About the Anders Jahre's Awards for Medical Research

Anders Jahre (1891¨C1982) was a Norwegian shipowner, entrepreneur and philanthropist. He was a pioneer of pelagic whaling, tanker shipping, vehicle transportation by ship, and in the chemical industry. In 1928, he founded the original Kosmos whaling company, along with a further six whaling companies over the 1929 ¨C 1930 period. He also established the companies Jahres Kjemiske Fabrikker and Sandar Fabrikker, which processed whale blubber, as well as a passenger ferry line between Oslo and Kiel. Jahre remained Shipowner/CEO of his proprietary companies and served as chair/board member in a number of industrial and whaling companies until 1978.

In 1953, he donated one million Norwegian kroner to the University of Oslo, later followed by several additional endowments. These were used to establish the Anders Jahre Foundation for the Promotion of Science. Half of the funds from the foundation are allocated to medical science and research, a quarter to the legal profession, and a quarter to the chemical and technical fields. Anders Jahre had a special interest in medicine, and decided that part of the foundation's funds were to be used to award an annual Nordic medical prize for outstanding international work.

The Anders Jahre's Award for Medical Research was bestowed for the first time in 1960. Since 1965, the award has constituted two prizes: a main prize and a prize for young scientists. Jahre received an honorary Doctor of Law degree from the University of Oslo in 1961 and, in 1963, was awarded an honorary Doctor of Medicine degree from Lund University. He was an honorary member of both the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters and the Nordic Medical Society in Stockholm. He also held a number of international orders.