Biographies of the winners of the ”Leonardo da Vinci International Award” 

FIRENZE, 1975 

BEN LONG  

Ben Long, reared in a family of artists and writers, was as precocious in his artistic ability as he was eager to apply it. He majored in Creative Writing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Upon completing his University coursework, Long moved to New York to immerse himself in the study of fine art. In New York he became a member of the Art Students League of New York. In 1969  he  served  in  Vietnam  as  a  Marine  Corps  Combat  Officer  and  Commander.  Upon  leaving Vietnam, Long traveled to Florence, Italy, to apprentice himself to internationally-renowned Maestro Pietro Annigoni.  Long  committed  himself  to Annigoni  for  almost  eight  years.  His  apprenticeship culminated  in  1975,  when  he  was  awarded  the  prestigious  Leonardo  da  Vinci  International  Art Award. In  1984,  Long  moved  to  France,  where  he  split  time  between  Paris  and  the  region  of Provence.  By  the  time  of  the  move,  Long  completed  several  frescoes  in  Italy including  a  joint fresco with Annigoni and the only work by a non-Italian at the Abbey of Montecassino. These works set the stage for several major fresco projects in the U.S., including a dome and the largest secular fresco  in  the  United  States.  Moreover,  Long  worked  in  the  Royal Academy  as  well  as  the  Royal Portrait  Society  (London,  UK).  He  exhibited  in  Florence,  London,  Paris,  Atlanta,  San  Francisco, New York, North Carolina, and South Carolina, and he is represented in major collections throughout Europe  and  the  Americas.  In  2001,  Long  was  awarded  the  prestigious  Arthur  Ross  Award  for Excellence  in  the  Classical  Tradition  by  Philippe  de  Montebello,  longest-serving  Curator  of  the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This same year he founded the Fine Arts League of the Carolinas in Asheville, NC, a school devoted to teaching the fundamentals of classical realism in the way of the old masters.

TOURS, 1976 

JEAN GUILLAUME 

Jean Guillaume, a historian of Renaissance art and a student of André Chastel, set up at the Centre d’Etudes  Supérieures  de  la  Renaissance  (Centre  for  Higher  Renaissance  Studies)  in  Tours,  an internationally-known Department of European Renaissance Architecture History. He was introduced by Professor Stegmann, and received the Prize from the Count of Paris at Amboise Castle, close to Leonardo da Vinci’s last home. Jean Guillaume is professor at the “Centre d'études supérieures de la Renaissance  de  Tours”  and  Paris-Sorbonne  University.  He  is  a  member  of  Scientific  Council  of Palladio Center in Vicenza. He organized in Tours several  meeting  on  the history  of Architecture, published in the collection “De Architectura, Picard Ed.” created by André Chastel, in 1983. He is specialized on French and Italian Renaissance architecture, in particular on the French castles of XV et XVI century.

ATHENS, 1977 

CONSTANTINOS PALAIOLOGOS and STAVROS VALASAKIS 

Constantinos  Palaiologos  was  born  in  Athens.  He  attended  the  Athens  Business  School  and  the Panteion University, Athens (Political & Social Sciences). He studied at the School of Fine Arts of the University of Athens, graduated in Managerial Law and Philosophy, concluding his studies with a PhD  in  Philosophy  of Art  at  the  University  of Athens.  He  commenced  his  professional  career  in 1963, by demonstrating part of his work at the International Exhibition of Tessaloniki, Greece. He organized  exhibitions  and  took  part  in  group  exhibitions  in  Greece  and  abroad.  In  1965  he represented  Greece  in  the  International  Exhibition  Biennale  in  Rome,  Italy.  He  was  Professor  of Anatomy Drawing and Plastic in the School of Fine Arts in the University of Athens. His works is present in private collections and in many Galleries in Greece and in other countries. He received several National and International Awards. 

Stavros Valasakis was born in Heraklion, Creta. He studied in the School of Fine Arts (Sculptur field) at University of Athens with Scholarship from the “State Scholarships Foundation” (1960-1965). He continued  his  studies  for  one  year  in  Paris  and  returning  back  home  we  worked  as  sculptor  in National  Museum  for  three  years.  He  has  participated  in  three  National  Exhibitions  and  in  many group ones in Greece. Sculputurs from his work are placed in public areas in Greece and in other countries.

VIENNA, 1978 

OTTO J. PROHASKA 

Otto J. Prohaska is President and CEO of TransCytos, a life sciences instrumentation company in Massachusetts, USA.  Otto Prohaska obtained his Ph.D. in Applied  Physics from the University of Technology in Vienna, Austria, where he headed a micro-sensor research group at the Department of General Electronics. As Director of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Biomedical Sensors, Vienna, Austria, he invented and developed a multiple probe for brain research, which earned him several guest professor positions in Europe. An invitation of the U.S. Neuroscience Society to present his invention  at  Rockefeller  University,  New  York,  USA,  led  to  his  guest  professor  position  at  the University  of  Michigan,  Ann  Arbor,  USA  and  a  Distinguished  Associate  Professorship  at  Case Western  Reserve  University,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  USA,  to  further  develop  medical  microsensors.  Dr. Prohaska received his Executive MBA from the University of Connecticut, USA. He is founder and managing  member  of  Otto  Consulting,  LLC.,  in  Southbridge,  MA,  a  business  and  management consulting firm, specializing in high-tech new product development. Under Dr. Prohaska’s leadership TransCytos has developed a novel instrument for transfection, a fundamental and essential genetic engineering process in biomedical research, to study diseases such as cancer, obesity, heart diseases, diabetes, arthritis, substance abuse, Parkinson’s, and Alzheimer’s, as well as anxiety, aging, in drug development and production and in gene therapy.

FIRENZE, 1979 

ALBERTO BOLOGNI  

Alberto Bologni was born in Prato and completed his studies with Sandro Materassi. He obtained the diploma of the Florence Conservatoire with full marks and  special mention.  He  later studied with Stefan Gheorghiu and Ilja Grubert, obtaining the soloist’s diploma of Rotterdam Conservatoire. He was awarded prizes in the Viotti Competition of Vercelli and the Spohr Competition of Freiburg. He has appeared in the major concert halls and theatres of Italy, Finland, Germany, the United Kingdom, Romania,  Spain,  Switzerland  and  South  America.  He  participated  in  the  Festival  of  Spoleto  and Tateshina.  He  has  been  collaborating  regularly  for  more  than  twenty-five  years  with  the  pianist Giuseppe Bruno, in duo, in the Quintetto Sandro Materassi and the Trio Petrarca. He has also played with some of the foremost International musicians and made recording for discs, television and radio for Concerto, Cristophorus, Diapason, Sam, Sheva Collection, Tactus, Rai 1, Radio tre, Hessischer Rundfunk,  West  Deutscher  Rundfunk,  Radio  Suisse  Romande,  RTSI  and  Radio  Vaticana.  He  has been frequently invited to the United States to give concerts as soloist and master classes and as a teacher to the Accademia dell’ Orchestra Mozart di Bologna. He is professor of violin at Istituzione d’alta formazione musicale Luigi Boccherini di Lucca.  

