Balzan Prize

19/08/2026

On World Humanitarian Day, we honour those who work every day to protect human dignity, support the most vulnerable and foster peace through care, dialogue, and action.

Solidarity is not simply a value. It is a shared responsibility.

This same commitment lies at the heart of the International Balzan Foundation and is embodied in the Prize for Humanity, Peace, and Fraternity among Peoples, a special award recognising those who have transformed humanitarian principles into concrete initiatives with a lasting impact.

The 2026 winner will be announced in Milan on 7 September.

29/07/2026

Jewish Studies is among the subject areas of the 2026 Balzan Prize are Jewish Studies.

This choice recognises the importance of deepening the study of the texts, traditions, thought, memory, and history of Jewish communities.

In this context, the Balzan Prize confirms its focus on disciplines that combine academic rigour, humanistic value, and relevance to contemporary society.

22/07/2026

Some research changes the world by exploring what we cannot see 💡

Gravitational waves, molecular structures, new materials, microscopic processes that shape life, matter, and the universe - many of the fields recognised by the International Balzan Foundation reveal the power of knowledge to make the invisible visible:

✔️ Alessandra Buonanno and Thibault Damour opened new ways of understanding the universe through gravitational waves.
✔️ Alan J. Heeger showed how seemingly ordinary materials can hide extraordinary properties.
✔️ Robert Langer explored how biomaterials, nanoparticles, and nanomedicine can interact with cells, molecules, and tissues, thus opening new possibilities for healthcare.

These Balzan Prizewinners' work reveals the power of research to make the invisible visible.

Research teaches us to look deeper, to question what we cannot yet see.

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15/07/2026

Investing in young people means investing in the future of knowledge.

Every new generation of researchers brings fresh questions, new tools, and different ways of looking at the world.

This is fundamental to the work of the International Balzan Foundation: recognising excellence in science and the humanities, while advancing knowledge.

Since 2001, Balzan Prizewinners have allocated half of their prize money to research projects led by young scientists and scholars.

It is not only a celebration of great achievements. It is a way to create space for the discoveries of tomorrow.

Research needs time, trust, freedom, and vision. And it requires young minds to be given the opportunity to explore, question, experiment, and imagine.

Supporting young researchers reflects the belief that progress is a shared journey. ✨ Imagine the future we could build if young researchers had the trust, time, and freedom to reach their full potential?

14/07/2026

The Francesca Rava Foundation – NPH Italy, winner of the Balzan Prize for Humanity, Peace, and Fraternity among Peoples in 2023, has demonstrated a remarkable ability to combine emergency relief with sustainable development, transforming humanitarian interventions into structured, long-term programmes designed to protect children, improve access to healthcare, and support the most vulnerable communities.

🌍 From the hospital that provides care to more than 80,000 children in Haiti each year to a network of projects across Latin America, the Mediterranean and the Middle East, the international work of the Foundation was the subject of a presentation, “From Emergency Relief to Lasting Change: The Impact of the Francesca Rava Foundation – NPH Italy in the World: 75 Years of International Engagement”, at the United Nations Headquarters in New York 🇺🇳 earlier in July, which marked the 75th anniversary of Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos (NPH).

The UN presentation reflects the important role the Foundation plays internationally and acknowledges the motivation for the Balzan Prize, which recognised its professional expertise, longstanding commitment to solidarity, and ability to generate tangible, lasting change ✨.

07/07/2026

An award is a tangible way to recognise not only excellence in all fields of knowledge, but also responsibility, solidarity, and commitment to peace among peoples. 🕊️

The Balzan Prize for Humanity, Peace, and Fraternity among Peoples honours individuals and institutions that are distinguished internationally through outstanding humanitarian work. 🌍

The Balzan Foundation’s special prize, awarded at intervals of no less than three years, follows a dedicated process: nominations are put forward by a Preparatory Committee and decided upon by the General Prize Committee.

The next award will be presented in 2026, with the winner to be announced in September.

