Fri 15 October 2021:
According to the Empress Theophano Foundation, two Turkish German scientists were given Greece’s Empress Theophano Prize on Wednesday for developing the first coronavirus vaccine, which saved millions of lives, Anadolu Agency reported.
“It is a great pleasure for me to present the Empress Theophano Prize to two wonderful scientists, Uğur Şahin and Özlem Türeci, who have made their way in life and science together,” said Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou, who presented the prize, which is given to individuals or organizations for their contribution to the understanding and strengthening of the notion of the modern European identity.
Sakellaropoulou noted that Sahin and Türeci grew up at the crossroads of Mediterranean and Central European cultures, emphasizing the importance of the couple’s contribution in the development of the vaccine that protects humanity from COVID-19, one of the most serious threats of the twenty-first century.
“Today, we honor an important man and woman with their teams of scientists for their important contributions to humanity. We reward their faith, dedication, perseverance and strength,” she added.
Both Şahin and Türeci were born to immigrant parents from Turkey who moved to Germany in the 1960s.
Türeci and Şahin, who co-founded BioNTech, the German firm that developed a COVID-19 vaccine together with U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer.
_____________________________________________________________________________
FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:
TWITTER (CLICK HERE)
https://twitter.com/IpIndependent
FACEBOOK (CLICK HERE)
https://web.facebook.com/ipindependent
Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!
