Winners of the Samsung Ho-Am Prize 2026 pose throughout an awarding ceremony on the Shilla Hotel in Seoul, Monday. From left are Oh Sung-jin, a professor at UC Berkley’s Department of Mathematics; Yoon The-shik, a professor on the University of Wisconsin-Madison; Kim Bum-man, a professor emeritus at Pohang University of Science and Technology; Eva Hoffman, a professor on the University of Copenhagen; Soprano Sumi Jo and Oh Dong-chan, a dentist at Sorokdo National Hospital. Courtesy of Ho-Am Foundation
The Ho-Am Foundation, a public curiosity group sponsored by Samsung Group, granted the 2026 Samsung Ho-Am Prize to 6 leaders within the fields of science, engineering, drugs, artwork and social contribution.
The basis held the awarding ceremony of the thirty sixth Ho-Am Prize on the Shilla Hotel in Seoul, Monday, with laureates, their relations, presidents of Samsung associates and 270 different officers attending.
This 12 months’s prize honored Oh Sung-jin, a professor at UC Berkley’s Department of Mathematics, within the physics and arithmetic class; Yoon The-shik, a professor on the University of Wisconsin-Madison, within the chemistry and life sciences class; Kim Bum-man, a professor emeritus at Pohang University of Science and Technology, within the engineering class; Eva Hoffman, a professor on the University of Copenhagen, within the drugs class, Soprano Sumi Jo within the artwork class; and Oh Dong-chan, a dentist at Sorokdo National Hospital, within the social contribution class.
Each laureate acquired a certificates, a medal and a money prize of 300 million received ($198,000), bringing the whole prize cash awarded this 12 months to 1.8 billion received.
“We pay tribute to the remarkable achievements of this year’s laureates, who have contributed to the advancement of science, technology, culture and the arts through their creative insight, academic dedication and unwavering spirit of service, while helping build a warmer society,” Ho-Am Foundation Chairman Kim Hwang-sik stated.
Professor Oh was honored for mathematically figuring out instabilities inside black holes utilizing nonlinear hyperbolic partial differential equations, whereas Yoon was acknowledged for inducing complicated natural molecular bonding reactions utilizing solely low-energy seen gentle.
Kim acquired the award for laying the inspiration for next-generation wi-fi communication applied sciences, whereas Hoffmann was honored for uncovering the mechanisms behind chromosome segregation errors throughout meiosis in egg cells. Jo was acknowledged for selling worldwide trade and messages of peace by music.
Doctor Oh was acknowledged for his over 30 years of dedication for Hansen’s illness sufferers on Sorokdo Island.
Sorokdo Island, positioned off the southwestern coast of Korea, was used as a obligatory isolation settlement for Hansen’s illness sufferers within the twentieth century and is now house to remedy and welfare services for sufferers. Although Hansen’s illness is just not transmitted by unusual social contact, these recognized with the illness had been lengthy subjected to discrimination on account of widespread misconceptions concerning the sickness.
“I will continue dedicating myself to caring for Hansen’s disease patients at home and abroad, while helping people understand that they are our ordinary neighbors and not a source of infection,” Oh stated. “I will also always remember my mother’s final words: ‘Treat them with the same warmth you would show your own mother.’”
The basis stated it can maintain a particular lecture for college kids and younger individuals that includes Ho-Am Prize laureates and Nobel laureates in Daejeon on July 4.
The basis was established to commemorate Samsung Group founder Lee Byung-chul’s dedication to nationwide financial improvement and social development. Since 1990, the Ho-Am Prize has acknowledged people who’ve contributed to social improvement and the development of human welfare.