Over the years, it has honoured figures and organisations that embody commitment to humanity, from the Nobel Foundation to Pope John XXIII, from Mother Teresa of Calcutta to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, from the International Committee of the Red Cross to Abbé Pierre, the Community of Sant’Egidio – DREAM, and the Francesca Rava Foundation, winner of the Prize in 2023.

Find out more on our website: https://www.balzan.org/en 🔗

30/06/2026

✨ 🔭Today is International Asteroid Day - a moment to look at the small bodies that carry the oldest stories.
Asteroids are time capsules of the early cosmos, preserving clues about how planets formed, how matter clustered, and how our celestial neighbourhood has evolved over billions of years. By studying their trajectories and composition, scientists refine our picture of planetary dynamics and long term cosmic risk.
This quest to “see” and understand distant objects is closely linked to the work of Heino Falcke, 2023 Balzan Prize for High Resolution Images: from Planetary to Cosmic Objects. 🪐

By pushing the limits of cosmic imaging, his research has opened windows we didn’t know existed.

🔷 Find out more on our website: https://www.balzan.org/en

19/06/2026

🌌✨On 16 June, at ICI London, the Universe felt a little closer.

In collaboration with Italian Cultural Institute London, Joseph Silk, 2011 Balzan Prize for the Early Universe and Paolo de Bernardis, 2006 Balzan Prize for Observational Astronomy and Astrophysics, offered a rare look into the moments that shaped cosmic history - from primordial light to the still enigmatic “Dark Ages”.

Their conversation reminded us how theory, engineering, and decades of research converge to illuminate what remains hidden.

The event opened with remarks by Francesco Bongarrà, Director of ICI London; Nicolò Biscottini, First Secretary at the Italian Embassy; and Frances Ashcroft, member of the Balzan General Prize Committee - a thoughtful introduction to an afternoon dedicated to the frontiers of cosmology. 🔭

A sincere thank you to the speakers, the organising team, and everyone who joined.

17/06/2026

We note the passing of Carlo Ginzburg, one of the most original and authoritative voices in contemporary historiography.

Ginzburg - Balzan Prize for European History, 1400–1700 - was able to combine scholarly rigour, imaginative interpretation, and remarkable literary quality to his research, restoring historical dignity to the traces, beliefs, words, and lives of ordinary people in early modern Europe.

His work remains a precious invitation to depth, to listening closely to sources, and to the responsibility of a critical gaze.

His intellectual legacy will continue to speak to scholars, readers, and to all those who believe that understanding the past is also a way of questioning the present.

16/06/2026

🏔️ Glaciers are disappearing — not in some distant future, but now. Their retreat is reshaping coastlines, altering ecosystems, and threatening freshwater supplies for billions of people.
The International Balzan Foundation continues its collaboration with Il Gomitolo Atomico, the podcast series conceived and produced by Think About Science , in a new episode featuring Hans Oerlemans, the 2022 Balzan Prizewinner for glaciation and polar ice-sheet dynamics.
Professor Emeritus at Utrecht University and one of the world’s leading glaciologists, Oerlemans has modelled ice sheets, climbed glaciers, installed weather stations, and reconstructed key chapters of Earth’s climate history.
He was among the first scientists to simulate 100,000-year glacial cycles and to show that glaciers around the world were retreating in the same way — a clear signature of global warming.Through his contribution, the episode explores what ice can still teach us about time, uncertainty, and the limits of scientific models, as well as what we lose — scientifically and philosophically — when the ice disappears.
🧶 Il Gomitolo Atomico is a series conceived and produced by Think About Science.
Written with Silvia Lazzaris.
Project leads: Federica Andreoli and Marcello Foresti, International Balzan Foundation; Elena Bottaro, Think About Science.
🎥 Watch the episode and the full series on Massimo Polidoro’s YouTube channel.

I ghiacciai stanno scomparendo. Non lentamente o in un futuro remot...