A UC San Diego scholar who influenced Pope Francis on climate change and a Salk Institute biologist who helps develop cancer drugs will each share the $1.3 million that comes with winning a Tang Prize, one of the newest and priciest awards in science.

Veerabhadran Ramanathan of the university’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography was chosen for his decades of insights about how humans influence the world’s climate, sometimes in severe and deadly ways.

Ramanathan’s work has helped reduce the use of the greenhouse gases around the world, although climate change remains a major problem.

Ramanathan also was one of the first four scientists to develop the U.S. community climate model in the 1980s, and he currently heads Project Surya, an initiative that looks to improve climates in rural communities.


“The (climate) changes are already happening and getting worse and the worst consequences will be felt by the world’s 3 billion poor people,” Ramanathan told the Union-Tribune in 2015.

He will share the Tang Prize in sustainability with James Hansen, the outspoken former NASA researcher whose predictions about global warming have led to policy changes while also drawing political opposition.

Ramanathan and Hunter are two of the eight scholars who are sharing four Tang Prizes, awards that were first created in 2012 by Samuel Yin, a Taiwanese entrepreneur and philanthropist. The awards — which are conferred every other year — cover sustainability, biopharmaceutical science, sinology (the study of Chinese language and customs) and law.

Ramanathan discovered how pollutants other than CO2, such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), deplete the ozone layer, which shields earth from too much ultra-violet radiation.


His work, largely carried out at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, has helped reduce the use of the greenhouse gases around the world, improving the climate.

“(The award) is a huge honor for me personally, coming from an Asian country,” Ramanathan told the Union-Tribune. “There’s a lot of work that needs to be done there.”

Tony Hunter, researcher at the Salk Institute, is credited as discovering how phosphorylation can cause cells to become cancerous. (Courtesy of the Salk Institute )

Hunter, who helped develop the cancer drug Gleevec, has played a key roling in pushing dozens of therapeutics to market.


“I am extremely pleased being recognized this way,” Hunter. “It’s a great recognition of the importance of basic research.”

clifford.kapono@sduniontribune.com