Programme details Descartes Prize 2002

Reward for Scientific Excellence

René Descartes, a mathematician, natural scientist and philosopher who journeyed across Europe in pursuit of knowledge.
In this same spirit The European Union Descartes Prize acknowledges that science today is not the preserve of a single brilliant mind in a single country.
In this film you are given a snap shot of the accomplishments of the European research partnerships that have been shortlisted for the 2002 Descartes Prize.

PETRIFY

The Team

Jordi Cortadella, Professor at the Software Department of the Polyttechnical University of Catalonia and co-ordinating a research group on concurrent systems.
Apart from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia team, this project co-ordinated the efforts of the Polytechnic University of Turin in Italy, the University of Newcastle in the United Kingdom and the laboratories of Intel and Credence, Berkeley, in the United States.

The Research

This research is linked to the synthesis of asynchronous circuits. These circuits are quite difficult to design and what we have achieved is a method and a tool to facilitate the design of these circuits.
The control of the different tasks in a chip would be like controlling the traffic in a large town. One of the problems pertaining to synchronous circuits is that they have a centralised control and a clock signal, synchronising all the different components in the system. What we intend to do is to eliminate completely the clock, and this means that the control inside the circuit has to be distributed locally.

The Benefit

Presently, these asynchronous circuits are used in applications necessitating a low energy consumption. We are thinking for instance about mobile telephones and about devices used to regulate heart beats (a pace-maker); all those devices use batteries, and if they consume less, they have a greater autonomy, and a much better quality.

Gamma Ray Bursts

The Team

Ed van den Heuvel, from the astronomical institute of the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, co-ordinated the European research network for the investigation into cosmic gamma ray bursts.
This research brought together teams from the Astrophysics Institute and the University of Amsterdam, the Ferrare Astrophysics Institute and the Sapienza University, Rome, Italy, English teams from Cambridge and Danish, Spanish, German and American teams.

The Research

Thanks to our Italian Dutch Bepposax Satellite, we have been able to very definitively define the position where Gamma Ray Bursts originate in the sky, and we know that they come from deep in the universe and that this pertains to the largest explosions of energy in the universe since the original bang.
The methodology we used to discover the origin of gamma ray bursts was innovative in at least three ways:
First, the type of gamma ray burst monitor instrumentation: wide-angle X optical and X optical with radiant incidence. Secondly combining the two instruments and the management of the satellite for very quick orientations, in the direction of the gamma ray burst

The Benefit

Because the research on gamma ray bursts is pure research, it will, in the long run, advance our knowledge of the Universe. These gamma rays bursts are related to the formation of new stars, and as a result, produce elements which we will eventually find in our bodies: carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and iron.

3. Crohn's Disease

The Team

Stefan Schreiber is a gastroenterologist and work at Kiel University's first medical clinic and he represents a consortium of researchers in Europe and also countries outside Europe.
This research brought together teams from the University Hospital and Medical Informatics Centre of Kiel and the Crohn's Disease Association of Leverkusen in Germany, St. Mark's Hospital and St. Thomas" School of Medicine in the United Kingdom, Norway's Rikshospitalet, the Institute of Medical Biochemistry and Genetics of Copenhagen in Denmark and the Yonsei University College of Medicine in South Korea.

The Research

Better diagnosis and treatment of the disease is the goal of this research.
First and foremost it is a question of the causes. They are genetic causes, hereditary causes but it is not a predisposition alone that causes the diseases. Triggering factors, such as the way we live and our dietary and hygiene habits for example, must also be involved.

The Benefit

This kind of research is new in two respects: on the one hand new molecules are being discovered that are simply pathogenic, and as a result we are finding new disease mechanisms also for treatment and diagnosis.
On the other hand it provides us with new ways of understanding how such diseases come about and what they mean for human health.

4. Self Compacting Concrete

The Team

Marianne Grauers works in the construction company NCC in Stockholm, Sweden and has been the co-ordinator for the EU-project Rational Production and Improved Working Environment through Using Self-compacting Concrete.
This research steered by the NCC company, the Swedish Cement and Concrete Research Institute and Lulea University in Sweden found many partners in Europe, such as Paisley University in the United Kingdom, the Sika company in Spain, the laboratory of the Bridges and Highways Department and the Vinci company in France and the Bekaert company in Belgium.

The Research

The team did research on developing a self-compacting concrete in order to eliminate the vibration which leads both to hard work and a lot of noise.
Valuable co-operation between research institutes, universities and enterprises has been a condition for reaching a theoretical knowledge as well as putting it into practice on construction sites with quality control, and for the new technique to be able to function all over Europe.

The Benefit

The self-compacting concrete can be cast without needing to vibrate.

5. Autoreactivity in Multiple Sclerosis

The Team

Lars Fugger from the Århus Univeristy Hospital in Denmark co-ordinated the project Autoreactivity in Multiple Sclerosis : Structural Functional and Pathological Studies.
This research led by the Danish teams of the Aarhus University Hospital and the Copenhagen School of Pharmacy was partnered by Lund University in Sweden, Dundee and Oxford Universities in the United Kingdom and Albert Einstein College, New York, in the United States.

