Dr. Jared Mason Diamond, Professor of Physiology at the University of California Los Angeles School of Medicine, has made remarkable achievements in physiological studies on biological membranes and others, which have been recognized by election to the National Academy of Sciences. At the same time, pursuing a parallel career in such other areas as evolutionary biology and biogeography based on fieldwork, he has organized more than 15 expeditions, mainly to New Guinea, for over 30 years, and published many papers on the relationship between living things in nature, centering on birds and humans.

With the results of those field expeditions as the bases, Dr. Diamond's interest broadened and he turned his attention more and more toward global human ecology, which led him to publish the book entitled "Guns, Germs, and Steel" in 1997. Taking a long-term perspective ranging from 13,000 years ago when the ice age was finally over to the present, the book tries to elucidate the reasons why the evolution of human societies proceeded so differently on the different continents, including Asia, Americas, Europe, and Africa. Furthermore, it is a unique human history that integrates studies in many academic areas such as evolutionary biology, biogeography environmental geography, genetics, molecular biology, behavioral ecology, linguistics, and archaeology, and is attracting attention worldwide.

Recognizing that his work presented in this book are the results that have been brought about by taking a global, long-term perspective, adopting integrated methodologies, and giving fresh insights into the relationship between nature and humans, we have concluded that his achievements are surely worthy of the International Cosmos Prize.