Disclaimer: Unless you’re really, really crazy about theoretical science, go on to the next post.

Metaphors of information processing and computation are at the center of today’s intellectual action. A new and unified language of science is beginning to emerge. Concepts of information and computation have infiltrated a wide range of sciences, from mathematics, physics and cosmology, to cognitive psychology, to evolutionary biology, to genetic engineering. Such innovations as the binary code and the algorithm have been applied in ways that reach far beyond the programming of computers, and are being used to understand such mysteries as the origins of the universe, the operation of the human body, and the working of the mind. These are the areas of exploration that have been central to Edge.

The Prize recognizes individual achievement in scientific work that embodies extensions of the computational idea — the design space created by Turing. It is a 21st Century prize in recognition of cutting edge work — theoretical, experimental, or both — performed, published, or newly applied within the past ten years.

The Prize is not a lifetime achievement award. It is (a) an Edge Prize that focuses on “the edge of the world’s knowledge” in 2005, and (b) a science prize, not an engineering prize, which encompasses computer science but is far more broadly construed.

Go to the article and cursor down to the list of nominees. Click on their names and enjoy what these folks are analyzing.

Yes. EDGE is my favorite science website. They think John is a proper gadfly, too.