Voting Opens Today for 'Biggest Problem in Science' to Determine 2014 Longitude Prize

Earlier this week it was announced that the British government would revive the Longitude Prize, which was first established in 1714 in order to solve pressing scientific problems. The public will vote on which problem they feel is greatest.

The public vote for the six proposed topics will open on Thursday May 22 and last until June 25. When the voting closes the Longitude Committee will finalize the criteria for how to win the prize and then participants will be able to submit their own idea to approach the topic. The committee will officially be open for entries in September. The prize is £10 million.

The first longitude prize was claimed by John Harrison in 1765 for his development of a maritime chronometer for sailors to pinpoint their location at sea. Harrison was the proud winner of the first ever prize that paid him £20,000. The first prize took over 50 years to be given, which could very well be the case for the current Longitude contest. The contest will either run for five years or until the prize is won, to be determined by the committee.

The UK government's Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is excited to get the competition underway. Minister for Universities and Science David Willetts believes that, "this prize will challenge scientists to tackle one of today's greatest scientific problems," in this Guardian news article.

Voters can now officially vote on one of the following six topics that will be chosen for the contest: Flight - how can we fly without damaging the environment?; Food - how can we ensure everyone has nutritious, sustainable food?; Antibiotics - how can we prevent the rise of resistance to antibiotics?; Paralysis - how can we restore movement to those with paralysis?; Water - how can we ensure everyone can have access to safe and clean water?; and Dementia - how can we help people with dementia live independently and longer? You can read more about the prize challenges on the UK Government website.

To arrive at these topics, the UK government and the Longitude Committee worked with over 100 scientists and academics across a variety of fields to review, question and comment on them. After multiple rounds of research, the six topics were finalized for vote, and now the voting has begun.