Barcelona will grant the 5th Hypatia Award to biologist and geneticist Svante Pääbo

This award, conferred by the Barcelona City Council in collaboration with the Barcelona Knowledge Hub of the Academia Europaea, recognizes his groundbreaking work within the genomics field, which has transformed our understanding of human evolution.

Svante Pääbo, reconegut investigador en genòmica evolutiva i guardonat amb el Premi Hipàtia 2024, atorgat per l'Ajuntament de Barcelona juntament amb el Barcelona Knowledge Hub de l'Acadèmia Europaea, per la seva revolucionària tasca en la comprensió de l'evolució humana.
07/01/2025 - 12:19 h - Science Ajuntament de Barcelona

Svante Pääbo, Swedish by origin and researcher in Germany, biologist, geneticist and founder of the field of the study of ancient genomes, has won the 5th edition of the Hypatia European Science Prize. This is a recognition of scientific excellence at European scale promoted by the Barcelona City Council in collaboration with the Barcelona Knowledge Hub of the Academia Europaea.

The international jury has valued the innovative work of Svante Pääbo in the sequencing of genomes of extinct species and populations, for his revolutionary contributions to paleogenomics. It is thanks to these that we have learned about the genetic connections between modern humans and extinct hominids, transforming our understanding of human evolution. He has received other awards, such as the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology in 2022 and the Prince of Asturias Award.

Svante Pääbo, the founder of paleogenomics, revealed our evolutionary relationship with Neanderthals

Svante Pääbo (Stockholm, 1955) succeeded in definitively sequencing in 2013 the genome of the Neanderthal, a relative of modern humans extinct about 30,000 years ago. He also made the remarkable discovery of a hominid previously unknown, the Denisova.

His research likewise revealed the transfer of genes from Neanderthals to modern humans after their migration away from Africa approximately 70,000 years ago. Thus, the current non-African populations carry between 1 and 4% of the Neanderthal genome. Such ancient gene flow is of physiological relevance today, for instance, impacting on how our immune system responds to infections.

The seminal research by Pääbo gave rise to an entirely new scientific discipline: Paleogenomics, i.e. the study of ancient genomes, some of which are hundreds of thousands of years old. In revealing genetic differences that differentiate living humans from extinct hominins, his discoveries have provided the basis for exploring what makes us uniquely human.

The Hypatia Prize highlights the value of research excellence in Europe and positions Barcelona as a European science capital

The Hypatia European Science Prize originated in 2018 as part of the initiatives of the first Barcelona Science Plan. It aims to raise the awareness of excellence research conducted in Europe and to boost the city of Barcelona as a European capital of science and knowledge.

According to the current call, the Prize’s 5th edition was to award a person from the Life and Health Sciences field, whereas last year it focused on the scientific-technological field, and in 2026 will acknowledge a key figure from the Humanities and Social Sciences field.

In its 1st edition (2018; Science and Technology), the Hypatia Prize was awarded to the mathematician László Lovász; in the 2nd edition (2019-2020; Life and Health Sciences), to the virologist Ilaria Capua; and in the 3rd edition (2021; Humanities and Social Sciences), the award was given to the philosopher of science Nancy Cartwright. In the 4th edition (2023 Science and Technology), it was collected by international artificial intelligence (AI) expert Nuria Oliver, scientific director and co-founder of the Ellis Alicante Foundation in recognition of her research into the development of new AI methods and systems to drive positive social impact.

According to the Mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, “with this distinction to a internationally renowned figure such as Svante Pääbo, Barcelona vindicates the capacity of science to open new paths towards the understanding of reality”. The award, with an endowment of 30,000 euros, has been granted to him for his contributions in the category of Life and Health Sciences and will be awarded at a public ceremony to be held at Barcelona City Hall this coming spring. “We have decided that knowledge will drive the present and future of Barcelona. Science and innovation are already transforming the city,” stated Collboni.