TOURS, 1980 

CLAUDE NAUDION 

Claude Naudion, after his studies in Chemistry, Technology and Pharmacy, obtained a specialization in Immunology, Bacteriology and Virology. In his early career, he was teacher of Hydrology at the University  of  Tours,  focusing  his  research  on  the  natural  radioactivity  of  mineral  waters  and radioactive  metabolites. As  a  virologist,  he  joined  the  group  of  Professor  Philippe  Maupas  at  the Laboratories of Microbiology  at  the University of Tours, and he  took part  in the investigations in order to develop a vaccine against hepatitis B, to validate tests for the diagnosis of hepatitis A and B, and to study tumor cells. Today he is a biologist and pharmacist and professor at the University of Tours. 

MADRID, 1981 

FERNANDO LOPEZ VERA 

Fernando  López  Vera,  Doctor  in  Economic  Geology  and  Hydrogeology,  is  Professor  at  the Universidad  Autónoma  de  Madrid,  Faculty  of  Science,  Department  of  Agricultural  Chemistry, Geology and Geochemistry. He is the president of the Spanish Foundation Groundwater. From 2004 to 2008 he has been the coordinator of the Working Group for the reform of the Consolidated Water Act for the Ministry of Environment. He is also a member of the Water Policy Group in the National Advisory  Council  on  the  Environment.  In  1988  he  created  a  Stable  Isotope  Laboratory,  in  the Interdepartmental Research Service of Madrid University. He is member of the Spanish Association of Hydrogeologists, of the International Association of Hydrogeology, of the Groundwater Club, and of  the  Latin  American  Association  of  Development  Hydrogeology.  From  1977  to  1981  he  has cooperated with Latin American countries, within the Latin America ALFA Program, funded by the EU,  and  network  vulnerability  aquifers  CYTED  (Ibero-American  Science  and  Technology  for Development).  

ATHENS, 1982 

DIMITRIS SGOUROS 

Dimitris Sgouros was born in 1969 in Athens, Greece. He began playing the piano at a young age and gave his first public performance at the age of seven. At the age of eight, he entered the Athens Conservatoire,  studying  under  Maria  Herogiorgiou-Sigara.  Sgouros  won  several  competitions between 1978 and 1983 and in 1982, at the age of 12, Sgouros made his Carnegie Hall debut. He performed Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 with the National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by  Mstislav  Rostropovich.  In  mid-1983,  before  he  had  turned  13,  Sgouros  graduated  from  the Conservatory  with  a  Professor's  Diploma,  a  Teacher's  Diploma,  a  First  Prize,  and  a  Gold  Medal. Sgouros  continued  his  studies  at  the  Royal  Academy  of  Arts  of  London  and  the  University  of Maryland, College Park, in the United States of America. Besides his musical talents, Sgouros has undertaken  4  postgraduate  studies  in  mathematics  at  the  University  of  Oxford.  He  held  many performances  around  the  world,  and  also  for  the  royal  families  of  Britain,  Monaco,  and  Sweden. Since  March  1988,  three  Sgouros  Festivals  have  been  instituted,  in  Hamburg,  Ljubljana,  and Singapore. Dimitris Sgouros is widely acclaimed for his superlative artistry and virtuosity.  Arthur Rubinstein exclaimed: “I thank God for keeping me alive so that I would be able to hear with my own ears Sgouros play. He is the best pianist I have ever heard, including myself”.

VIENNA, 1983 

INGEBORG J. HOCHMAIR-DESOYER 

Ingeborg J. Hochmair-Desoyer, PhD, is CEO, CTO and co-founder of MED-EL Medical Electronics Corporation  with  its  global  Headquarters  in  Innsbruck,  Austria.  He  holds  a  PhD  in  electrical engineering  from  the  Technical  University  of  Vienna,  where  she  started  her  career  in  1976  as  a research  assistant.  Together  with  Erwin  Hochmair,  she  developed  the  very  first  microelectronic multichannel cochlear implant, implanted in December 1977 in Vienna. After a research stay at the Institute  for  Electronics  in  Medicine,  Stanford  University,  USA,  and  numerous  publications  and patents,  he  worked  as  a  Consultant  for  the  3M  company  on  neuroprostheses  systems  in  St.  Paul, USA.  From  1982  to  1989  she  worked  as  a  postdoctoral  research  scientist  at  the  Institute  for  of Applied  Physics  at  the  University  of  Innsbruck, Austria,  and  earned  a  professorship  for  medical technology  at  the  faculty  of  Electrical  Engineering,  Technical  University,  Vienna,  Austria.  Since 1990, Dr. Hochmair-Desoyer built up the company MED-EL as CEO and CTO which she founded together with Dr. Erwin Hochmair. In 2004 and 2012 she received two honorary degrees in medicine from the Technical University of Munich and the Medical University of Innsbruck for her pioneering scientific work and her continuing contribution in the development of implantable devices for people with  hearing  loss.  Today  MED-EL  is  a  leading  hearing  implant  company  with  28  subsidiaries worldwide and more than 1200 employees.

FIRENZE, 1984  

GIOVANNI BUONVICINI 

Soon after winning the Prize in 1984, he took a position as a Postdoctoral Associate at the University of Michigan, to work on the Stanford Linear Collider and associated experiments. He spent over five years  there,  in  the  process  getting  interested  in  accelerator  physics  topics.  In  particular,  he  co-designed and built the first of a new type of beam monitors which use the radiation emitted in the beam-beam interaction. In  1989  he  became  a  Staff  Scientist  at  CERN,  Geneva,  Switzerland,  working  in  the  ALEPH experiment, to study the millions of Z0 decays which were produced at the LEP accelerator. A  chance to start a  particle physics  group at Wayne State  opened up  in 1995, and  he  has been at Wayne since. Here, he worked for 13 years in the CLEO experiment at Cornell University, and since 2008, at the KEK accelerator in Tsukuba, Japan, where he leads the effort to produce an improved beam monitor. He has authored or co-authored over 600 papers. 

TOURS, 1985 

PATRICK BLETTERY 

Patrick  Blettery  is  an  architect,  who  was  selected  for  his  visionary  plan  for  a  floating  city  that perfectly mirrored the spirit of the Leonardo da Vinci Prize. He was introduced by Professor Michel Marot, and he received the Prize from Michel Debré, former Prime Minister. The ceremony was held at the Jean de Ockeghem Music Centre. He is today architect and professor in Paris. 

BRUXELLES, 1986 

BAIDYANATH MISRA and YVES ELSKENS  

Baidyanath Misra was born in India and graduated at the University of Delhi, where he also run the Department  of  the  International  Institutes  of  Physics  and  Chemistry  founded  by  Ernest  Solvay  in Brussels. He coined the quantum Zeno effect at the University of Texas in 1977. He analyzed the situation in which an unstable particle, if observed continuously, will never decay. The meaning of the term has since expanded, leading to a more technical definition in which time evolution can be suppressed  not  only  by measurement:  the  quantum  Zeno  effect  is  the  suppression of  unitary  time evolution  caused  by  quantum  decoherence  in  quantum  systems  provided  by  a  variety  of  sources: measurement, interactions with the environment, stochastic fields, and so on. 

