Martin Rees, a theoretical astrophysicist, the master of Trinity College at Cambridge University, and the former president of Britain’s Royal Society, is the 2011 Templeton Prize winner. He accepted the award this morning at the Royal Institution of Great Britain in London.

For decades, Rees has explored some of life’s big questions—like the emergence of the cosmos and the size of physical reality—by studying black holes, galaxy formation, and gamma ray bursts and making speculations on the multiverse. He has also urged the scientific community to raise awareness of how human activity is impacting our planet. His book Our Final Hour argues that we now have the power to determine the future of the entire biosphere.

As he explained in prepared remarks:

Some people might surmise that intellectual immersion in vast expanses of space and time would render cosmologists serene and uncaring about what happens next year, next week, or tomorrow. But, for me, the opposite is the case. My concerns are deepened by the realization that, even in a perspective extending billions of years into the future, as well as into the past, this century may be a defining moment. Our planet has existed for 45 million centuries, but this is the first in its history where one species—ours—has Earth’s future in its hands, and could jeopardize not only itself, but life’s immense potential.

The Templeton Prize, valued at about 1.61 million dollars, celebrates someone who has made “exceptional contributions to affirming life’s spiritual dimension.” While Rees says he has no religious beliefs and was surprised to win the award, the big questions his work raises “are reshaping crucial philosophical and theological considerations that strike at the core of life, fostering the spiritual progress that the Templeton Prize has long sought to recognize,” the Templeton Foundation said in a statement. The prize will be officially awarded to Rees by Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, at a private ceremony at Buckingham Palace on June 1.

Eight scientists will share the three 2010 Kavli Prizes, which recognize advances in astrophysics, nanoscience, and neuroscience, and are each worth 1 million dollars.
Jerry Nelson, Ray Wilson, and Roger Angel will share the astrophysics prize for their contributions to the giant telescopes that let us see further back in time and deeper into space than ever before. Donald Eigler, who was the first to pick up an individual atom and move it precisely to another location, and Nadrian Seeman, who invented the field of structural DNA nanotechnology, will split the nanoscience prize, and the neuroscience prize will be split among Thomas Südhof, Richard Scheller, and James Rothman for their work on how brain cells signal each other.

Congratulations to Parastoo Abtahi and Allison Carter, the high school students who won the Perimeter Institute’s “I Love Science” video contest.

Check out Abtahi’s video:

And here’s Carter’s:

Back in March, Francisco Ayala (pictured center) won the 2010 Templeton Prize, valued at more than 1.5 million dollars. Today, he was presented with the award by Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh (pictured right), in a private ceremony at Buckingham Palace. “This is a remarkable prize,” Ayala said. “I hope the recognition it bestows will help propagate the notion that science and religion are not in opposition and that, in fact, they may often be complementary.”
As we told you earlier, Ayala will donate the money for graduate scholarships in biological sciences and toward the evolutionary genetics program at the University of California, Irvine, where he’s a professor.