In 2020, Karel Martens – laureate of the Dr A. H. Heineken Prize for Art 1996 – was commissioned by the Alfred Heineken Fondsen Foundation to design an art work for the Heineken Young Scientists laureates. His design represents a Möbius strip, intended to be worn as a sash. Martens combines a scientific concept with ceremonial elements in his distinctive, colourful style, with each piece personalised for the individual laureates.
The Heineken Young Scientists Awards are awarded every two years to four highly promising young researchers working in the Netherlands. The winners are selected from four fields of science: Medical/Biomedical Sciences, Humanities, Natural Sciences, and Social Sciences.
Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken established the Heineken Young Scientists Awards in 2010 at the initiative of Robbert Dijkgraaf. The awards are intended to give the next generation of talented researchers extra encouragement.
Science is driven by young researchers who dive in with enthusiasm and sometimes make the most significant discoveries. The Heineken Young Scientists Awards provide that extra push to gain greater visibility and recognition, enabling these promising scientists, to further develop into outstanding professionals. In turn, they can become role models for future generations of researchers.
The award includes an unrestricted cash prize of EUR 15,000 and a work of art specially designed by Karel Martens.
Trophy made by Karel Martens
Dutch graphic designer and laureate of the Dr A. H. Heineken Prize for Art (1996)
Karel Martens (b. 1939) is an artist, graphic designer, educator, and key figure in contemporary Dutch graphic design, with a career spanning over 60 years. Alongside his graphic design practice, Martens has consistently created autonomous art that experiments with numbers, abstract forms, vivid colours, and time-based media, including clocks.