Prizes have been around for a long time, dating back to 1714 when the Brits established a prize to end shipwrecks due to inaccurate measurements. The solution came from a clockmaker who developed the marine chronometer. This Discover post discusses the old idea of offering prizes to help revolutionize future discovery - prizes to motivate the public to come up with creative, real-time solutions to major disasters, such as the BP oil spill.