Arnold Lucius Gesell Prize

Professor Dr. Catherine Lord receives the Arnold Lucius Gesell Prize 2021 in recognition of her unique and internationally significant contributions to the research and clinical treatment of children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders. The Theodor Hellbrügge Foundation thus honors Catherine Lord's outstanding scientific work on developmental psychology, the diagnosis and treatment of children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders and the counseling of affected families. Her research and teaching have contributed significantly to a better understanding of the development and comprehensive treatment of autism spectrum disorders. A particular merit is the design and scientific analysis of longitudinal studies in which the development of children with autism spectrum disorders is followed into adulthood in order to gain a better understanding of factors influencing child development and social integration.

Prof. Dr. Samuel L. Odom receives the Arnold Lucius Gesell Prize in recognition of his unique and internationally significant contributions to research on the social integration and inclusion of children with disabilities and developmental disabilities. His scientific work has led to far-reaching changes in educational practice for children and adolescents and has initiated significant progress in the inclusion of children with disabilities in the U.S. and other countries.

Professor Dr. Remo Largo receives the Arnold Lucius Gesell Prize in recognition of his unique longitudinal studies and lifelong research in the field of child development. The Theodor Hellbrügge Foundation honors the outstanding research results of Professor Largo with his call for family-friendly and child-friendly development opportunities.

Professor Dr. Henri Parens receives the Arnold Lucius Gesell Prize in recognition of his unique and transculturally significant contributions to research into the foundations of child development. He conducted groundbreaking studies on the development and prevention of aggression. He dedicated his impressive life's work to the study of human behavior.

Professor Dr. Klaus E. Grossmann and Dr. Karin Grossmann receive the Arnold Lucius Gesell Prize in recognition of their lifelong research in the field of child development, particularly in the field of attachment research in developmental psychology. Her groundbreaking longitudinal studies on the development of the parent-child bond have produced extraordinary research results.

The extraordinary man and scientist, Professor T. Berry Brazelton, is being honored with the Arnold Lucius Gesell Prize for his impressive life's work. It is to his studies that we owe the groundbreaking findings, in particular on the importance of early behavioral diagnosis and treatment of psychosocial and emotional disorders in infants.

Professor Dr. John Kennell, Mrs. Phyllis Klaus and Professor Dr. Marshall Klauser receive the Arnold Lucius Gesell Prize in recognition of their unique and transculturally significant contributions to research into the foundations of child development They have conducted pioneering studies on the importance of parental bonding and "rooming-in" to promote parent-child bonding after birth and on ways of treating early parental bonding disorders during pregnancy.

Professor Sir Rutter receives the Arnold Lucius Gesell Prize in recognition of his unique and transculturally significant contributions to the study of the foundations of child development. An exceptional individual and scientist, Professor Sir Rutter has made outstanding contributions to the study of the physiological and pathological influences on child development and his pioneering insights into the interplay between genetic, biological and social environmental conditions.

Professor Alain Reinberg receives the Arnold Lucius Gesell Prize in recognition of his lifelong research in the field of chronophysiology and the establishment of the chronobiology focus in the chronobiology laboratories of the Fondation Adolphe de Rothschild. He is one of the pioneers of chronobiology and chronopharmacology. With over 250 scientific papers and his tireless creativity, he has had a significant influence on this field over several decades. Together with Franz Halberg, he coined the term chronopharmacology. Alain Reinberg developed decisive foundations for chronopharmacology in both adulthood and childhood and provided impulses without which this field of research would probably not exist today. Professor Halberg receives the Arnold Lucius Gesell Prize in recognition of his unique and transculturally significant achievements in the study of temporal structures, particularly in child development, as well as his decades-long efforts to disseminate chronobiological and chronopathological phenomena across universities and research institutions on all continents. Professor Halberg's outstanding achievements in the dissemination of new findings through interdisciplinary research, but also through teaching and numerous monographs, as well as his globally significant work as director of the Halberg Chronobiology Center at the University of Minnesota Minneapolis are being honored.

Professor Emmy Werner-Jacobsen receives the Arnold Lucius Gesell Prize in recognition of her unique and internationally pioneering achievements in researching child development, the protective and endangering circumstances in which children live and the influence of caregivers. She has scientifically observed and analyzed the fates of children for over four decades. With this, the world's largest longitudinal study, she has presented groundbreaking results and described the protective factors of child development in detail for the first time. Her research has become a benchmark for similar longitudinal studies on child development under different socio-economic and psychological conditions, both in terms of methodology and content. She has thus made a lasting contribution to all specialist areas concerned with child development.

Professor Matějček receives the Arnold Lucius Gesell Prize in recognition of his unique, interdisciplinary and internationally groundbreaking achievements in researching early childhood psychosocial deprivation and its lifelong consequences, as well as the formative influence of parents on the cognitive, communicative and social development of the human child. Despite great political resistance, Professor Matějček has worked nationally and internationally to disseminate fundamental scientific findings on the environmental dependency of child development in teaching, film ("Children without Love"), writing and books and has courageously campaigned for the creation of exemplary mother-child laws, adoption and family regulations in his country.

Professor Kolzova receives the Arnold Lucius Gesell Prize in recognition of her unique, internationally outstanding achievements in research into children's language and the possibilities of language development, e.g. through fine motor training of finger movements, as well as her research into the coordination functions of the brain in infants and young children. As a doctor, she has significantly analyzed and improved learning processes in the educational field and was thus able to transfer the research of the great Russian neurophysiologists I. P. Pavlov and N. I. Krasnogorskij into practical aids for children.

The Papoušek couple receive the Arnold Lucius Gesell Prize in recognition of their unique, interdisciplinary and internationally significant contributions to research into the integration of early childhood experience, pre-linguistic communication and intuitive early parental education. They have translated new scientific knowledge into viable concepts for the early diagnosis, prevention and treatment of communication and relationship disorders in early childhood and disseminated this knowledge in scientific publications, teaching and training.

Professor Bornstein receives the Arnold Lucius Gesell Prize in recognition of his unique, interdisciplinary and transculturally significant contributions to the study of early cognitive and communicative development and the social integration of children. He has made an outstanding contribution to the dissemination of these new findings through teaching, numerous monographs and his exemplary editorial work, as well as his work as head of the Child and Family Research Section at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in Bethesda, Maryland.