Fonseca Prize 2009: James Ephraim Lovelock

"For his leadership and his pioneering character in the construction of the current environmental awareness, of which he is a public international reference, and for his sharing of important scientific concepts with members of society; all of the above in combination with an exemplary freedom and independence of thought, and outstanding brilliance and talent, which has made it possible the achieving of exceptional results in different fields of scientific knowledge."

The jury of this second round of the Fonseca Prize was formed by Senén Barro, Rector of the USC; Ricardo Capilla, Director General of Research, Development and Innovation of the Government of Galicia; Xosé Manuel Villanueva, Manager of the Consorcio de Santiago; Xosé Denis, Director of programmes of the Consorcio de Santiago; José Ángel Docobo, Director of the USC Astronomical Observatory; Ramón Núñez Centella, Director of the National Museum of Science and Technology; José Pardina, Director of the magazine "Muy Interesante" and by the Director of the ConCiencia programme, Jorge Mira.

The Consortium of Santiago and the University of Santiago de Compostela, aware of the importance of the transfer of knowledge and the scientific education needs of society, agreed in 2006 to create the ConCiencia program to invite the greatest intellects of the international scientific community to transmit their ideas to a city which is a symbol of culture and knowledge.

Under the auspices of the ConCiencia program, the Fonseca Prize of scientific popularization was created with the aim of promoting the transfer of this knowledge to the general public. In this task it is compulsory to acknowledge the role of mass media, which are the main instruments for this action.