The Research

Multiple sclerosis is a disease where the immune system attacks the body itself, instead of attacking a penetrating virus.
We have now been given a completely new opportunity to study sclerosis, in that we are able to transfer genes from sclerosis patients to mice. By using histopathological techniques, the researchers have shown which parts of the brain are attacked in patients with sclerosis.
One of the virus which we know is associated with the development of sclerosis, is the Epstein-Barr virus causing the so-called "kissing sickness", because it is difficult for the immune system to see a difference between the crystal structure of the Epstein-Barr virus and the crystal structure of the nerve sheath protein.

The Benefit

The missing pieces in this puzzle will provide increased information about which other genetic risk factors, as well as which environmental factors, can make someone predisposed to sclerosis.
It is the patients who first and foremost will benefit from our research because it has provided a base for the development of new medicines.

6. MEMSWAVE

The Team

Alexandru Müller works at the Micro Technology Institute of Bucharest andis the initiator and coordinator of the Micro Circuits adapted for Applications in the Field of Microwaves and Millimetric Waves Project, MEMSWAVE.
This research brought together the Institute of Microtechnologies and the Polytechnic University of Bucharest in Romania, Uppsala University in Sweden, Rome Tor Vergata and Trento Universities in Italy, the laboratories of Forth in Greece, Has Mfa in Hungary and Microsensor and Sp in Kiev, Ukraine.

The Research

The objective is the creation of a technology that would permit the realisation of electronic circuits and components, especially the passive ones, at very high frequencies. By raising the working frequencies we will be able to increase the number of communication systems users.
The research was innovative because of the new and original projectional methods used - 3D electromagnetic simulation software- as well as because of the new technologies which were perfected during this project.

The Benefit

There are more than fifty works published by the MEMSWAVE consortium that are available to all researchers in this field, especially to telecommunication microsystems users.

7. ACQUIRE

The Team

Elisabeth Giacobino is a director of research at the CNRS (French National Centre for Scientific Research). This research led by the Kasler Brossel laboratories of the CNRS and France Télécom's CNET (National Centre for Telecommunications Studies) was partnered by the Defence Research Agency in the United Kingdom, Friedrich Alexander University in Germany, the Pirelli laboratories and Milan University in Italy and Leiden University in the Netherlands.

The Research

Telecommunications are increasingly fast and efficient. Devices are getting smaller and smaller, so we must turn to the principles of quantum physics to gain a better understanding of what's happening and improve these systems further.
One of the major problems is that light is formed of tiny particles called photons, which are energy particles, and these photons flow irregularly. This irregularity causes noise, fluctuations in the light that transmits signals in telephone lines and to computers, and it's this noise the researchers on this project have been trying to reduce and eliminate as much as possible.

The Benefit

Certain industries have benefited from the research but there are also longer-term results.
this research has provided the basis for new research on what we now call the field of quantum information.

8. Gender Difference in Political and Business Elites of Industrial Countries

The Team

Mino Vianello, professor at the statistics faculty of the Università di Roma La Sapienza co-orinated the highly international research on Gender Difference which brought together teams from each of the States of the European Union, as well as teams from Poland, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Hungary, Russia, Slovenia and Israel then, further afield, Canada, the United States, Japan, New Zealand and Australia.

The Research

This project was chosen because the emergence of women as a subject of public life is one of the problems and phenomena of our time.
A group of women, and a control group of men are analysed in order to identify the differences between them. The same questionnaire was used for all the countries, and the data, once collected, were processed by computer and analysed, not by country, but by issue.
This is a typical example of empirical analysis. It is not simply an opinion, because this result is based on data processed using appropriate statistical techniques.

The Benefit

This research might be of interest to social agencies, as well as political forces. It was appraised by the scientific community, because it is the first work, which studies in a systemic way the gender issue at the summit of public life.

9. Chemical Morphogenesis

The Team

Patrick De Kepper is a Director of Research at the CNRS (French National Centre for Scientific Research). The project presented is called Chemical Morphogenesis.

The Research

The research is based on work by the mathematician Alan Turing. In 1952, Turing suggested a theoretical model of chemistry that would explain how certain forms develop in biology.
On an initial level, for the first time the stationary spatial patterns predicted by Turing nearly forty years before are identified.
The second aspect is related to methodology, i.e. the planning and development of what we now call open spatial reactors.

The Benefit

This research is primarily fundamental and certain aspects of the patterns we observe may be of use to many other sectors, ranging from hydrodynamics to laser instabilities, as well as biological developments, of course.

10. Structure and Composition of the Earth's Deep Interior

The Team

Bernard Wood, professor of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol, in England and co-ordinating a project entitled "Structure and Composition of The Earth's Deep Interior".
This research brought together teams from the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom and researchers from the University of Bayreuth in Germany.

The Research

Our understanding of the earth's deep interior is predominantly based on seismological measurements. The earth is basically divided into two parts. There is a central metal core and an outer part which is rock.
The objective of this research is to understand is the conditions under which the core separated very early in earth's history and the composition of the core and to harness the chemical composition of the rocky part and whether or not this varies with depth.
The researchers experimentally simulate the conditions within the earth's deep interior in a laboratory.

The Benefit

The research has on first sight no industrial applications, no direct industrial applications, or no direct applications to society. It is purely in interest to understand how the earth works.