Yves  Elskens  was  born  in  Belgium,  he  is  a  teacher  at  the  Catholic  University  of  Louvain.  The research  of  the  two  prize  winners,  completed  and  specialized  also  at  various  universities  in  the United States, has contributed to the study of «irreversible processes in statistical mechanics». He is today professor of Physic at the University of Marseille (France).

LONDON, 1987 

EVELYN GLENNIE

Since graduating with a honors degree from the Royal Academy of Music, London in 1985 at the age of  19,  Evelyn  gives  more  than  100  performances  a  year  worldwide,  performing  with  the  greatest conductors,  orchestras,  and  artists.  Glennie  has  been  profoundly  deaf  since  the  age  of  12,  having started  to  lose  her  hearing  from  the  age  of  8.  This  does  not  inhibit  her  ability  to  perform  at  an international level. She regularly plays barefoot during both live performances and studio recordings in  order  to  feel  the  music  better.  Glennie  contends  that  deafness  is  largely  misunderstood  by  the public.  She  claims  to  have  taught  herself  to  hear  with  parts  of  her  body  other  than  her  ears.  In response to criticism from the media, Glennie published "Hearing Essay" in which she discusses her condition. Her  diversity of  collaborations includ  visual mixing  of live  music with  the likes  of DJ Yoda  and  the  ‘Beat  Boxer’  Shlomo,  the  Dance  Choreographer  Marc  Brew  as  part  of  the  2012 Cultural Olympiad. As a double Grammy award winner and BAFTA nominee Evelyn is in demand as a composer in her own right and records high quality music for film, television and music library companies. Her most recent film score was Golf in the Kingdom released in the USA in 2011. Solo recordings now exceed 28 CD’s including the Grammy award winning Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion by Bartok and her collaboration with Bela Fleck. With over 86 international awards to date  Evelyn  continues  to  feed  the  next  generation  through  advice  and  guidance.  Awarded  Dame Commander of the British Empire in 2007 Evelyn Glennie is the first person in musical history to successfully create and sustain a full-time career as a solo percussionist.  

WÜRZBURG, 1988 

DIETRICH LORKE 

Dietrich Lorke studied Medicine at the Universities of Bonn (Germany), Montpellier (France) and Heidelberg  (Germany),  where  he  received  his  medical  degree,  followed  by  a  Dr.  med.  from  the University  of  Tübingen  (Germany)  and  a  PhD  in  Anatomy  from  the  University  of  Hamburg (Germany). He worked as Junior Lecturer at the Institute of Pathology, University of Heidelberg, and later as Junior and Senior Lecturer at the Department of Neuroanatomy, University of Hamburg. In 1999, he was appointed Professor at the University of Hamburg and in 2006 Professor of Anatomy at the University of the United Arab Emirates, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, in Al Ain. In 2009,  he  was  appointed  Professor  at  FIU.  Dietrich  Lorke's  research  focuses  on  Developmental Neuroanatomy:  he  has  analyzed  neurogenesis  in  trisomic  and  mutant  mice  and  has characterized developmental  changes  of  neurotransmitters  and  their  receptors.  Recently,  he  has  worked  on  the blood-brain-barrier, analyzing the passage of oxime-type cholinesterase reactivators into the central nervous system. He was awarded a scholarship from the "Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes" to pursue his studies and the "Dr. Martini-Award" for his research on neurogenesis. In 2005,  he  was named  "Teacher  of  the  year"  at  Hamburg  University.  Dietrich  Lorke  has  authored  of  many  peer-reviewed research papers and he is a member of the Anatomical and Neuroscience Societies.  

MADRID, 1989 

JULIÁN AGUT SÁNCHEZ 

Julián Agut is  the  CEO of Farmadiet Group Holding,  a  Barcelona based  company engaged  in the development, manufacturing,  marketing  and  sale  of  pharmaceutical,  nutritional  and  veterinary products.  He  started  to  work  when  he  was  17  years  old  as  a  laboratory  technician  in  the Microbiology Laboratory in Ferrer Group, combining work with his degree studies. At the age of 21, he  received  an  Award,  with  a  scholarship  of  one  year  in  the  Institute  of  Fundamental  Biology, directed by Dr. Juan Oró, working under Dr. Gelpi´s supervision in the field of Gas Chromatography Mass  Spectrometry  and Liquid  Chromatography applied  to define  metabolism of  drugs. One  year later, he created a Biochemistry Department in the Research Centre of Ferrer Group and he began to collaborate with the Department of Brain & Cognitive Sciences at M.I.T, where he worked together with Professor Richard Wurtman for over 10 years in the pharmacological action of Phospholipids Precursors in preserving Brain Phospholipids Metabolism and its impact on memory. At the age of 49, he left the Ferrer Group, where he was Deputy Director company to found Farmadiet Holding Group,  where  he  was  a  member  of  the  board  of  directors  and  CEO  until  its  integration  in  Opko Health, Inc. in 2012. 

AMSTERDAM, 1990 

JOOST VAN DEN TOORN 

Joost van den Toorn studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy. Between 1979 and 1985 he travelled in Mexico, Egypt and Japan. He exhibits in solo and group exhibitions in the Netherlands and abroad. His work is characterized by irony, gravity, melancholy and human inadequacies (outsiders). Van den Toorn exhibited solo and group work at Gallery 05”T en Gallery Swart in Amsterdam; Gallery de Gryse,  Tielt  (België);  Gallery  OZ,  Parijs;  Gallery  Tanya  Rumpff,  Haarlem;  Gallery  Torch, Amsterdam;  Groninger  Museum,  Groningen;  Mücsarnok,  Budapest;  La  Chapelle  de  la  Tour  d'Auvergne, Quimper; Stedelijk Museum het Prinsenhof, Delft; Richard Demarco Gallery, Edinburgh; Rijksmuseum  Kröller  Müller,  Otterlo;  Vishal,  Haarlem;  Museum  Beeldenaan  Zee,  Scheveningen; Willem Baars Projects, Amsterdam and Garage Rotterdam. He follows his own artistic dreams and is not hesitating  to  use  work  of  other  artists  openly.  Nowadays  Joost  is  not  only  still  active  as  a sculptor, he is also very active in promoting artists “on the edge of our society”. He says about his collection of art of those artists: ”Good  art  is  so  rare, that  it  is  good  also  to  look  for it  at  places where art is not obviously present, such as for instance in psychiatric institutions.” 

