List of challenge awards

This list of challenge awards is an index to articles about notable challenge awards, or inducement prize contests. A cash prize is given for the accomplishment of a feat, usually of engineering.

Presentation of $10 million check for Ansari X Prize

Offered before 1900

CountryAwardSponsorFirst
Offered
Description
FranceAlkali prizeLouis XVI of France, French Academy of Sciences1783for a method to produce alkali from sea salt (sodium chloride). Achieved by Nicolas Leblanc in 1791.
FranceFood preservation prizeNapoleon1800for a new way to preserve food. Won by Nicolas Appert in 1910.
United KingdomLongitude rewardsParliament of United Kingdom1714Established by the Longitude Act. For anyone who could find a simple and practical method for the precise determination of a ship's longitude
FranceMontyon PrizeFrench Academy of Sciences, Académie française1820A series of prizes awarded annually for making an industrial process less unhealthy, improving a mechanical process, book which rendered the greatest service to humanity, "prix de vertu" for the most courageous act by a poor Frenchman

Offered in 20th century

CountryAwardSponsorFirst
Offered
Description
United StatesHearst Transcontinental PrizeWilliam Randolph Hearst1910To the first aviator to fly coast to coast across the United States, in either direction, in fewer than 30 days from start to finish. Expired in November 1911 without a winner.
United KingdomDaily Mail aviation prizesDaily Mail newspaper1906Between 1906 and 1930 for various different achievements in aviation
FranceDeutsch prizeHenri Deutsch de la Meurthe1900For first machine capable of flying a round trip from the Parc Saint Cloud to the Eiffel Tower in Paris and back in less than thirty minutes.[1] Won in 1901.[2]
United StatesDole Air RaceJames Dole1927Air race across the Pacific Ocean from northern California to the Territory of Hawaii. Two of the eight planes successfully landed in Hawaii.
HungaryErdős problemsPaul Erdős20th centuryPayments for solutions to unresolved mathematical problems
United StatesFeynman Prize in NanotechnologyForesight Institute1993For significant advances in nanotechnology
FranceGrand Prix d'AviationHenri Deutsch de la Meurthe1904For the first person to fly a circular 1-kilometer course in a heavier-than-air craft.[3] Won in 1908[4][5]
United StatesIntelligent Ground Vehicle CompetitionUnited States Army CCDC Ground Vehicle Systems Center etc.1993Undergraduate and graduate student teams design and build an autonomous ground vehicle capable of completing several difficult challenges.
United StatesKnuth reward checkDonald Knuth1984For finding technical, typographical, or historical errors, or making substantial suggestions for Knuth's publications.
United KingdomKremer prizeRoyal Aeronautical Society1959Series of awards for human-powered flight. First prize won in 1977 by the MacCready Gossamer Condor.
United StatesOrteig PrizeRaymond Orteig1919For the first Allied aviator(s) to fly non-stop from New York City to Paris or vice versa. Won by Charles Lindbergh in 1927.
GermanyWolfskehl PrizePaul Wolfskehl1906For proving Fermat's Last Theorem. Won by Andrew Wiles in 1997

