Tang Prize complements Nobel Prizes by promoting public spirit

(CNA) Publication Date：02/10/2013 Source： Taiwan Today ByC.V. Chen More than 100 years ago, Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel got extremely rich after improving on nitroglycerin to make dynamite. A scientist and pacifist, Nobel was distressed by the use of dynamite in war. In his 1895 will, he used his estate to establish a foundation to honor important contributors to world peace; scientists making crucial findings in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine; and authors of moving literary works.The significance of the Nobel Prizes is not just that the large monetary awards encourage outstanding inventions and writing; even more important is that they give a chaotic world a positive link to doing good, a platform where exceptional people can work for a better and more peaceful world.Unfortunately, perhaps due to the language barrier, the ethnic Chinese world has always been somewhat cut off from the Nobel Prizes; at the same time, the 21st century is a different world from that in which Nobel lived, with high-speed communications technology and reduced barriers to movement across borders creating new demands based on developments that Nobel could never have imagined a century ago.This is exactly what motivated Dr. Samuel Yin, born in Taiwan and proud to be ethnic Chinese, to establish the Tang Prize. This prize is not meant to compete with the Nobel awards, but to address the demands of progress and share the spotlight. In other words, the Tang Prize has its own independent progressive spirit, an extension of the progressive spirit of the Nobel Prizes.Yin said his idea for the prize developed out of his admiration for Nobel's selfless foresight, coupled with the desire to make up for what the Nobel Prizes fail to encompass, thus carrying on and enhancing their spirit. The Tang Prize Foundation, launched with NT$3 billion (US$101.72 million), was approved by the Ministry of Education and courts in December 2012, and plans are to award prizes every two years in sustainable development, biopharmaceutical science, Sinology and rule of law.In terms of sustainable development, mankind has to a certain extent overcome the challenge of peace among peoples. Although scattered conflicts still break out, there has been no large-scale war in more than 60 years. The next step is how humanity can peacefully coexist with the environment. This is an area not addressed by the Nobel Prizes.The award for biopharmaceutical science recognizes that respect for life is a universal value. Innovative research in this field improves human health through disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment.The ethnic Chinese have 5,000 years of history and culture, and have absorbed many other cultures. In religion, for example, the Chinese have become a second home for Buddhism. The Sinology prize is dedicated to bringing the riches of this culture to greater world attention, and by providing international recognition, injecting more vitality into the field.In 2012 the U.N. General Assembly adopted a resolution affirming the indispensable role of rule of law to achievement of the three pillars of the U.N., viz., peace, human rights and development. Thus the Tang Prize stands out for encouraging work in this field, crucial to the reform of political, economic and social systems but not covered by the Nobel Prizes.The distinctiveness of the Tang Prize lies not in its huge monetary awards—NT$40 million for each prize, plus a research subsidy of NT$10 million—but in the independence and objectivity of its selection process. The Tang Prize Foundation will sign an agreement with Academia Sinica the same day this commentary is published, commissioning the research institution to organize four independent selection committees of local and international scholars, with the latter predominating.Invitations will be issued to prominent individuals and institutions around the world for nominations in each category, with the first prizes to be announced June 18, 2014. The prizes will then be awarded every two years in perpetuity.Academia Sinica is Taiwan's premier research body, so its handling of the selection committees can be said to represent the country's entire academic community in guaranteeing the validity of the selection process. It will also expand the reach of Taiwan's research, while serving as its ultimate test.Yin's donation to found the Tang Prize is significant on several levels. It supplants criticism with affirmation by honoring the contributions of others—not limited to ROC citizens—thus balancing the unhealthy state of journalism in Taiwan in which interest in negative news coverage far outstrips that in good news.The prize also serves to promote public spiritedness. The late U.S. steel magnate Andrew Carnegie once said the man who dies rich, dies disgraced. Yin, who has been quietly contributing to education and charity work for several decades, has announced he will donate 95 percent of his wealth to philanthropic causes, giving the ethnic Chinese community its own model.With the Tang Prize, the ethnic Chinese will go from looking to others for recognition to providing recognition to others, from award recipients to award granters. (THN)C.V. Chen is a lawyer and professor of law. These views are the author's and not necessarily those of Taiwan Today. Copyright © 2013 C.V. Chen(This commentary originally appeared in the China Times Jan. 28, 2013.)