2009 BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards

Physicists Ignacio Cirac (Spain) and Peter Zoller (Austria) share the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the Basic Sciences category for their fundamental work on quantum information science.

The award goes to Dr. Joan Massagué for his research on the fundamental processes that control cell division. His work has considerably increased our understanding of the genetic and cellular bases of metastasis.

U.S. biologists Thomas E. Lovejoy and William F. Laurance share the award in this category for adding to our understanding of the effects of land use change on biodiversity.

Israeli engineering professor Jacob Ziv wins the Information and Communication Technologies Award for his ground-breaking innovations in data compression, which have had a deep and lasting impact on both theory and practice in the ICT field.

The award in this category goes to French economist Jean Tirole for his economic analysis of optimal contracts and optimal design of public policies in a variety of contexts where asymmetry of information and conflicting incentives play a key role.

The award goes to U.S. architect Steven Holl for the progressive position of his design output in more than 30 years of professional practice and the humanistic values he has preserved in his work.

Prof. Wallace S. Broecker, pioneer in the study of global warming, wins the Climate Change award. Prof. Broecker was the first scientist to alert to climate change as far back as 1975, one year before the first manifestations of planetary warming.

The award goes to the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The Lab promotes the use of scientific methods to assess the on-the-ground effectiveness of development assistance funding.