MADRID, June 4 (Xinhua) -- Five scientists, four Americans and one Japanese, on Wednesday won the Spanish Prince of Asturias Prize for developing materials to fight disease and protect the environment.

    The scientists won the 2008 technical and scientific research award for their work in the field of nanotechnology, the Prince of Asturias Foundation said.

    These scientists have created new, revolutionary materials and transcendental techniques for fighting diseases, such as those related to the brain and cancer, and for producing artificial tissues and organs, the foundation said in a statement.

    The five scientists, who work separately, are Japanese physicist Sumio Lijima; U.S. engineers Shuji Nakamura and Robert Langer, and chemists George Whitesides and Tobin Marks.

    Their work also stands out for its contribution to the protection of the environment and energy-saving via the use of new sources of clean energy that may be produced at low cost, the foundation said.

    All these technological innovations and scientific discoveries are of special importance in the fight against poverty, such as cheap water purification in the most depressed areas around the world.

    Eight Prince of Asturias prizes are awarded each year to "the scientific, technical, social, cultural and humanitarian work carried out by a person, work teams or institutions in the international field."

    The awards, presented for the first time in 1981, include a 50,000-euro (78,000 U.S. dollars) cash stipend and a sculpture by the Spanish artist Joan Miro.

    The prizes are named after Prince Felipe, heir to the Spanish crown, and are presented each fall in Oviedo, capital of the northern region of Asturias.