The late Professor Joseph Kampé de Fériet was a famous scientist in France. His works range from pure mathematics, fluide mechanics, theory of turbulence, statistical mechanics to information theory. He was a professor at the University of Science and Technology of Lille and a correspondant of the French Academy of Sciences. He was also a member of the Spanish Academy of Sciences. His latest work was centered around the theory of semantic information with, perhaps, a vision for applications to humanistic systems.
He died in the 80s. To pay homage to his memory, we have decided to create a Kampé de Fériet Award, for the recognition of significant works in this spirit, which bring an exceptional contribution to the field of information processing and management of uncertainty. It is given on the occasion of each IPMU Conference.

• The first recipient was Professor Lotfi A. ZADEH in 1992 at Palma de Mallorca, for his introduction of fuzzy set and possibility theories and his pioneering work on the theory of approximate reasoning.
• In 1994, Professor Ilya PRIGOGINE (Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1977) received the award for his contributions to the thermodynamics of non-equilibrium. Professor Prigogine was the Director of the International Intitutes of Physics and Chemistry Solvay in Brussels, and of the Center of Statistical Mechanics of the University of Texas at Austin.
• In 1996, the award was presented to Professor Toshiro TERANO, from Tokyo Institute of Technology, for his seminal work on fuzzy control and his role in the emergence of research on intelligent systems.
• In 1998, Professor Kenneth ARROW (Nobel Prize in Economic Science, 1972) received the award for his fundamental work on social choice and collective welfare. Professor Arrow is Joan Kenney Professor of Economics Emeritus and Professor of Operations Research Emeritus at Stanford University.
• In 2000, the recipient was Professor Richard JEFFREY, from Princeton University, for his contributions to the basic foundations in probability.
• In 2002, the recipient of the Kampe de Feriet Award was Professor Arthur DEMPSTER, of Harvard University. Professor Dempster is being recognized for his life long contributions to the field of mathematical statistics as well as his pioneering work which led to the development of the field which has become known as the Dempster-Shafer theory of belief functions.
• In 2004, the award was presented to Professor Janos ACZEL, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of the University of Waterloo (Canada), for his pioneering work on the theory of functional equations, with applications in many fields, such as information measures, index numbers, group decision making, aggregation, production functions, laws of science, theory of measurement and utility theory.