The Lennart Nilsson Award Foundation

” an individual in recognition of outstanding contributions within the realm of scientific photography”

The Lennart Nilsson Award Foundation was established in 1998 in recognition of the world-renowned Swedish photographer Lennart Nilsson and his extraordinary body of work. Its main aim is to promote education, training and research within the medical, biological and engineering sciences through the use of images. This is achieved through the Lennart Nilsson Award, an international award bestowed annually upon an individual in recognition of outstanding contributions within the realm of scientific photography. Award recipients are people who work in the spirit of Lennart Nilsson, revealing science to the world in beautiful, unique and powerful ways.

Extract from the Appeal, 1998

” Lennart Nilsson has long enjoyed a worldwide reputation. He has won prizes for his unique contributions at the interface of photography and research, itself a science. Lennart has recently reached the age of 75, but is as active in his quest for knowledge today as he has always been. His work is a model and inspiration to all those engaged in visual representation of the sciences of medicine, biology and technology. A foundation, The Lennat Nilsson Award, is therefore being formed for the purpose of promoting research and technical development in these fields.”

The History

When the Federation of Technical and Medical Photographers (FTMF) of Sweden bestowed in 1997 its lifetime achievement award upon Lennart Nilsson, an idea was born. The idea: To establish an annual award that recognizes the achievements of individuals whose work reflects Nilsson’s own by revealing science to the world through imagery.

A group of influential Swedes lent support to this idea and helped establish an endowment fund for the award. The group consisted of Ingvar Carlsson, former Prime Minister of Sweden; Hans Wigzell, President, Karolinska Institute (Karolinska Institutet); Sven Nykvist, Swedish cinematographer; Bo G. Erikson, Swedish television producer; Sam Nilsson Director-General, Swedish Television (Sveriges Television); Staffan Larsson, Federation of Technical and Medical Photographers; Agneta Lundström, Museum Director, National Maritime Museums in Sweden; Per Sköld, former Marshal of the Realm, Royal Court of Sweden; Marcus Storch, past President and CEO, AGA; and Jan-Erik Wikström, former Swedish cabinet minister.

In 1998, the Lennart Nilsson Award Foundation was formally created and on October 29, 1998, Nils Åslund, Professor of Physics at the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, was the first to receive the Lennart Nilsson Award at a ceremony at the Stockholm’s Berwald Concert Hall on the occasion of the installation of new professors at the Karolinska Institutet.

Today the ceremony takes place at Aula Medica, still on the occasion of the installation of new professors at the Karolinska Institutet.

For more information: Karolinska Institutet