In the Presence of the President of the State of Israel, Mr. Shimon Peres the 2009 Dan David Prize was Awarded to

TEL AVIV, Israel, May 18 /PRNewswire/ –

– Professor Paolo de Bernardis, Professor Andrew Lange and Professor Paul
Richards for Their Contribution for the Past Time Dimension in the Field of
Astrophysics – History of the Universe

– The Rt Hon Tony Blair for his Contribution in the Present Time
Dimension in the Field of Leadership

– Professor Robert Gallo for his Contribution in the Future Time
Dimension in the Field of Global Public Health

– Three $1 Million Awards to be Presented

The Dan David Prize award ceremony took place yesterday at Tel Aviv
University, in the presence of Mr. Shimon Peres, President of the State of
Israel, Mr. Gideon Sa‘ar, Minister of Education, Prof. Zvi Galil, President
of Tel Aviv University and Chairman of the Board Dan David Prize, Mr. Gianni
Alemanno, the Mayor of Rome, Mr. Dan David, Founder of the Dan David Prize,
the 2009 Dan David Prize laureates, foreign ambassadors, and prominent
academic and business figures from Israel and abroad.

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The 2009 Dan David Prize Laureates were chosen by independent review
committees comprised of renowned scholars and professionals in the chosen
fields, (some of whom are Nobel Prize winners) and from the international
business community.

The Prize has been awarded since the year 2002 to individuals or
institutions with proven, exceptional and distinct excellence in the
sciences, arts, humanities who have made an outstanding contribution to
humanity, in each of the three time dimensions: past, present, and future.
(One million dollars is awarded to each laureate for the three time
dimensions.)

As in past years, the laureates donate 10% of their prize money to
outstanding doctoral and post doctoral students in the chosen fields at Tel
Aviv University and universities throughout the world.

This year 10 scholarships in the amount of $15,000 each, will be awarded
to doctoral and post doctoral students from universities throughout the world
and 10 scholarships will be granted to doctoral and post doctoral students at
Tel Aviv University. Scholarship recipients will join the Scholars Forum on
the Dan David Prize site, providing an opportunity for exchange of ideas and
dialogue on topics of interest.

The Dan David Prize seeks to impact on the next generation of leaders and
involves high school students through the “Name Your Hero” Essay Competition.
Students submit essays proposing candidates they consider worthy of the Dan
David Prize. Selected students participate in an advanced writing workshop at
Tel Aviv University and the winning students are awarded monetary prizes.
This year’s competition grants three First Place winners NIS10,000 each, six
Second Place winners NIS5,000 each and twelve Third Place winners NIS2,500
each. The Kfar HaYarok High School was awarded NIS20,000 for its outstanding
activity with the largest number of students participating in the Name Your
Hero contest. The Dan David Prize Board of Directors reviews the winning
essay proposals when selecting the fields for the coming year.

At the award ceremony, the founder of the prize Mr. Dan David, stated
that the 2009 Laureates represent the essence of the three time dimensions:
three scientists who have shed light on the history of the universe, an
outstanding statesman who played a key role in tackling longstanding
international conflicts, and a scientist acting at the forefront of
humanity’s fight to eradicate deadly diseases to improve global public health.

Prof. Zvi Galil, President of Tel Aviv University and Chairman of the
Board, Dan David Prize, stated in his speech that “the work of this year’s
laureates illustrate the innovative and creative advancement of human
knowledge and of the importance of supporting such outstanding achievements.
The review committees succeeded in identifying the leaders and innovations in
their fields.” “Past, Present, Future – we must understand the Past and act
in the Present to achieve a better Future” said Professor Galil.

During the ceremony, the Dan David Prize was awarded to the Mayor of
Rome, Mr. Gianni Alemanno, on behalf of the City of Rome, a 2004 Dan David
Prize laureate in the field of Cities: Historical Legacy. The Prize was
awarded this year to the City of Rome due to the fact that Mr. Alemanno was
unable to come to Israel to receive the prize in 2004.

