The Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences is awarded once a year by the Inamori Foundation.

The Prize is one of three Kyoto Prize categories; the others are the Kyoto Prize in Advanced Technology and the Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy.

The first Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences was awarded to Claude Elwood Shannon, the “Establishment of Mathematical Foundation of Information Theory”.

[1] The Prize is regarded as a prestigious award available in fields which are traditionally not honored with a Nobel Prize.

[2] The Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences is awarded on a rotating basis to researchers in the following four fields: Source: Kyoto Prize