from: http://www.royalsociety.org.nz/Site/news/media_releases/2008/honours08full.aspx#90569-36 Pickering Medal To recognise excellence and innovation in the practical application of technology. Awarded by the Royal Society of New Zealand. Awardee: Associate Professor Ross Ihaka, Department of Statistics, The University of Auckland Citation: Associate Professor Ross Ihaka is one the originators of R, a software package for statistical computing that has had phenomenal uptake internationally. It can be downloaded free and easily customised for a very wide variety of applications. The package and the paper introducing it have been cited over 1700 times, by far the highest for publications in the mathematical sciences over the last ten years, worldwide. It is now disseminated from over 75 internet sites in 30 countries. The package is used both for teaching and research by hundreds of universities around the world, including Stanford, Oxford, Cambridge and Berkeley. There are over 40 books written about, or featuring, the use of R.