ATHENS, 1991 

LEONIDAS KAVAKOS 

Leonidas Kavakos began studying violin at five years old and continued his studies at the Hellenic Conservatory  with  Stelios  Kafantaris.  An  Onassis  Foundation  scholarship  enabled  him  to  attend master classes with  Josef  Gingold at Indiana University.  He made his concert debut at the Athens Festival in 1984. In 1985, at age 18, he won the International Sibelius Competition in Helsinki and in 1986 won silver medal in the Indianapolis International Violin Competition. He also took first prizes at the Naumburg Competition in New York (1988) and the Paganini Violin Competition (1988) at the age of 21. His United States debut was in 1986, and, the following year, he gave recitals at venues across  the  country.  Kavakos  now  tours  North America  annually  and  works  with  numerous  major orchestras, including the Chicago, and Montreal Symphony Orchestras. He now works extensively in major concert halls across the continent, working with world class orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic and the Vienna Philharmonic. He was called “The Violinist of Violinists” by the Strad Magazine. Having won  the Sibelius contest, Kavakos  went  on to win another  coveted  distinction, once again working on Sibelius. He won the 1991 Gramophone Concerto of the Year Award for the world premiere release on the BIS label of the Sibelius Violin Concerto in both its final version and in  the  original  1903/04,  version.  He  has  made  various  other  recordings  for  Delos  and  Finland Records and he is also a keen chamber music performer and a conductor. He is designated as artistic director of the Camerata Salzburg and followed Sir Roger Norrington 2007 in this position. Leonidas Kavakos plays the ‘Abergavenny’ Stradivarius of 1724. 

VIENNA, 1992 

HELMUT DEUBNER  

Born in Vienna, father of 4 children. He graduated as a student of Professor Roland Rainer from the Austrian Academy  of  Fine Arts  and  from  THE  Eindhoven,  Netherlands.  Since  1980  he  has  been working  as  independent  architect  in  Austria.  Between  1989  and  2003  he  was  President  of  the Austrian Institute for Building Biology and Building Ecology, IBO. In 1991 he founded the “Global Network  of  Organisations  for  Environmentally  Conscious  and  Healthy  Buildings”.  Between  1995 and  1998  he  was  academical  lector  at  the  University  of  Economics  in  Vienna,  at  the  Institute  of Technology. From 1996 until 2005 he was visiting professor at the Donau-Universität Krems, at the Center of Architecture, Construction and Environment.   In 2005 he was nominated member of the advisory council for construction and architecture of the Government of Lower Austria. In his  role as  architect, Helmut  Deubner  focuses on  eco-architecture, landscaping  and  community and participation projects. During the last 30 years, numerous private and community buildings in Lower Austria have been planned and executed by his office. Helmut Deubner participated in various architectural  competitions  and  achieved  many  times  first  place.  He  received  several  awards,  e.g.  Special Award „Großer Österreichischer Wohnbaupreis“ (Austrian National Housing Design Award) in  1990,  first  price  of  the  BDO-Auxilia  Umweltpreis  (Environmental Award)  in 1997,  the  special award „NÖ Holzbau-Preis“ (Timber Construction Award) in 2005 and the Urban Design Award for the housing development in Lassee, Lower Austria, in  2007.

TOURS, 1993 

FRÉDÉRIC PATAT 

Frédéric Patat is an engineer from Ecole Polytechnique. In 1981 he graduated in Acoustic Physics from the University of Paris, obtaining a Ph.D. in Engineering in 1984. He is one of a group of seven selected CNES astronauts to be trained for flights on the Space Shuttle and the USSR Salyut Space Station. His research was aimed to develop the ultrasound techniques used aboard the space shuttle to study cardio-vascular changes during an orbital flight. He is now Professor of Biophysics at the Medical Faculty in F. Rabelais University, Tours - France.  

FIRENZE, 1994 

FABRIZIO ROSSI PRODI  

Fabrizio Rossi Prodi was born and received his formal training in Florence, Italy. He is full professor of Architectural  and  Urban  Design  at  the  University  of  Florence.  He  is  member  of  the  Teaching Board of the Doctorate in Architectural and Urban Design. He has promoted seminars, conventions, and lectures on the issues of contemporary architecture and the city; he has published over eighty essays, and eight books on several aspects of architecture. He is interested in sustainability, new materials and the synthesis of different disciplines in the project. In general, he seeks for a humanization of the project, probably the main heritage of his Florentine origin, that he pursues in the connections between architectural organisms and urban places, between construction and nature. His activity has mainly regarded the re-development of abandoned areas, the design of urban spaces and  facilities.  Amongst  his  works  of  architecture  there  are  accommodation  and  health  facilities, university  pavilions,  a  swimming  pool  and  two  sports  halls,  offices,  industrial  pavilions.  He  has developed urban projects of public spaces and residential districts, in historical contexts as well. He is winner of several international and national architectural contests.  

BRUXELLES, 1995 

JOHAN SCHMIDT  

Johan Schmidt acquired a remarkable reputation both by his virtuosity and by his sensibility. Pupil of Eduardo  del  Pueyo,  he  then  perfected  with  the  pianist  Karl-Heinz  Kammerling.  He  distinguished itself in numerous international competitions: 4th prize and the prize of the public in Reine Elisabeth competition, in  1987, 3rd prize  in Tchaikovsky  competition, in  Moscow  in 1990,  first prize  in  the Maria Callas competition, in Athens and first prize in a competition, in Tokyo in 1989. Johan Schmidt plays regularly with the main Belgian and foreign orchestras and his soloist's qualities led him to be the guest of prestigious concert halls such as Schauspielhaus of Berlin, Concertgebouw of Amsterdam, Suntory and Casals Halls of Tokyo, the Room Rachmaninov in Moscow, etc. His  interest  for  the  chamber  music  brings  him  to  play  in  particular  with  the  violinists  Yuzuko Horigome and Augustin Dumay, the American G-string Quartet and Mahler Piano Quartet. He  recorded  several  CD  for  the  firm  EMI-Fontec  (Japan)  and  signed  at  the  Belgian  publisher’s Cypress a luxurious performance of 24 Preludes op. 34 and of the Second Sonata of Chostakovitch. 

LONDRA, 1996 

JOANNA QUINN 

She was born in Birmingham and grew up in North London. She completed a foundation course in art  at  Goldsmiths  College,  University  of  London  before  studying  for  a  BA  in  Graphic  Design  at Middlesex University.  Quinn's first film “Girls  Night Out”  was completed in  1987  and won three awards  at  the Annecy  Film  Festival. This  film  introduced  the  anti-heroine  character  of  Beryl  and follows her antics when she goes to see a male stripper. Beryl appeared in Quinn's next film Body Beautiful (1990) in this film she is the factory union rep and she had to deal with a macho workmate Vince,  voiced by Rob  Brydon.  In Quinn's multi  award winning film  Dreams  and Desires- Family Ties (2006), Beryl becomes obsessed with film making and is asked to video a friend's wedding - with  disastrous  consequences.  In  1987  Quinn  founded  Beryl  Productions  International  Ltd  with producer/writer Les Mills. Quinn has been honored with retrospectives of her work in all over the world  and  2008  saw  the  culmination  of  her  work  in  an  exhibition  called  ‘Drawings  that  Move’, curated  by  Michael  Harvey  at  the  National  Media  Museum  in  Bradford,  England.  This  much celebrated exhibition has since travelled to Valencia, Spain and the Czech Republic. Quinn has won over 90 international awards, including 2 Emmy awards, 4 Bafta awards and Jury prizes at all the major animation festivals.  