The ceremony, produced by Nava Shiloni-Raz, RAZ TEAM, and Director, Yaron
Harel, included artistic performances by the Israel Ballet, the Buchmann
Mehta School of Music, and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Amongst the
performances was a specially choreographed work embodying the idea of time,
based on the Dance of the Hours by Ponchielli.

The Buchmann Mehta School of Music’s choir performed an excerpt from
Handel’s Creation representing the Past Time Dimension – Astrophysics:
History of the Universe, with background visuals illustrating the earth and
the birth of the universe as depicted through art.

A fanfare of 16 musicians from the Buchmann Mehta School of Music and the
Israel Philharmonic Orchestra played an excerpt from Handel’s Watermusic,
with background visuals and speeches of world leaders, symbolizing the
Present Time Dimension – Leadership.

In honor of Professor Robert Gallo, laureate of the Future Time Dimension
- Global Public Health, and for his contribution to eradicating AIDS, AFRICAN
SANCTUS by musician, photographer and writer David Fanshawe was performed,
connecting Africa with global public health and striving towards a better
world.

The evening closed with a performance by Sivan Goldman who sang Mozart’s
Hallelujah.

THE 2009 DAN DAVID PRIZE LAUREATES IN THE THREE TIME DIMENSIONS – PAST,
PRESENT AND FUTURE, ARE:

For the PAST TIME DIMENSION in the field of Astrophysics – History of the
Universe, the prize is shared by:

Paolo de Bernardis (University La Sapienza, Rome, Italy), Andrew Lange (Caltech, USA) and Paul Richards (UC Berkeley, USA) for their discoveries
concerning the geometry and composition of our Universe with the BOOMERanG
and MAXIMA experiments. The publication of their data in 2000 provided the
first undisputed evidence that the Universe has a flat geometry.

For the PRESENT TIME DIMENSION in the field of Leadership:

Tony Blair (former Prime Minister of Great Britain) for his exceptional
leadership and steadfast determination in helping to engineer agreements and
forge lasting solutions to areas in conflict.

For the FUTURE TIME DIMENSION in the field of Global Public Health:

Robert C. Gallo (Institute of Human Virology, Baltimore, USA) for his
research of the HIV and T cell leukaemia viruses and especially for the
development of a robust, simple blood test to detect the HIV virus, the
importance of which for the epidemiology of this huge pandemic cannot be
overestimated.

Mr. Dan David, Founder of the Dan David Prize

Dan David, who immigrated to Israel in 1961 from Romania, brought with
him a dream: to develop new technologies in the field of commercial
photography. In 1965, his cousin presented him with a loan of $200,000 with
an unlimited payback date. This enabled him to fulfil his dream. He developed
the automatic photo booth which rapidly became a great success.

This defining experience lead the way to Dan David founding the Dan David
Foundation and the Dan David Prize, rewarding those who have made a lasting
impact on society and helping young students and entrepreneurs become the
scholars and leaders of the future.

This is Dan David’s philosophy: “Money is a measure of success like
Celsius degrees for temperature; it is not a purpose in itself. Success can
be a source of satisfaction but money should be put to work for good causes
after personal needs have been met. It is the reason why I chose to create
the Prize, to devote some of my fortune to rewarding and furthering the work
of the eminent figures who have increased our knowledge of our past, improved
our present and helped us forge a better future.”

Today, Dan David divides his time between England, Italy, Spain and
Israel. He is married to Gabriela Fleischman David and is the father of Ariel
David, a talented young journalist. He is president of Fomat Ltd., Dedem
Automatica Srl, and Photo-Me International Plc, registered on the London
Stock Exchange, and owns 90% of the world’s automatic photo booths. Dan David is engaged in myriad philanthropic projects in fields as varied as
archaeology, medicine, and film.

    Ceramony will be broadcast live:
    http://video.tau.ac.il/General/Dan David/2009

    Please visit our web site:

http://www.dandavidprize.org

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