Six Academy Fellows Honored for Major Contributions to Science
January 8, 2001—The
National Academy of Sciences (NAS) has named six Academy Fellows among
18 individuals selected to receive awards honoring outstanding scientific
achievement. The prizes will be presented on April 30 at a ceremony in
Washington, DC, during the Academy's 138th annual meeting. Those honored (with
their institutions and years of election to the Academy):
Seymour Benzer (California Institute of Technology, 1959),
has been named the winner of the NAS Award in the Neurosciences given every
three years for extraordinary contributions to progress in the field of
neuroscience. Benzer, professor of neuroscience at the California Institute of
Technology, was chosen for "his pioneering contributions, which have brought
neurogenetics to maturity."
John I. Brauman (Stanford University, 1976) is the winner of
the NAS Award in Chemical Sciences, given annually for innovative research in
the chemical sciences that benefits humanity. The J.G. Jackson–C. J. Wood
Professor of Chemistry at Stanford, Brauman was chosen for "his wide-ranging
contributions to the fundamental understanding of chemical reactivity,
especially the acid-base, nucleophilic, and hydrogen-bonding properties of ions
and molecules."
Elaine Fuchs (University of Chicago, 1994) will receive the
Richard Lounsbery Award in recognition of extraordinary scientific achievement
in biology and medicine, alternating annually between young American and French
scientists. Fuchs, an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and
Amgen Professor of Basic Sciences at the University of Chicago, was selected
for "fundamental insights into structure and function of cytoskeletal proteins
and the relation of these proteins to human genetic diseases."
Robert J. Lefkowitz (Duke University, 1988) will receive the
Jessie Stevenson Kovalenko Medal, awarded every three years for important
contributions to the medical sciences. An investigator at the Howard Hughes
Medical Institute and James B. Duke Professor of Medicine at Duke, Lefkowitz
was chosen for "his elucidation of the structure, function, and mechanism of
regulation of heptahelical receptors, nature's detectors of signals from many
hormones, neutrotransmitters, and drugs."
Norman Pace (University of Colorado, Boulder, 1991) has been
named winner of the Selman A. Waksman Award in Microbiology, given
approximately every two years in recognition of excellence in the field of
microbiology. Pace, professor of molecular, cellular, and developmental biology
at the University of Colorado, has helped revolutionize microbiology "by
developing methods by which microorganisms can be directly detected,
identified, and phylogenetically related without the need for cultivation in
the laboratory."
David Wilkinson (Princeton University, 1984) has been
selected to receive the James Craig Watson Medal given every three years in
recognition of contributions to the science of astronomy. Wilkinson was
selected for his "elegant precision measurements [—and those of his
students and their students—] of universal radiation that is close to
blackbody yet wonderfully rich in evidence of cosmic evolution." Wilkinson is
Cyrus Fogg Brackett Professor of Physics at Princeton.
For more information please call Phyllis Bendell at (617) 576-5047 or
email pbendell@amacad.org.
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