WÜRZBURG, 1997 

KLAUS OSPALD 

Klaus Ospald was born in Muenster, Germany. He studied composition under prof. Juergen Ulrich at the Academy  of  Music  in  Detmold  and  after  he  studied  piano  under  prof.  Marta  Sosinka,  music theory under prof. Zolt Gardonyi and composition under Bertold Hummel at the Music Academy in Wuerzburg. He graduated with a master class diploma in 1986 and has since then held the position of  junior lecturer in music theory and aural training. He received a scholarship for composition at the Citee des Artes in Paris and the talent award and the state prize from the Federal Capital Stuttgart and from the Free State of Bavaria. Starting from 1991, he has published chamber music pieces of great success. Today he is a composer in Wüerzburg. 

MADRID, 1998 

EIG OMADA, 

Eig Omada is an artist and a creator of highly appreciated drawings in Spain and abroad. He lives and works in Madrid 

AMSTERDAM, 1999 

BENOÎT HERMANS  

Benoît Hermans was born in Whalviller, a village in the south of Holland (Limburg). He attended the Academy  in  Maastricht  and  he  studied  Philosophy,  considering  this  subject  fundamental  for  his development and inspiration as a visual artist. He lives in Maastricht, where he is still very active as a  painter.  In  2007  also  a  monography  about  his  work  was  written  by  the  former  director  of  the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Rudi Fuchs. This first monograph on Hermans gives an extensive survey of his oeuvre with 95 works in color and two texts in which the process of creation and the force  of  the  images  are  handled  in  more  depth.  With  Ovid’s  theme  ‘disguise,  shifting, metamorphosis’  as  guide,  Rudi  Fuchs  looks  for  the  artistic  element  of  his  strange,  inimitable gamboling  poetry.  In  ‘Mind  the  Gap’  Hermans  himself  writes  of  the  fascinations  which  form  the basis of his unique language of imagery by evocating the genesis of one of his earliest works. When leafing  through  this  monograph  you  will  literally  be  swept  along  by  the  continual  novelty  and infectious directness of these images.” 

ATHENS, 2000 

NIKOS FRANTZOLAS 

Nikos Frantzolas was born in Athens in 1962. His love of art, and particularly of painting, manifested itself at an early age. He studied Painting at the School of Arts in the University of Athens and Stage Design in the same University with a scholarship of “Foundation Public Scholarships” of Greece. He has organized solo exhibitions in Athens (1990), Thessaloniki (1994), London (1994), Athens (2009) and participated in many group exhibitions in Greece. His works are in private and public collections in Greek and in abroad. He has sets and costumes, so for many TV and for film productions. He is also involved in book illustration. He lives and works in Athens. 

VIENNA, 2001 

RENATE MOTSCHNIG 

Renate Motschnig is Professor at the Faculty of Computer Science at the University of Vienna and head of the Computer Science Didactics and Learning Research Center and she teaches courses on Communication in other Institutes around Europe. Since 2005 she has been teaching interdisciplinary courses  in  the  field  of  communication,  research  methods,  human-computer  interactions  & psychology,  and  technology.  Renate  is  author  of  many  publications  in  refereed  journals  and conference proceedings in the fields of computer science, psychology, and education. She is the e-learning  coordinator  of  the  Faculty  of  Computer  Science.  She  is  in  the  process  of  building  and intensifying  interdisciplinary  co-operations  with  psychologists,  educational  scientists,  and translational scientists in the areas of knowledge development, communication, and learning.  Her research goals center around the discovery of principles and the development of techniques and tools  to  improve  the  quality  of  socio-technical  systems.  Her  current  research  interests  include requirements engineering, web engineering, methods for systems development, technology-enhanced learning,  person-centered  communication  and  new  media,  organizational  development,  cognitive psychology,  and  humanistic  psychology  in  the  context  of  ICT.  Renate  is  in  the  process  of investigating  the  potentials  of  introducing  the  Person-Centered Approach  to  project  management, requirements engineering, as well as teaching and learning with new media. 

TOURS, 2002 

FRÉDÉRIC BROCHET 

Frédéric  Brochet  is  a  chemist  and  œnologist,  psychologist  and  a  winegrower.  He  did  his  PhD  at Bordeaux  University  II,  as  well  as  doing  some  studies  in  Paris,  looking  at  the  subject  of  the perception of wine. Set for a career as an academic, he grew disenchanted with both Bordeaux and the French University system. He decided to get involved with Ampelidae, his own wine project, and then to teach on the side. Ampelidae is born in 1995, in the family domain where he started a few years  before  to  produce  his  first  wine  at  the  age  of  11.  He  currently  spends  four  weeks  a  year teaching at the Slow Food University in Pollenza, Italy. He makes a range of different wines. The top ones, labelled with a single letter indicating the variety, are from organically managed vineyards, and they are beautifully packaged, with simple labels and a short metal capsule reminiscent of that of Ridge and Ravenswood (two Californian producers). 

FIRENZE, 2003 

ROBERTO VITTORI  

He graduated  in Aeronautical Science  and  he completed  basic  training with  the  U.S. Air  Force at Reese  Air  Force  Base  in  Texas.  He  also  graduated  from  the  U.S.  Navy  Test  Pilot  School  and completed  the  Italian  Air  Force’s  Accident  Prevention  course  and  Accident  Investigation  course (New Mexico). Graduated from the NATO Defense College Senior Course 108 in 2006. He received several prestigious awards, among them a special recognition as 'Commendatore della Repubblica' awarded in 2005 by  the  President of  the Italian  Republic. He  flew Tornado GR1 aircraft  with  the 155th Squadron, 50th Wing from 1991 to 1994 and then served at the Italian Test Centre as project pilot for the development of the new European aircraft, the Euro Fighter EF2000, until 1998. From 1996  to  1998,  he  was  the  national  representative  in  the  Beyond  Visual  Range Air-to-Air  Missile (BVRAAM) research and development program. Flight Safety Officer at the Italian Test Centre and teacher of aerodynamics for the Italian Air Force’s Accident Investigation Course. In 1998, he was selected as an astronaut by the Italian Space Agency (ASI), in cooperation with ESA and, one month later,  he  joined  the  European  Astronaut  Corps,  whose  home-base  is  ESA’s  European  Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany.  He has taken part at several space missions and training programs that qualifies astronauts for future assignment  on  the  Space  Shuttle  and  International  Space  Station  and  he  participated  to  his  third mission in 2011. One of Vittori’s main tasks was to grapple AMS-02 with the Shuttle robotic arm from its payload bay and berth it to the ISS for installation. This was the final flight of the Space Shuttle Endeavour. Roberto Vittori is a colonel in the Italian Air Force. He has logged nearly 2000 hours in over 40 different aircraft, including F-104, Tornado GR1, F-18, AMX, M-2000, G-222 and P-180. 

