The International Colour Vision Society (ICVS) is pleased to announce that the 2009 Verriest Medal will be awarded to Gerald (Jerry) H. Jacobs at the 20th Symposium of the Society to take place at the University of Minho, Braga, Portugal (July 24-28th, 2009). This award was established in 1991 in memory of the founding member of the Society, Dr. Guy Verriest, and honors outstanding contributions in the field of color vision.

Over the last 45 years, Professor Jacobs has authored more than 200 papers related to color vision. His discoveries have provided a basis for understanding the underpinnings of human color vision within the larger context of the evolution of the mammalian visual system. Professor Jacobs is a member of the Neuroscience Research Institute and the Department of Psychology at the University of California in Santa Barbara, where he has taken an interdisciplinary approach to characterizing the nature and distribution of the cone photopigments within and across mammalian species and understanding how variations in photoreceptor complement relate to differences in color vision capacity. Widely recognized as a leader among his generation of vision scientists, Professor Jacobs has been an inspiring mentor for generations of scientists who have shared his passion for understanding the diversity of color vision in our world.