Signing of Winner´s Book

by Liliana Hernández Patiño
Secretary General World Cultural Council

Good evening ladies and gentlemen.

Firstly, let me say what a pleasure it has been to work with the various members of the Princeton team – thank you so much for your combination of professionalism and personal warmth throughout the arrangements for this Award Ceremony.

Let me also take this opportunity, as we celebrate our 25th anniversary, to thank our Founder and President Emeritus, Maestro José Rafael Estrada Valero, for his trust and unconditional support for the Council’s activities. Personally, I would like to express my profound gratitude for his inspiration as a mentor and wise guide.

Let me also thank our President, Professor Edmond Fischer, for his tireless efforts and valuable work for the Council’s advancement. I likewise thank those who have traveled from other fields afar to be here with us tonight, and offer my deepest and most sincere gratitude to our faithful, dedicated helpers and volunteers, present or otherwise, for their exemplary spirit of service.

The value of the Winners’ Book lies in the names it bears within, who represent such a wide myriad of expressions of science and culture, and such incredible advances in these fields. They have clearly manifested through their contributions the key to breaking out beyond the boundaries of human limitation and disbelief.

Although the winners figuring in the book stem from very varied disciplines, they all have several common denominators, but maybe, above all, will and determination.

I would like to ask Professor Ada Yonath, to come to the stage and sign the Winners’ Book in the company of our witnesses of honor, Prof. Shirley Tilghman and Prof. Edmond Fischer.

And now it is my pleasure to ask Professor William Bowen to come to the stage and sign the Winners’ Book in the company of our witnesses of honor, Prof. Shirley Tilghman and Prof. Edmond Fischer.

In the framework of this significant occasion, the World Cultural Council would like to acknowledge Professor Shirley Tilghman for her energetic work at the forefront of university dynamics and for her clear concern for climate change and the environment, as well as her lucid grasp of the fundamental role of education in shaping the future. I would like to ask President Tilghman to step forward to receive the Medal for Educational Merit from the hands of our President, Prof. Edmond Fischer.