JERUSALEM (AP) — The Dan David Prize will award nine historians, archaeologists and filmmakers from around the world with $300,000 for their research, the foundation announced Tuesday.

The award winners are researching a vast array of topics, from the notebook of Isaac Newton’s roommate to the history and culture of Ethiopian Jews. The academics recently received the prize during a ceremony in Italy.

The prize, based at Tel Aviv University, is awarded each year to academics in the early and middle stages of their careers who are conducting “innovative research on the human past.”

“By making groundbreaking discoveries or applying new methods to historical research, our winners constantly challenge us to think about the past while rethinking how we shed light on it,” said Ariel David, whose father, Dan David, founded the prize in 2001.