Marta Kwiatkowska joint winner of Van Wijngaarden Awards 2021 for preventing software faults and for improving decision making in health

The Van Wijngaarden Awards 2021 will be awarded to computer scientist Marta Kwiatkowska and mathematician Susan A. Murphy for the numerous and highly significant contributions they made to their respective research areas: preventing software faults and improving decision making in health. The five-yearly award is established by CWI, the national research institute for mathematics and computer science in the Netherlands, and is named after former CWI director Aad van Wijngaarden. The winners will receive the prize during a festive soirée on 18 November in Amsterdam.

The five-yearly Van Wijngaarden Award is named after Adriaan van Wijngaarden (1916–1987). Van Wijngaarden was directly involved in the introduction of the computer in the Netherlands and has been of invaluable importance for CWI and the evolution of the computer in our country. He is also one of the founders of computer science in the Netherlands and laid the foundation for several mainstream computer languages. Van Wijngaarden was the director of the Mathematical Center from 1961-1980, currently known as Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI). This year is the 75th anniversary year of CWI.

It is the fourth time the Van Wijngaarden Awards are awarded. Previous awards went to Nancy Lynch and Persi Diaconis (2006), Éva Tardos and John Butcher (2011) and Sara van de Geer and Xavier Leroy (2016). The Van Wijngaarden Award consists of a bronze sculpture by Hanneke van den Bergh.

About Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) 
Founded in 1946, Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) is the national research institute for mathematics and computer science in the Netherlands.