The Kyoto Prize, alongside the Nobel Prize one of the world’s highest honors for the lifetime achievement of outstanding personalities in the fields of culture and science, is being awarded this year to Dr. Toyoki Kunitake, Chemist; President, Kitakyushu Foundation for the Advancement of Industry, Science and Technology, Dr. Michel Mayor, Astrophysicist; Professor Emeritus, University of Geneva, and Mr. John Neumeier, an American-born choreographer; Intendant and Artistic Director, The Hamburg Ballet. Each worth 50 million yen (around €360,000/£290,000*), the prizes are awarded each year by the Inamori Foundation, which was initiated in 1984 by Dr. Kazuo Inamori, founder of the Japanese technology corporation Kyocera.