Ross Ihaka has won New Zealand's top award for technology achievements, the 2008 Pickering Medal.
The medal was one of series awarded by the national science academy, the Royal Society, before 380 of the nation's senior scientists at Te Papa in Wellington,
Dr Ihaka's software for statisticians, called R, can be downloaded free and has had huge uptake by universities, industry and government.
Readily customised for different applications, it has proved invaluable for major "data crunching" tasks such as processing genomic information.
The package and the paper introducing it have been cited over 1700 times in research papers: the highest 'hit-rate' for publications in the mathematical sciences over the past 10 years, worldwide, and it is now disseminated from over 75 internet sites in 30 countries.
The inaugural Dame Joan Metge Award for Social Science was presented by Dame Joan herself to, jointly, paediatrician Professor Diana Lennon, of Auckland University, and public health researcher Professor Philippa Howden-Chapman, from Otago University's medical school in Wellington.
Prof Lennon is an expert on infectious childhood diseases in children and has generated a lot of new knowledge with direct benefits for New Zealand children, saving lives and reducing hospital admissions and long-term disabilities.
She has also investigated sore throat management in schools to prevent rheumatic fever.
Dr Howden-Chapman is well known for her research showing that keeping homes dry and warm with insulation provided improved occupants' health with fewer sick days off work, GP visits and hospital admissions for respiratory conditions.
For this work, Prof Howden-Chapman also received the Liley Medal, awarded by the Health Research Council, jointly with Professor Ted Baker from Auckland University.
Prof Baker's research, published in the journal Science, described for the first time, the atomic structure of protein assemblies called pili on gram-positive bacterial surfaces, providing clues to the way bacteria adhere to cells, and become infective and virulent.
Prof Baker's work also showed the importance of a previously unrecognised type of bond within the molecule which is likely to help researchers develop vaccines for a range of significant human infections.
