Templeton Prize
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
The Templeton Prize for Progress Toward Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities was until 2001 awarded for Progress in Religion.
The Templeton Prize was established in 1972 and is awarded annually by the Templeton Foundation to a living person who, in the estimation of the judges, best exemplifies "trying various ways for discoveries and breakthroughs to expand human perceptions of divinity and to help in the acceleration of divine creativity", ...including research in love, creativity, purpose, infinity, intelligence, thanksgiving and prayer.
The prize is named after Sir John Templeton, an American entrepreneur and businessman, who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1987 for his philanthropic efforts.
The monetary value of the prize (795,000 GBP in 2003) is adjusted so that it is at least the equal of the Nobel Prizes.
Prize winners
- 1973 - Mother Teresa of Calcutta
- 1974 - Brother Roger, founder of the Taizé Community
- 1975 - Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, President of India
- 1976 - Leon Joseph Cardinal Suenens
- 1977 - Chiara Lubich, founder of the Focolare Movement
- 1978 - Thomas Torrance
- 1979 - Rev. Nikkyo Niwano
- 1980 - Ralph Wendell Burhoe, founder of Zygon: Journal of Religion & Science
- 1981 - Cicely Saunders, hospice founder
- 1982 - Billy Graham, evangelist
- 1983 - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Soviet dissident novelist
- 1984 - Rev. Michael Bourdeaux
- 1985 - Alister Hardy, founder of the Religious Experience Research Centre
- 1986 - Rev. James McCord of the Princeton Theological Seminary
- 1987 - Stanley Jaki
- 1988 - Dr. Inamullah Khan
- 1989 - Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker, physicist, and Lord MacLeod of Fuinary, founder of the Iona Community
- 1990 - Baba Amte and L. Charles Birch
- 1991 - Rabbi Immanuel Jakobovits
- 1992 - Kyung-Chik Han
- 1993 - Charles Colson, founder of the Prison Fellowship
- 1994 - Michael Novak, philosopher and diplomat
- 1995 - Paul Davies, theoretical physicist
- 1996 - Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ
- 1997 - Pandurang Shastri Athavale
- 1998 - Sigmund Sternberg, philanthropist
- 1999 - Ian Barbour
- 2000 - Freeman Dyson, physicist
- 2001 - Rev. Arthur Peacocke
- 2002 - Rev. John Polkinghorne
- 2003 - Holmes Rolston III
- 2004 - George Ellis, cosmologist
- 2005 - Charles Townes, Nobel laureate , physicist (inventions include the maser and laser)
Hindus, Christians, Jews, Buddhists and Muslims have been on the panel of judges and have been recipients.
External links
- Templeton Foundation (http://www.templeton.org/)
- Templeton Prize (http://www.templetonprize.org/)
- Purpose (http://www.templetonprize.org/purpose.html)
