisal International Prize
for Science

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