A husband-and-wife team of British evolutionary biologists, Peter and Rosemary Grant, were on 19 June awarded the Kyoto prize in basic science for their studies, over more than three decades, documenting evolution by natural selection in finches on the Galapagos Islands.

“I can’t think of any other scientists who deserve it more,” Kenneth Petren, of the University of Cincinnati in Ohio, tells The Scientist.

In one typical paper, (Grant P. R., et al. Science, 313. 224 – 226; 2006), the Grants – both Professors Emeritus at Princeton University – described the struggle between the medium ground finch (Geospiza fortis) and the large ground finch (Geospiza magnirostris), in the harsh environment of the tiny Galapagos Island Daphne Major (see Nature, doi: 10.1038/news060710-11, subscription required).

Environmental changes, including a drought, caused the beak size of generations of medium finches to shrink through natural selection. Smaller-beaked medium finches were able to gobble up smaller seeds that the greater-beaked ground finches missed, and so survived longer to pass their traits to their offspring. The Grants starred in Jonathan Weiner’s book, The Beak of the Finch.

Isamu Akasaki won the Advanced Technology award, for his work on gallium nitride p-n junctions and related contributions to the development of blue light emitting devices. French composer and conductor Pierre Boulez won the Arts and Philosophy category. Each award is worth 50 million yen (US$520,000).