BRUXELLES, 2004 

FRANÇOISE ROSIER  

Françoise Rosier studied «Histoire de l’Art et Archéologie» at the Free University of Brussels. She then  went  on  to  study  preservation-restoration  of  art  at  the  National  School  for  Visual  Arts  in Brussels.  She  specialized  on  «peinture  mate»,  an  original  process  invented  by  Antoine  Wiertz (1805-1865).  She  then  completed  her  course  by  one-year  stage  at  the  Royal  Institute  for Artistic Patrimonial in Brussels (IRPA). She has collaborated in several restoration works for, i.e. the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Brussels, for the Music Instrument Museum in Brussels and for the Gaiffier d’hestroy Museum in Namur (Belgium). Françoise Rosier created her own restoration workshop in 1996,  now  well  recognised  by  the  «connaisseurs».  In  this  context,  she  worked  on  paintings  by Permeke, Paulus, Van Risselberghe, Delville, Frédéric, Bonnet, Van Alsloot,… She also participated in the restoration of a polychromic work of false marble at the “Chapelle St Marcou” in the Sablon Church (Brussels) under the supervision of Mrs Erika Rabelo.

LONDON, 2005 

SIDSEL DORPH-JENSEN 

She was born in Denmark in 1973, and has since 2010 had her own Studio & Workshop in Aarhus City. She has lived 10 years abroad, first in Stockholm, where she began her training, then London where  she  finished  her  Master  degree  at  the  Royal  College  of Art  and  started  her  business.  She attended the Royal College of Art, London - Master of Art, Goldsmithing, Silversmithing, Metalwork & Jewellery, and the Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts & Design, Stockholm - Bachelor of Art, Metallformgivning, 2001. She is member of both Danske Sølvsmede, Kjøbenhavns Guldsmedelaug and Contemporary British Silversmiths. In 2006 she presented The Goldsmiths’ Company’s Modern Collection at Prince Charles visit to Goldsmiths’ Hall in London. She has been an Associate memberof the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths in London since 2010. While at the Royal College, Sidsel received  her  first  major  recognition  by  winning  the  Goldsmiths’  Company’s  Young  Designer-Silversmith Award in 2002. The piece she had created ended up in the Victoria and Albert Museum and it led to some significant commissions.

WÜRZBURG, 2006, 

REBECCA BASILE 

Rebecca Basile is a young Italian biologist who studied at Würzburg University. She has focused her research on the social behavior of the bees, especially on the Socio-physiology in honey bees and its role  for  bee  health.  She  has  studied  the  “honey  bee  health”,  to  understand  how  the  “socio-physiology” influences  the health  status of  individual bees  and whole  colonies (social  immunity). Her  experimental  approach  includes  classical  physiology  of  individuals  (behavioral  and immunological biology, neurobiology) and monitoring of whole colonies. Behavioral performances of individuals are cognitive abilities, communication performance and orientation. We follow large numbers of individually identified bees’ life-long using high-technologies. She is still working as a talented scientist in the field of the behavioral biology at the University of Würzburg.

MADRID, 2007 

EMILIO BENITO GARCÍA 

Emilio Benito García is a lawyer, also graduated at the University of Infirmary and the University of Urgencies and Emergencies. He has been awarded with the Cross to the Police Merit in the 2003 and Silver Cross of the Order of Isabel the Catholic, granted by King D. Juan Carlos I in 2003.  In 1992, under  the  direction  of  the  Dr.  Simón  Viñals,  he  created  the  Service  of  Municipal Attendance  of Urgency and Rescue, SAMUR. At the beginning, he was in charge of the personnel management and at the moment he is responsible for the external training course. SAMUR is a specialized and highly qualified  emergency  system  of Madrid. The  name  stands for  Servicio de Asistencia  Municipal  de Urgencia y Rescate. The main objective  is to solve efficiently the medical emergencies that could arise in the streets, inside the Madrid metropolitan area. SAMUR also assumes the leading role in the management of  terrorist  attacks or  catastrophe. Their  effort was  remarkable in the  terrorist events developed in Madrid on  11 March 2004, during the 2004 Madrid train bombings. They were also deployed to the accident involving Spanair Flight 5022. 

AMSTERDAM, 2008 

TIES RIJCKEN 

Ties Rijcken's research integrates hydraulic engineering with related disciplines, such as urbanism, architecture and innovation management. Graduated an industrial design engineer at Delft University of  Technology  (2003),  he  entered  the  professional water  world  through  his  work  on  floating technology  and  living  with  water  concepts.  This  architectural  work  continued after  receiving  the Leonardo da Vinci Award. He kept on specializing in floating houses and floating neighborhoods. He designed a balancing system for floating houses which is still on the market, and registered a patent for  a  floating  platform  construction system.  He  gradually  moved  from  how  to  build  floating neighborhoods,  to  why  would we  want  to  do  so. This  interest brought  him  to the  faculty  of  civil engineering, after  four years  of various  design, research  and  education projects  at the faculties of Architecture and Industrial Design Engineering and, on a freelance basis, a number of non-academic organizations. Ties Rijcken's research integrates hydraulic engineering with related disciplines, such as urbanism, architecture and innovation management. For half the week, Ties Rijcken has recently been appointed scientific secretary at the Delft Infrastructures & Mobility Initiative (DIMI) and Delft Environment Initiative (DEnvI).

ATHENS, 2009 

DIONYSIS GRAMMENOS 

Dionysis Grammenos was born in Corfu Island and his musical intelligence and virtuosity have been recognized  by  conductors and  instrumentalists  worldwide.  His  international  career  was  launched when he  won  the first prize  at  the Eurovision Musicians International  Competition 2008,  the first wind player to win this competition, performing in front of a huge audience and live broadcasted on television in more than 20 countries. Despite his young age, the 22-year-old Dionysis Grammenos had already  performed  with  many  international  Orchestras.  Dionysis  Grammenos’  recent  and upcoming engagements include performances as solist in prestigious halls. Dionysis Grammenos has a strong passion for chamber music and performs regularly with Berlin Philharmonia and Salzburg Mozart  Quartet.  Already  at  the  age  of  21  he  made  his  conducting  debut  with Vienna  Chamber Orchestra. He is a Gold Medallist of the City of Athens for his services to music and equally holds a prize for mathematics. Grammenos was appointed Artistic Director of the Corfu Festival of Arts in 2010.  He  received  his  Diploma  with  1st  Prize  from the Athens  Conservatory  and  continued  his further  musical  development  in  style  and  interpretation  under  Prof.  Martin Spangenberg  with  a scholarship from  the Onassis  Foundation. Dionysis  Grammenos was  invited to  record the  clarinet concertos by Nielsen and Spohr for his first CD with Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Ari Rasilainen.