Offered in 21st century

CountryAwardSponsorFirst
Offered
Description
United StatesAmerica's Space PrizeRobert Bigelow2004For first US-based team to design and build a reusable manned capsule capable of flying 5 astronauts to a Bigelow Aerospace inflatable space module. Expired in 2010 without a winner.
United StatesBrain Preservation Technology PrizeBrain_Preservation_Foundation2010For long-term storage of a brain's connectome. Small mammal prize won in 2016 and large mammal prize in 2018
United KingdomBrexit Prize[6]Institute of Economic Affairs2013For best plan for a UK exit from the European Union. Awarded in 2014.
United StatesBuckminster Fuller ChallengeBuckminster Fuller Institute2007Annual international design competition for the most comprehensive solution to a pressing global problem.
United StatesCentennial ChallengesNASA2003For various non-government-funded technological achievements by American teams.
United StatesCornell Cup USACornell University2011Annual embedded design competition to empower student teams to become the inventors of the newest innovative applications of embedded technology
United StatesDARPA Grand ChallengeDARPA2004Series of prizes for autonomous vehicles.
United StatesDARPA Network ChallengeDARPA2009Contest to use social networking to locate ten red balloons placed around the United States. Won in less than 9 hours.
United StatesDARPA Shredder Challenge 2011DARPA2011Contest to reconstruct documents shredded by a variety of paper shredding techniques.
United StatesDARPA Spectrum ChallengeDARPA2013Contest for a radio protocol that can best use a given communication channel in the presence of other dynamic users and interfering signals.
United StatesElevator:2010Spaceward Foundation, NASA Centennial Challenges2005Until 2010. Contests for space elevator and related technologies. Annual competitions for climbers, ribbons and power-beaming systems
InternationalGlobal Security ChallengeInnoCentive2006For the most promising security technology startups in the world.
AustraliaHutter PrizeMarcus Hutter2006For each 1% data compression improvement on a specific 100 MB English text file.
United StatesHyperloop pod competitionSpaceX2015To design—and for some, build—a subscale prototype transport vehicle to demonstrate technical feasibility of various aspects of the Hyperloop concept.
United StatesL PrizeUnited States Department of Energy2008For the replacement of two types of light bulb, an A19 60-watt incandescent light bulb and a PAR 38 halogen incandescent bulb
United KingdomLongitude PrizeNesta (charity)2012For a team of researchers that develops an affordable, accurate, and fast point-of-care test for bacterial infection that is easy to use anywhere in the world
United StatesLunar Lander ChallengeNASA Centennial Challenges2006Series of prizes for teams that launch a vertical takeoff/vertical landing (VTVL) rocket that achieved the total delta-v needed for a vehicle to move between the surface of the Moon and its orbit.
United StatesMethuselah Mouse PrizeMethuselah Foundation2003To the research team that broke the world record for the oldest-ever mouse; and to the team that developed the most successful late-onset rejuvenation strategy
United StatesMillennium Prize ProblemsClay Mathematics Institute2000For solving any of: P versus NP problem, Hodge conjecture, Poincaré conjecture (solved), Riemann hypothesis, Yang–Mills existence and mass gap, Navier–Stokes existence and smoothness, Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture
United KingdomN-PrizePaul H. Dear2008To launch a satellite weighing between 9.99 and 19.99 grammes into Earth orbit, and to track it for a minimum of nine orbits. The launch budget must be under £999.99 including the launch vehicle, all of the required non-reusable launch equipment hardware, and propellant
United StatesNetflix PrizeNetflix2006For the best collaborative filtering algorithm to predict user ratings for films, based on previous ratings without any other information about the users or films. Won in 2009.
FrancePeugeot Concours DesignPeugeot2000To design a Peugeot car for the year 2020
United StatesPrize4LifeAvi Kremer, ALS Association2007For the discovery of treatments and a cure for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
United StatesSpace Poop ChallengeNASA2016New designs for space toilet systems for use in space suits
AustraliaUAV Outback ChallengeAustralian Research Centre for Aerospace Automation2007For the development of unmanned aerial vehicles.
United KingdomVirgin Earth ChallengeRichard Branson2007For a commercially viable design which results in the permanent removal of greenhouse gases out of the Earth's atmosphere to contribute materially in global warming avoidance

X Prize Foundation

The X Prize Foundation of the United States has organized various prizes, usually sponsored by others.

AwardSponsorFirst
Offered
Description
Ansari X PrizeAnousheh Ansari, Amir Ansari1996For first non-government organization to launch a reusable manned spacecraft into space twice within two weeks. Won in 2004.
Archon X PrizeStewart Blusson2006For the first team to rapidly, accurately and economically sequence 100 whole human genomes to an unprecedented level of accuracy. Cancelled in 2013.
Automotive X PrizeProgressive Corporation2007For super-efficient low-emission vehicles in three categories. Awarded in 2010
Google Lunar X PrizeGoogle2007For landing a robot on the surface of the Moon, traveling 500 meters over the lunar surface, and sending images and data back to the Earth. Expired in 2018 with no winner.
Tricorder X PrizeQualcomm2011For an automatic non-invasive health diagnostics system in a single portable package that weighs no more than 5 pounds (2.3 kg), able to autonomously diagnose 13 medical conditions
Wendy Schmidt Oil Cleanup X ChallengeThe Schmidt Family Foundation2010For efficient capturing of crude oil from ocean water
X Prize CupState of New Mexico2005For e.g. rocket-powered bicycles, rocket jet packs, lunar lander and space elevator

See also

References

  1. Airship Deutsch Prize - 1901, The Airship Z-Prize official website Archived 2009-01-01 at the Wayback Machine
  2. "M. Santos Dumont's Balloon". News. The Times (36591). London. 21 October 1901. col A, p. 4.
  3. ""Prize Patrol", from Wright Brothers Aeroplane Company, a virtual museum of pioneer aviation". Archived from the original on 2009-03-12. Retrieved 2008-12-31.
  4. HENRI FARMAN 1874-1958 at Early Aviators.com
  5. Henri Farman at Centennial of Flight Archived 2009-01-18 at the Wayback Machine
  6. "'Brexit': IEA offers prize for UK exit plan from EU". British Broadcasting Corporation. 15 July 2013. Retrieved 17 February 2014.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.