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The Templeton Prize is an annual award presented by the Templeton Foundation. Established in 1972, it is awarded to a living person who, in the estimation of the judges, "has made an exceptional contribution to affirming life's spiritual dimension, whether through insight, discovery, or practical works".^[1] The prize is named after Sir John Templeton, an American-born British entrepreneur and businessman, who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1987 for his philanthropic efforts.^[2] Until 2001, the name of the prize was "Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion", and from 2002 to 2008 it was called the "Templeton Prize for Progress Toward Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities".^[3][4] It has typically been presented by Prince Philip in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace.^[5][6][7]

The monetary value of the prize is adjusted so that it exceeds that of the Nobel Prizes, as Templeton felt "spirituality was ignored" in the Nobel prizes.^[8] At £1,000,000, as of 2009, it is the largest single annual financial prize award given to an individual by a philanthropic organisation.^[9][10] The prize is awarded "based on the decision of a panel of distinguished judges from various academic disciplines and religious traditions".^[11] Hindus, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Muslims and atheists have been on the panel of judges and have been recipients of the prize.^[12]

The prize has been criticized – British biologist and atheist Richard Dawkins said in his book The God Delusion that the prize was given "usually to a scientist who is prepared to say something nice about religion".^[13] Sean M. Carroll, an assistant professor in the Department of Physics at the California Institute of Technology, criticized his colleagues for taking Templeton research grants when they did not support Templeton's beliefs.^[14] Martinus J. G. Veltman, the 1999 Nobel laureate in physics, suggested the prize "bridg[ed] the gap between sense and nonsense".^[15]

The inaugural winner of the prize, in 1973, was Mother Teresa, six years before she received the Nobel Peace Prize. She was cited by the Templeton Foundation "for her extraordinary efforts to help the homeless and neglected children of Calcutta" and for her work, which "inspired millions of others around the world".^[16] The most recent recipient is French physicist Bernard d'Espagnat, whose "explorations of the philosophical implications of quantum physics have opened new vistas on the definition of reality and the potential limits of knowable science".^[17]

Laureates

Year	Laureate		Notes	Ref(s)
1973	Mother Teresa 	Mother Teresa of Calcutta	Founder of India's Missionaries of Charity, 1979 Nobel Peace Prize winner	[18]
1974	Frere Roger 	Frère Roger	Founder of the Taizé Community	[19]
1975	Radhakrishnana —	Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan	Former President of India, advocate of non-aggression with Pakistan	[19]
1976	Suenens —	Leo Joseph Cardinal Suenens	Pioneer in the Charismatic Renewal Movement	[20]
1977	Lubich 	Chiara Lubich	Founder of the Focolare Movement	[21]
1978	Torrance —	Prof. Thomas Torrance	Former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland	[20]
1979	Niwano —	Rev. Nikkyo Niwano	Cofounder of Risshō Kōsei Kai	[20]
1980	Burhoe —	Ralph Wendell Burhoe	Founder of Zygon: Journal of Religion & Science	[22]
1981	Saunders —	Cicely Saunders	Hospice and Palliative Care Movement founder	[23]
1982	Graham 	Rev. Dr. Billy Graham	Evangelist	[24]
1983	Solzhenitsyn 	Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn	Soviet dissident novelist	[24]
1984	Bourdeaux —	Rev. Michael Bourdeaux	Founder of the Keston Institute	[19]
1985	Hardy —	Alister Hardy	Founder of the Religious Experience Research Centre	[25]
1986	McCord —	Rev. James I. McCord	Former president of the Princeton Theological Seminary	[26]
1987	Father Jaki 	Rev. Father Dr. Stanley Jaki	Benedictine monk and professor of astrophysics at Seton Hall University	[24]
1988	Khan —	Dr. Inamullah Khan	Former secretary-general of the Modern World Muslim Congress	[27]
1989	Weizsacker 	Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker	Physicist and philosopher	[20][A]
1989	MacLeod —	Lord MacLeod of Fuinary	Founder of the Iona Community	[28][A]
1990	Amte —	Baba Amte	Developed modern communities for people suffering from leprosy	[29][B]
1990	Birch —	Charles Birch	Emeritus Professor at University of Sydney	[30][B]
1991	Jakobvits —	Chief Rabbi Immanuel Jakobovits	Chief Rabbi of Great Britain and the Commonwealth from 1967 to 1991	[20]
1992	Han —	Kyung-Chik Han	Evangelist and founder of Young Nak Presbyterian Church	[31]
1993	Colson —	Charles Colson	Founder of the Prison Fellowship	[19]
1994	Novak 	Michael Novak	Philosopher and diplomat	[19]
1995	Davies 	Paul Davies	Theoretical physicist	[32]
1996	Bright —	Dr. Bill Bright	Founder of Campus Crusade for Christ	[33]
1997	Athavale —	Pandurang Shastri Athavale	Social reformer, philosopher, and founder of Swadhyay Movement	[33]
1998	Sternberg —	Sigmund Sternberg	Philanthropist	[19]
1999	Barbour —	Ian Barbour	Professor Emeritus of Science, Technology and Society at Carleton College	[34]
2000	Dyson 	Freeman Dyson	Professor Emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton	[34]
2001	Peacocke —	Rev. Arthur Peacocke	Former Dean of Clare College, Cambridge	[5]
2002	Polkinghorne 	Rev. John Polkinghorne	Physicist and theologian	[19]
2003	Rolston 	Holmes Rolston III	Philosopher	[35]
2004	Ellis —	George F. R. Ellis	Cosmologist and philosopher	[36]
2005	Townes 	Charles Townes	Nobel laureate and physicist	[18]
2006	Barrow —	John D. Barrow	Cosmologist and theoretical physicist	[37]
2007	Taylor 	Charles Taylor	Philosopher	[13]
2008	Heller 	Rev. Prof. Michał Heller	Physicist and philosopher	[6]
2009	d'Espagnat —	Bernard d'Espagnat	Physicist	[7]

Footnotes

A. ^a  Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker and Lord MacLeod of Fuinary were jointly awarded the prize in 1989.^[16]

B. ^b  Baba Amte and Charles Birch were jointly awarded the prize in 1990.^[16]

References

General

• "Previous winners". Templeton Foundation. http://www.templetonprize.org/previouswinner.html. Retrieved July 3, 2007.  

Specific

External links

• Templeton Prize