HONG KONG -- Seven scientists won the Shaw Prize this year for their outstanding work in the prize's three categories, the Shaw Prize Foundation announced on Wednesday.

The Astronomy prize is awarded to Ken'ichi Nomoto, an emeritus professor from the University of Tokyo, and Stanford Woosley, a professor from the University of California at Santa Cruz, for their studies of stellar explosions and the origin of the elements.

The Life Science and Medicine prize goes to Anne Dejean, a professor from the Institut Pasteur, and Hugues de The, a professor from the College de France, as well as Zhu Chen, a professor from Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

The aforementioned three scientists will be awarded the prize for their discovery of the molecular and cellular bases of acute promyelocytic leukemia and the pioneering of a synergistic targeted therapy, according to the foundation.

The Mathematical Sciences prize goes to Emmanuel Candes, a professor from Stanford University, and Camillo De Lellis, a professor from the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, for their breakthrough contributions to the use of deep techniques from mathematical analysis to rigorously understand applied problems.

The Shaw Prize consists of four annual prizes -- Astronomy, Life Science and Medicine, and Mathematical Sciences, awarded since 2004, together with the newly introduced Computer Science Prize, to be awarded from 2027. Each prize carries a cash award of $1.2 million.