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The 2021 Kyoto Prize
Open to the public, the Kyoto Prize Commemorative Lectures are great opportunities to hear up-close what laureates have to say about their exceptional contributions to the progress of science and spiritual betterment of humankind. Expect to be graced with not just what they have studied and achieved, but also their outlook on life, their values, their way of thinking, and other aspects of their individual perspectives. In order to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Commemorative Lectures for the 2021 Kyoto Prize will be pre-recorded and published online. Please enjoy the lectures and their introduction videos on the 2021 Kyoto Prize Special Website!
2021
11 /10 Wed
Distribution starts at 10:00 a.m. JST
Place：You can enjoy this year’s lectures on the 2021 Kyoto Prize Special Website.
The 2021 Kyoto Prize Kyoto Prize Laureates
Lecture topics
A Journey Through Computer Science
Abstract of the lecture
In this lecture, I would like to give a brief account of my journey through computer science. It is the story of a young physicist in the 1970s who, like Alice in Wonderland, stumbled into the world of computer science by chance and started a long magical journey thereafter. I was born in Shanghai, China in 1946; later my family moved to Hong Kong, then Taiwan. My upbringing carries the traditional Chinese value and adores scholarship and culture. As a kid I loved math, science and history. Science, like history, gave me a sense of awe and magnificence with its stories of adventure, brilliance and courage. I dreamed that this would also be my destiny! After obtaining a Ph.D. in Physics from Harvard in 1972, I by chance came across the then “novel” subject of computer science. Feeling an instant attraction, I decided to switch fields and obtained a second degree. My research initially focused on solving open problems in algorithms such as minimum spanning tree, B-trees, etc. I gravitated toward developing new computing frameworks and theories after 1975. The research typically starts out by framing a question that interests me intensely. Indeed, I have come to believe that asking the right question is often the key to good research. I will give a synopsis of some of my work by discussing three topics: Minmax complexity, Communication complexity and Multi-party secure computation. I will also say a brief word about quantum computing, auction theory and AI. It is gratifying that these works have apparently stood the test of time: they are seeing continued strong research interest today and, in some cases, even having practical impact. No doubt, the diverse and colorful subjects mentioned above reflect the blossoming of Information Science over the last 50 years, and its growing interdisciplinary connections today. To sum up, I have had a wonderful journey in computer science with many twists and turns! Along the way, I have encountered many extraordinary talents, and made good friends. I am especially fortunate to have had two inspiring mentors, Prof. Glashow and Prof. Knuth. Scientific giants aside, they are also the kindest and most gracious human beings ever!
Lecture topics
Regulation of Transcription in Animal Cells: A 50-year Journey Revealing an Expanding Universe of Factors and Mechanisms
Abstract of the lecture
I was raised on a farm, where I was expected to remain, and had little exposure to science and no family support for higher education. However, through determination and hard work, values instilled by my parents, I had the good fortune to obtain a college degree, a Ph.D. in biochemistry, and academic positions that allowed me to passionately pursue an exciting career in the biological sciences. Initially inspired by college, graduate and postdoctoral mentors, my studies focused on the regulation of gene expression, which is fundamental to normal human development and physiology (and associated pathologies), at the level of transcription (copying DNA into RNA by RNA polymerase). Although an endogenous RNA polymerase activity was first identified in rat liver nuclei in 1959, subsequent studies in several labs focused on the more abundant bacterial enzyme that was purified in 1969 and found to interact directly with gene promoters and gene-specific regulatory factors. As I will describe, and initially through my own biochemical studies, the mechanisms of transcription and its regulation in eukaryotes, containing ~20,000 genes in the case of humans, proved far more complex. Major discoveries to be highlighted include: (1) nuclear RNA polymerases (Pols) I, II and III in eukaryotes in 1969—a Eureka! moment; (2) their distinct gene-specific functions and subunit structures; (3) cognate general initiation factors that facilitate core promoter recognition and assembly of polymerases into pre-initiation complexes; (4) the prototype gene-specific transcriptional activator (TFIIIA) in eukaryotes and, distinct from prokaryotes, a mechanism involving site-specific promoter binding and facilitated recruitment of general initiation factors that in turn recruit polymerase; (5) both general and gene/cell-specific transcriptional co-activators, including mechanisms involving direct activator interactions; (6) a general transcription repression mechanism—promoter assembly into nucleosomes—that restricts the otherwise promiscuous ability of Pol II and its initiation factors to transcribe cell-specific genes; (7) functional modifications of transcriptional activators, as well as histones, by histone acetyltransferases; (8) obligatory (causal) roles for histone modifications in transcription of repressed chromatin templates in vitro—thus providing formal proof for their previously assumed roles (from in vivo correlations) in transcription and; (9) biochemically defined systems (with purified Pol II, general initiation and elongation factors, activators, and coactivators) that mediate transcription of repressed recombinant chromatin templates and allow unparalleled studies of transcription mechanisms. These studies provided seminal insights into the unexpectedly complex mechanisms involved in eukaryotic transcription, were foundational for subsequent and current studies of transcriptional regulation through other approaches, and have profound implications for gene regulation in human health and disease.
Lecture topics
How to React to a Change in Cosmology
Abstract of the lecture
Historians of science have learned to revise the heroic version of what Westerners call “the scientific revolution” and they have found many ways to complicate this story. However, it remains clear that in between the 16th and 18th century, Europeans had to react to a new definition of the cosmos, a new distribution of agencies among humans and non-humans. Part of the ways they understood this shift in cosmology explains their relative lack of understanding for the ways in which they had to deal with other cultures, during what was called (again with lots of caveats) “the age of discovery.” We are now living in a period that in some ways resembles the shift in the representation of the cosmos that Europeans had to live through. This time, however, it is not the discovery of an infinite universe and the possibility of expanding the resources for prosperity and development—something that has become a universal drive in the global world of the 20th century. It is rather the discovery of a limited, fragile, threatened section of the Earth, what geochemists call the “critical zone,” that corresponds to the tiny part that has been modified by living forms over the eons. What is interesting is that the shock is even greater, at least for Westerners used to the idea of “modernity,” than the shock our forbearers had to withstand at the time of Renaissance. Especially because it means modifying in very deep ways, not only their relations to “nature,” but also the drive toward progress and prosperity, just at the time when the relative successes of development in the earlier period have colonized every globalized nation. Although the situation is often portrayed as a question of “ecology” and remains a rather marginal issue side by side with economic and social questions, it should rather be defined, as I will argue, as a shift in cosmology. To withstand it, we should be able to mix scientific, legal, artistic and religious capacities.
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