TOKYO-- January 31, 2023 -- The Japan Prize Foundation announced the winners of the 2023 Japan prize at 13:00 today, 30 January 2023 (JST). Prof. Masataka Nakazawa and Mr. Kazuo Hagimoto are co-winners of the Japan Prize in the fields of Electronics, Information, and Communication, and Prof. Gero Miesenböck and Prof. Karl Deisseroth are co-winners of the Japan Prize in the field of Life Science.

For this year’s Japan Prize, Prof. Nakazawa and Mr. Hagimoto are being recognized for their distinguished contributions to global long-distance, high-capacity optical fiber network through the development of semiconductor laser pumped optical amplifier, and Prof. Miesenböck and Prof. Deisseroth are being recognized for their development of methods that use genetically addressable light-sensitive membrane proteins to unravel neural circuit function.

For the 2023 Japan Prize, the Foundation asked approximately 15,500 prominent scientists and engineers from around the world to nominate researchers working in this year’s fields. We received 123 nominations in the fields of Electronics, Information, and Communication, and 204 nominations for the field of Life Science. This year’s winners were selected from that total of 327 candidates.