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Ho-Am Foundation picks five prize winners [Korea Herald 2007-04-04 10:02]

Ho-Am Foundation yesterday announced five winners of its Ho-Am Prize, one of the most prestigious awards that honors Koreans and foreigners for their achievements or services.

This year`s winners are Cheong Sang-wook, a professor at Rutgers University and POSTECH; Eom Chang-beom, a professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison; Charles D. Surh, a professor at The Scripps Research Institute; novelist Lee Cheong-joon; and Emma Freisinger, an Austrian who helped Korean leprosy patients.

The foundation, set up in memory of the late Lee Byung-chull, founder of Samsung Group, presents the annual award to "those who have made outstanding contributions to the development of science and culture and the enhancement of the welfare of mankind." Cheong, the winner of the Science Prize, has provided a new paradigm in the field of physical properties of emergent materials and discovered the high tunability of electric polarization by external magnetic fields in multiferroics where ferroelectric and magnetic orders coexist, the foundation said.

Eom will receive the Engineering Award for pioneering work researching various cutting-edge materials in the field of non-volatile memories, the next generation optical and medical sensors, as well as electronic and communication devices, it said.

Surh was named for the Medicine Prize for establishing a new chapter in the cure of the immune system through "works on the selection of young T cells in the thymus and the factors controlling mature T cell survival in the extrathymic environment," the foundation said.

Novelist Lee, the winner of the Arts Prize, was recognized for his contribution to improving the quality of Korean literature by writing more than 100 stories, 13 novels, and over 30 books featuring collections of his work over the past 42 years.

Emma Freisinger, an Austrian, was named for the Community Service Prize for her 46-year long service assisting Korean leprosy patients since she came to Korea in 1961.

The five will receive a cash prize of 200 million won each and a gold medal at the award ceremony scheduled for June 1 at Hoam Art Hall in Seoul.

By Kim Yoon-mi (yoonmi@heraldm.com)