Top science award goes to computer modeller

An engineer who created the world's first computer model of the human heart has won New Zealand's top science honour.

Professor Peter Hunter received the Rutherford Medal at the Royal Society's annual awards dinner in Auckland last night.

Professor Hunter, who is director of the Auckland Bioengineering Institute, said the award was an enormous honour which he felt humbled by.

Professor Hunter's mathematical modelling of the human heart led him to establish the Physiome Project, which is intended to create similar models for all 12 of the body's organs. The project seeks to link all the genes, proteins, cells and tissues that make up the body into one mathematical model to help diagnose and treat patients and design medical devices.

The project has so far attracted $500 million of funding from the United States and Europe and has led to the creation of various spinoff companies.

The top award for technology, the Pickering Medal, was awarded to Professor Ken McNatty of Victoria University, for his work on reproductive biology. He has developed fertility products for sheep, deer, cattle and goats.

Another winner from Victoria University was vulcanologist Colin Wilson, who scooped the Hutton Medal for earth sciences for what he described as "playing around looking at rocks".

Professor Wilson's research was directed toward developing better warning systems for when volcanoes erupt and involved field work in Taupo and on extinct or dormant "supervolcanoes" in the US.

Professor Wilson hopes that one day volcanic eruptions can be forecast just like the weather.

The Rutherford Medal was first awarded in 1991. Previous winners include Nobel prize-winning chemist Alan MacDiarmid and Wellington physicist Paul Callaghan. Last year the medal was won by Massey University structural biophysicist Professor David Parry.

Winners of the Rutherford Medal do not receive a cash prize, but this year the Royal Society introduced two $15,000 cash prizes for the winners of two other awards, the Thomson Medal and the Pickering Medal.

WINNERS

Rutherford Medal – for an exceptional contribution to New Zealand society in science and technology: Professor Peter Hunter,

Auckland University Pickering Medal – to recognise excellence and innovation in the practical application of technology: Professor Ken McNatty,

Victoria University Thomson Medal – for outstanding and inspirational leadership in the management of science: Dr Richard Garland,

New Zealand Pharmaceuticals Hutton Medal – for excellence in earth sciences: Professor Colin Wilson,

Victoria University Te Rangi Hiroa Medal – to recognise excellence in the social sciences: Professor Ian Pool,

Waikato University Hector Medal – for an outstanding contribution to the advancement of the chemical sciences: Professor Peter Steel,

Canterbury University RJ Scott Medal – for outstanding contribution to engineering sciences and technology: Paul Harris, Industrial Research