VIENNA, 2010 

JULIUS BRENNECKE 

Julius was born in Munich, and he studied Biology in Heidelberg. The choice whether to specialize in  the  biomedical  area  or  in the  field  of  conservation  biology  and  the  study  of  natural  animal populations was a steady companion. Two 5-months trips to the Galapagos Islands and one to the Serengeti  in  Tanzania  fueled  his  passion  in  the  field  research  area.  Yet  he  also experienced  an immensely  stimulating  research  internship  at  the  EMBL  in  Heidelberg  in  the  area  of  molecular genetics.  Since  his  Diploma  thesis  in  2000  he  studies  selected  aspects  of  Drosophila  (fruit  fly) development.  During  his  PhD  time at  EMBL  Heidelberg  Julius  stumbled  coincidentally  into  the novel area of RNA interference, one of the most exciting areas of biological research today.  In 2005 Julius moved to the United States where he worked at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories (New York)  and  at  Harvard  Medical  School  (Boston).  During  those  three  years,  his  work  focused  on understanding  how organisms  defend  themselves  against  selfish  genes,  which  populate  every genome.  Since  January  2009  Julius  is  heading a  research  group  at  the  Institute  of  Molecular Biotechnology  in  Vienna.  Research  in  Julius’  laboratory  is  focused  towards understanding  how  a specialized RNAi pathway called the piRNA pathway is controlling and selectively silencing selfish genetic elements  such  as  jumping  genes  (transposons)  in  the  animal  germline.  His  team  is investigating  this  in  the  genetic model  organism  Drosophila  melanogaster  and  combines  classical genetics with modern high throughput sequencing and computational biology.  

DUBLIN, 2011 

DAVID O’REILLY 

David O’Reilly is an Irish film maker and writer based in Los Angeles, California. At 15-years-of-age a love of drawing led him to an internship at a local animation studio where he learned the ropes and  excelled,  teaching  himself  3D  software in  his  spare time.  He  is  known for  creating animated films using a distinctive 3d style. His first film was entitled Ident from which he draws his logo. This film sets the tone for his entire œuvre, though the direct inclusion of outside memoirs disappear in his later work. He created the first video for Irish rock band U2's single "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight." His short  film,  Please  Say  Something, was awarded  the  Golden Bear  at  the  2009 Berlin International Film Festival, Best Narrative Short at the 2009 Ottawa International Animation Festival and several other awards. His latest short film, The External World, premiered at the 67th Venice  Film  Festival and  the  2011  Sundance  Film  Festival,  and  he  won  over  forty  awards  on  its festival circuit including the IFTA for Best Animation. O'Reilly's work has been characterized by the use of intentionally stripped down 3d animation. He was an early adopter of glitch effects and uses elements of the software used inside his work.

TOURS, 2012 

NICOLAS MONMARCHÉ 

Nicolas Monmarché is an Informatics researcher. Since his earlier contact with research in computer science,  during  his engineering  curriculum,  Nicolas  Monmarché  has  been  interested  in  ants  and specifically  in  their  collective  behavior,  and how  these  behaviors  can  be  transposed  to  computer science techniques. He has studied the behavior of ants with the aim of incorporating their collective-intelligence mechanisms to create tools adapted for disabled people. The purpose of this studies has spread  to  many  areas,  such  as  searching  information  on  the  web,  optimizing  the  layout  of  visual keyboards  or  building simplified  web  sites  for  disable  people.  Today  he  is Assistant  Professor  in Computer Science, Polytech Tours, University of Tours.

FLORENCE, 2013 

NICOLA SALVIOLI 

Hailing from the province of Modena, he attended the Art Institute of Mantua. Thanks to his passion for art, he moved to Florence to approach the world of restoration. He accessed through a public competition to the conservation  school  of  Opificio  delle Pietre  Dure,  in  the  Department  of  Bronzes  and  Ancient  Weapons, graduating with highest level of distinction. During his studies, he collaborated with professional conservators in  the  Florentine  territory.  He  has  worked  with  the  Opificio  delle Pietre  Dure  at  the  restoration  of  the Beheading  of  John  the  Baptist  by  Vincenzo  Danti  and  the  final  stages  of  the restoration  of  the  “Gate  of Paradise” by Lorenzo Ghiberti.  He restored the St. John the Baptist preaching to a Levite and a Pharisee by Giovanfrancesco  Rustici  in  the  Baptistery  of  Florence,  Christ  and  the  bronze  relief  (in  progress)  by Gianbologna for the funeral chapel of the artist at the Basilica of Saint Annunziata in Florence. He works with several museums, institutions and organizations, in Italy and abroad, collaborating on diagnostic campaigns to improve the knowledge of the work of art. He is an active tutor in several training centers. 

BRUXELLES, 2014 

MONIQUE WEIS 

Monique Weis, PhD in History in 2001, teaches at the University of Brussels, mainly on subjects linked to the history of religions. She specialized in the political and religious history of Early Modern Europe, including the history of ideas. She has a particular interest in polemic literature produced in the context of confessional strife  (16th  and  17th century),  as  well  as  in  the  writings of  Enlightenment  thinkers.  She  also  works  on  the reception of  the past, and  particularly  of the Renaissance  and  in the arts  and literature of  the  19th and  20th century. She is the director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Religions and Secularism at the Free University of Brussels. She is a member of International networks such as the Renaissance Society of America, the Société francaise d’Etude du XVIe siècle and the Society of Reformation Research.

LONDON, 2015 

JOHN SAUNDERS 

Born and bred in the city of Cambridge, John went to the Netherhall School and Hills Road Sixth From College before joining the British Army and serving as an Officer in the Royal engineers. John left the Army to train as a doctor and attended the Nottingham University Medical School. After his graduation, he followed a career in surgery and he spent the next eight years training within the East Midlands where he met his wife. He is now a Surgical Registrar and he is currently taking time away from training to perform medical research within his specialist area of gastro-esophageal surgery at the University of Nottingham. Dr. Saunders John has published a number of academic papers within the field of surgery and he is currently completing a PhD. He has recently awarded a Royal College of Surgeons Research Fellowship for his pioneering research into Esophageal Cancer.

WURZBURG, 2016 

STEPHAN BUSCH 

Stephan  Busch  was  born  on  12.7.1978  in  Koblenz.  After  the  completion  of  the  high  school,  he studied computer science (in addition to medicine) at the University of Würzburg. He completed his degree in 2005 and began the space master program. Stephan Busch received a joint master in space science and technology of the University of Technology, Lulea Sweden and the Technical University of  Helsinki,  Finland  2007.  He  began  his  doctorate  in  2007  and  currently  he  works  as  a  research associate  at  the  “Zentrum  für  Telematik”  in  Würzburg,  with  the  emphasis  on  innovative,  cost-effective and robust satellite system.

