SCIENCE IN THE NEWS DAILY

Finch Researchers Win Kyoto Prize

from the Scientist (Registration Required)

Peter and Rosemary Grant, emeritus professors at Princeton University who were the first to document natural selection in action, have won the 2009 Kyoto Prize in the category of Basic Sciences for their work on evolutionary adaptations in response to environmental flux.

"I can't think of any other scientists who deserve it more," said Kenneth Petren, a former postdoc of Peter Grant and now a professor at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio, citing "their long term commitment to unraveling some very complex problems" in evolutionary biology.

Following in Darwin's footsteps, the Grants have spent 35 years studying the finches he discovered on the Galápagos Islands during his Beagle tour.