Albrecht von Haller Awards of the Swiss Heart Foundation 2023

Albrecht von Haller The Swiss scientist Albrecht von Haller (1708–1777) was one of the central figures during the Age of Enlightenment with an impressive range of interests and contributions. Indeed, he was a poet, a scholar, a physician, a botanist and a magistrate at his native city of Bern. He studied at the University of Tübingen, Germany, under Professor Elias Camerius. Afterwards he moved to Leiden in the Netherlands to get further training from Professor Hermann Boerhaave, one of the leading authorities in medicine of his time; visited England and France and ultimately returned to Bern to become the city’s physician and librarian. Based on his seminal contributions to science, botany and medicine, he was nominated as professor of anatomy, botany and surgery at the University of Göttingen in 1736 (fig. 1). In his new position, he published his seminal monograph on Switzerland in 1742 and became one of the leading botanists. As an anatomist, he investigated the vascular system and published his findings in his Icones Anatomicae between 1743 and 1756. The Albrecht von Haller Award To this day, Albrecht von Haller remains a role model due to his restless inquiry and scientific productivity. Therefore the Swiss Heart Foundation decided to create an award named after him dedicated to young and promising scientists. Unlike other scientific awards, the Albrecht von Haller Award, endowed with 25,000 CHF, is not given to recognise a seminal publication, but rather – thanks to a generous donation from Boehringer Ingelheim Switzerland – to support an interesting and promising project of a young cardiologist or cardiovascular scientist. It should be noted that the selection of candidates is made completely independently by the members of the Swiss Heart Foundation’s research committee, without any involvement of the sponsor. In addition, to motivate very young scientists, three awards, each endowed with 2,000 CHF are granted for outstanding dissertations at a Swiss university.