Husband and wife awarded Kyoto Prize

The pair has spent more than 35 years studying Darwin’s finches on the Galapagos Islands. Their fieldwork determined that the finches react quickly to environmental changes and evolve accordingly through natural selection. The Grants’ work is notable for demonstrating the possibility of proof in evolutionary biology — they were the first scientists to investigate and observe, in detail, factors that result in evolutionary responses.

This year marks the 25th year for the prize, awarded annually by the nonprofit Inamori Foundation in the categories of Arts and Philosophy, Advanced Technology and Basic Sciences. According to the Japanese foundation’s website, the Kyoto Prize “recogniz[es] persons who have made outstanding contributions to the progress of science, the advancement of civilization and the enrichment and elevation of the human spirit.”

Originally from Great Britain, the Grants came to Princeton from the University of Michigan in 1985. They were the subjects of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book “The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time” by Jonathan Weiner.

Both professors have received numerous awards recognizing their work in evolutionary biology. Rosemary Grant was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2007, and in 2008, both Grants received the Darwin-Wallace Medal, awarded every 50 years to scientists who have made significant discoveries in evolutionary biology.