MADRID, 2017 

GUILLERMO GARCIA-CALVO 

Born in Madrid in 1978 Guillermo García Calvo began his musical education at the age of seven. He concluded his musical studies at the University of Music in Vienna with a thesis on Parsifal and a performance of the Overture from Tannhäuser in the Großer Saal at the Musikverein. Between 2001 and  2002  he  worked as  assistant for  Iván  Fischer  and  the  Budapest  Festival Orchestra and in  the summer  of  2007  for  Christian  Thielemann  and  Der  Ring  des  Nibelungen  at  the  Bayreuther Festspiele. In March 2003 he celebrated his debut as opera conductor with a performance of Hansel and Gretel at the Schlosstheater Schoenbrunn. In January 2011 Guillermo García Calvo made his opera debut in Spain with the premiere of Tristan and Isolde at the Teatro Campoamor of Oviedo, where he initiated the first release of the Ring des Nibelungen  in  the  city  of  Oviedo  in  September 2013.  The  first  opera  of  Wagner's  tetralogy,  Das Rheingold,  enjoyed  an  overwhelming  success  among  critics  and  the  public.  In December  2009 Guillermo  García  Calvo  conducted  the  new  production  of  Macbeth  at  the  Vienna  State  Opera  standing in for Daniele Gatti, shortly after having celebrated his debut at the Deutsche Oper Berlin with another new production in May 2009, La Cenerentola. As from the 2017-18 season he starts his tenure as musical director (Generalmusikdirektor) of the Theater Chemnitz and the Robert-Schumann-Philharmonie. 

AMSTERDAM, 2018 

BOYAN SLAT 

Boyan  Slat  was  born  on  27  July  1994  in  Delft.  Boyan  has  been  doing  engineering  projects  and building things since he was two years old. He set a Guinness World Record by launching 213 water rockets simultaneously when he was 14. In 2011, at age 16, Boyan came across more plastic than fish while diving in Greece. He decided to devote a high school project for deeper investigation into ocean plastic pollution and why it was considered impossible to clean up. He later came up with the idea  to build  a  passive  system,  using  the  circulating  ocean  currents  to  his  advantage,  which  he presented  at  a TEDx  talk  in  Delft in  2012. Slat  discontinued his  aerospace engineering  studies  at Delft University of Technology, to devote all his time to developing his idea. He founded The Ocean Cleanup in 2013, and shortly after, his TEDx talk went viral after being shared on several news sites; now  he  is  CEO  of  the  Ocean  Cleanup.  The  Ocean  Cleanup's  mission  is  to  develop  advanced technologies to rid the world's oceans of plastic. After foundation, The Ocean Cleanup managed to raise  $2.2  million  through  a  crowdfunding  campaign  with  the  help  of  38,000  donors  from  160 countries. In June 2014, the Ocean Cleanup published a 528-page feasibility study about the project's potential.  In  November  2014,  Boyan  Slat  was  awarded  the  Champions  of  the Earth Award of  the United Nations Environment Programme. HM King Harald of Norway awarded him in 2015 of the Young Entrepreneur Award. Forbes included Slat in their 2016 “30 under 30” list, and in February 2017, Reader’s Digest appointed him European of the Year.

FLORENCE, 2019

Florence celebrated the five hundredth anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci's death, staging the ceremony for the seventh time from June 7 to 9. In addition to the Rotarian event, the city organizes a whole year of events in honor of the genius.

VIENNE, 2020

The Rotary Club Vienna Ring was supposed to organize the event, unfortunately due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the event was cancelled.

VIENNE, 2021

ALMA DEUTSCHER

On Saturday, May 29, 2021, the Rotary Club Vienna-Ring awarded the prestigious Leonardo da Vinci Prize to Alma Deutscher, composer and virtuoso pianist and violinist, at the Todesco Palace next to the Vienna State Opera. Alma Deutscher is 16 years old and has already composed a complete opera "Cinderella", a piano concerto and a violin concerto. She has been living in Vienna since 2018 and has been inspired to write compositions such as her original Siren Sound Waltz. The prize was presented to Alma Deutscher by Mr. Wolfgang Sobotka , President of the Austrian Parliament, himself a practicing musician and Rotarian. Praise-winners were the director of the Vienna State Opera, Mr. Bogdan Roščić, and Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg.Premio president Wulf Gordian Hauser commented: "At the age of 16, Alma Deutscher is the youngest winner in the 46-year history of the Premio. We wanted to honor Alma Deutscher's exceptional talent and express the joy for Austria that Alma Deutscher's family has moved to Vienna ."

COPENHAGEN, 2022

SILVIA SERVINI

Silvia was born in Italy 1994 and was first trained at the ballet school at Teatro alla Scala in Milan. She joined the Royal Danish Ballet as a member of the corps de ballet in 2014 and was promoted to soloist in 2018. Silvia has made guest performances at Covent Garden Dance Company Gala in London, Covent Garden Dance Company Gala in Dubai and Étoile Ballet Gala in Stockholm.

Highlights from the repertoire with the Royal Danish Ballet include pas de trois, cygnets and Italian princess in Swan Lake (Nikolaj Hübbe and Silja Schandorff), Columbine, solo flowers and marzipan soloist in The Nutcracker (George Balanchine), and Luciana and Juliet’s cousin in Romeo and Juliet (John Neumeier).

DUBLIN, 2023

Congratulations to Dr Shane Bergin, UCD School of Education who was the recipient of the 2023 Leonardo da Vinci International Award given by European Rotary Clubs for his interdisciplinary scholarship - most notably engaging the public with, and in, science. Through his work, Shane has lifted public discourse on science exploring issues of trust, creativity and interdisciplinarity.  The 2023 award was given to physicist and science communicator, Dr Shane Bergin from UCD School of Education, for his interdisciplinary scholarship - most notably engaging the public with, and in, science. The award ceremony organised by Dublin Rotary Club took place in Dublin on the 27th May.  Through his work, Shane has lifted public discourse on science exploring issues of trust, creativity and interdisciplinarity. Since 2016, he has run Quavers to Quadratics - an informal education programme with the National Concert Hall that sees children play with ideas common to science and music. The children in this programme are led by university students working with Shane. This programme has been a source of inspiration for Shane's scholarship and has defined best practice internationally. More recently, Shane has launched a successful podcast series - The Trust Race - exploring public trust in science. Shane has written children's science books, including Peigí's Adventures in Science -a storybook written with colleague Declan Fahie that introduces science and social justice to young children.

TOURS, 2024

Trained at the École supérieure d'art et de design de Lyon, graduated in 2013, Marie-Anita Gaube mainly practices painting. Her painting joins in several aspects those of the great painters of the Renaissance, including Leonardo. An uninhibited use of color, precise attention to patterns, poetry and delicacy in the treatment of subjects and a use of universal imaginations.

Marie-Anita Gaube leaves nothing to chance, her compositions are built and reflected in a perfect mastery of painting techniques. Her painting is joyful, brilliant, but always full of meaning. His characters assert themselves as much in calm as in turmoil, and his themes are often linked to the awareness of inhabiting our world, to altruism, to the vicissitudes of the human being in his environment - so many questions of our daily life and our future that Rotary has to defend and improve.

ATHENS, 2025