“瓦特林·路德奖（Prix Vautrin Lud）”，被认为是地理学的诺贝尔奖，评选也严格按照诺贝尔奖的程序进行。瓦特林·路德是十六世纪初法国圣迪耶市的一个牧师，他托管了随紧哥伦布之后发现美洲新大陆的亚美利哥·韦斯普奇的航海日记，遂出版《宇宙志概论》，正式将新大陆命名为“亚美利哥”，并首次绘制在地图和地球仪上，纠正了哥伦布认为美洲不过是亚洲东部的错误认识，成为美洲名称的由来。所以自1990年后，一年一度的国际地理节在圣迪耶举行，并颁发以瓦特林·路德的名字命名的地理学 “诺贝尔奖”。

1990年以来的“瓦特林·路德国际地理学奖”分别是：
Peter Haggett (UK), 1991
Torsten Hägerstrand (Sweden) and Gilbert F. White (USA), 1992
Peter Gould (USA), 1993
Milton Santos (Brazil), 1994
David Harvey (UK), 1995
Brownish Roger and Paul Claval (both from France), 1996
Jean-Bernard Racine (Switzerland), 1997
Doreen Massey (UK), 1998
Ron Johnston (UK), 1999
Yves Lacoste (France), 2000
Peter Hall (UK), 2001
Bruno Messerli (Switzerland), 2002
Allen Scott (USA), 2003
Philippe Pinchemel (France), 2004
Brian J. L. Berry (USA), 2005
Heinz Wanner (Switzerland), 2006
Michael F. Goodchild (USA), 2007

里面很多人都是鼎鼎大名，如Haggett，Hägerstrand， David Harvey， Peter Hall等，当然对于地理信息科学领域的人而言，最熟悉的还是Goodchild。他今年荣获此奖，也是所有GIS领域人的荣耀，就像他当选美国科学院院士一样。记得以前本校一位前辈学者经常说，我们搞地理的是没法获得诺贝尔奖的。诚然这句话没错，但瓦特林·路德奖仍是我们奋斗的方向。祝贺Goodchild，同时也祝贺GIS。下文是UCSB所发的关于Goodchild获奖的新闻。

Professor Mike Goodchild has been awarded the Prix Vautrin Lud, regarded by many as Geography’s equivalent of the Nobel Prize. The international award is named after a 16th Century French map maker who is credited as being the first to name the New World “America” on a map (exactly 500 years ago in 1507, in honor of the Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci; detail at right is from the original which is in the Library of Congress). The award will be presented at this year’s Festival Internationale de Géographie (FIG), held in the French town of Saint-Dié-des-Vosges where Vautrin Lud was born. The prestigious annual award is given to a scientist or scientists who has/have significantly advanced the field of geography, and Mike becomes the 19th scholar to have won it. Previous recipients include Peter Haggett (UK), 1991; Torsten Hägerstrand (Sweden) and Gilbert F. White (USA), 1992; Peter Gould (USA), 1993; Milton Santos (Brazil), 1994; David Harvey (UK), 1995; Brownish Roger and Paul Claval (both from France), 1996; Jean-Bernard Racine (Switzerland), 1997; Doreen Massey (UK), 1998; Ron Johnston (UK), 1999; Yves Lacoste (France), 2000; Peter Hall (UK), 2001; Bruno Messerli (Switzerland), 2002; Allen Scott (USA), 2003; Philippe Pinchemel (France), 2004; Brian J. L. Berry (USA), 2005; and Heinz Wanner (Switzerland), 2006.

Professor Goodchild received a BA in Physics from Cambridge University and a PhD in Geography from McMaster University. He joined the UCSB Department of Geography in 1988, and he has served as Chair of the Department (1998-2000); chair of the Executive Committee of the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis since 1997; Associate Director of the Alexandria Digital Library Project since 1994; Chair of the Mapping Science Committee, National Research Council, 1997–1999; and Director of NCGIA’s Center for Spatially Integrated Social Science since 1999. His research interests include urban and economic geography, geographic information systems, and spatial analysis. Considered the father of GIScience, Goodchild’s many honors include being elected as a member of the National Academy of Sciences and Foreign Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2002, being awarded the Founder’s Medal of the Royal Geographical Society in 2003.and being elected as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2006.

Mike was selected as the recipient of the Prix Vautrin Lud by an international committee last May, and he will receive the award at FIG on October 4th. Needless to say, the entire department, as well as the university, is extremely proud of Mike’s achievements and honored that our “laureate” has decided to stay at UCSB, despite overtures from Harvard.

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