Four American researchers win one million dollars in prize money for face recognition work

On September 12, 2024, remarkable news came from Lisbon, Portugal. Four researchers working in the United States jointly won a one-million-dollar prize awarded by the Champalimaud Foundation in Portugal.

The four winners are Margaret Livingstone from Harvard Medical School, Nancy Kanwisher from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Ying Cao from the University of California, Berkeley, and Winrich Freiwald, a German researcher at Rockefeller University. They received this honor for their outstanding work on how the human brain distinguishes faces, shapes, and colors.

A statement released on Wednesday pointed out that their joint efforts have promoted significant progress in the field of visual neuroscience. Their research has brought a whole new understanding to the face recognition process and also provided new research methods for visual impairments. According to the Champalimaud Foundation, the achievements of these researchers have paved the way for treating visual problems such as dyslexia and have enhanced people's understanding of how to combat cognitive decline issues including dementia.

The awarding of this prize is not only a high recognition of the personal achievements of these four researchers but also highlights the importance of visual science research such as face recognition. Their work will bring new breakthroughs to the medical field and bring hope to many people troubled by visual problems and cognitive impairments. It is believed that under their inspiration, more researchers will devote themselves to the research of visual science and make greater contributions to human health and well-being.