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A History of Science Prizes

Prizes have proven to be the most powerful tool for inspiring radical scientific breakthroughs - to make the seemingly impossible become inevitable. Going back to the Longitude Prize in 1714, rewards have proven to encourage new levels of excellence and innovation, expanding perceptions of what is possible. That prize, offered by the British government, sought a simple and practical method for the precise determination of a ship's longitude. In the 19th century, Napoleon's Food Preservation Prize ("An army marches on its stomach") resulted in the canning industry, significantly contributing to ending famine and the near doubling of lifespan in the developed world. The Orteig Prize, which led to Charles Lindberg crossing the Atlantic in 1927, mobilized a large pool of talent with diverse approaches and techniques - exactly what a well-designed prize should do. In anticipation of major advances in extending healthy human life, Methuselah Foundation offers significant prizes.

What happens along the way? Many important innovations result from the effort that goes into winning a race. Let's use the Space Race as an example. Much of the technology of the past 50 years can be traced to the Space Race - some say even the Internet itself. Here's a partial list of the practical solutions that came as a result of the race to the moon:

  • ATM technology
  • Pay at the Pump satellite technology
  • Athletic shoe manufacturing technique
  • Insulation barriers for autos
  • Freeze-dried food
  • Cordless tools
  • Airport baggage scanners
  • Hazardous gas sensors
  • Precision navigation
  • Grooved road surfaces
  • Clock synchronization
  • Climate change studies
  • Monitoring of storms
  • Solar collectors
  • Fusion reactors
  • "Space-age" fabrics
  • Teflon-coated fiberglass
  • Lightweight breathing system used by firefighters
  • WD-40
  • GPS


And many innovations that are an important part of healthcare today were created by using or adapting space race technology:

  • Artificial heart implants
  • Pacemakers
  • Physical therapy machines
  • Cardiac angiography
  • Monitoring neutron activity in the brain
  • Cleaning techniques for hospital operating rooms
  • Portable x-ray technology
  • Memory foam
  • Water purification filters
  • Invisible braces
  • Space blankets
  • Cochlear implants
  • MRI and CAT Scans
  • Kidney dialysis


Why award a prize rather than put money into research? Firstly, it allows for the broadest possible range of approaches; you are asking for the diverse ingenuity of the world rather than relying on your own ingenuity to select the approach you will fund. Secondly, far more funding will be devoted to research as a part of competing for the prize than stands in the prize purse. We humans rise to the challenge of a contest, as research prizes have shown over and over again.

Ingenuity applies to raising funds for high profile prize competitions too. Multipliers occur at all levels of the process when you harness the basic human desire to move forward and win. So if you want to put your charitable donations where they will make the most difference ... then donate to a research prize!


Competitor Andrzej Bartke

We are working with mutant mice in which reduced release of several hormones from the pituitary or resistance to the actions of one of these hormones are associated with very impressive (approximately 50%) increase in life expectancy. These animals not only live long but are also partially protected from cancer and other age-related diseases and maintain their memory and learning ability into very late life. Our research, together with the findings from other laboratories, suggests that improved responses to insulin may explain the envious characteristics of these mutant mice. We strongly suspect that altered action of insulin in a particular organ or cell type is responsible for the delay of aging in these mice and that these alterations at a particular stage of life may be especially important. Our aim is to find how, where and when must the action of insulin be altered to produce a long-lived individual.

Few people not directly involved in gerontological research are fully aware of the exciting developments in the study of aging and what I feel is the very real prospect of devising effective means of postponing age-related disease and functional decline and yes, prolonging life. The Methuselah Mouse Prize captures popular attention, as evidenced by extensive media coverage it already received, and I believe will play a very important role in securing continued public interest in the work on mechanisms and control of aging.

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