Fields Medal
The Fields Medal, officially known as the International ematicians for outstanding or groundbreaking re-Medal for Outstanding Discoveries in Mathematics, is search. It is traditionally given to mathematicians under granted every four years to between two and four math- the age of 40. Prize: Can$15,000 (about US$15,000).
|
YEAR |
NAME |
BIRTHPLACE |
PRIMARY RESEARCH |
|
1936 |
Lars Ahlfors |
Helsinki, Finland |
Riemann surfaces |
|
|
Jesse Douglas |
New York NY |
Plateau problem |
|
1950 |
Laurent Schwartz |
Paris, France |
functional analysis |
|
|
Atle Selberg |
Langesund, Norway |
number theory |
|
1954 |
Kunihiko Kodaira |
Tokyo, Japan |
algebraic geometry |
|
|
Jean-Pierre Serre |
Bages, France |
algebraic topology |
|
1958 |
Klaus Roth |
Breslau, Germany |
number theory |
|
|
Rene Thom |
Montbeliard, France |
topology |
|
1962 |
Lars Hormander |
Mjallby, Sweden |
partial differential equations |
|
|
John Milnor |
Orange NJ |
differential topology |
|
1966 |
Michael Atiyah |
London, England |
topology |
|
|
Paul Cohen |
Long Branch NJ |
set theory |
|
|
Alexandre Grothendieck |
Berlin, Germany |
algebraic geometry |
|
|
Stephen Smale |
Flint MI |
topology |
|
1970 |
Alan Baker |
London, England |
number theory |
|
|
Heisuke Hironaka |
Yamaguchi prefecture, Japan |
algebraic geometry |
|
|
Sergey Novikov |
Gorky, USSR (now in Russia) |
topology |
|
|
John Thompson |
Ottawa KS |
group theory |
|
1974 |
Enrico Bombieri |
Milan, Italy |
number theory |
|
|
David Mumford |
Worth, Sussex, England |
algebraic geometry |
|
1978 |
Pierre Deligne |
Brussels, Belgium |
algebraic geometry |
|
|
Charles Fefferman |
Washington DC |
classical analysis |
|
|
Gregory Margulis |
Moscow, USSR (now in Russia) |
Lie groups |
|
|
Daniel Quillen |
Orange NJ |
algebraic K-theory |
|
1983 |
Alain Connes |
Darguignan, France |
operator theory |
|
|
William Thurston |
Washington DC |
topology |
|
|
Shing-Tung Yau |
Swatow, China |
differential geometry |
|
YEAR |
NAME |
BIRTHPLACE |
PRIMARY RESEARCH |
|
1986 |
Simon Donaldson |
Cambridge, England |
topology |
|
|
Gerd Faltings |
Gelsenkirchen, West Germany |
Mordell conjecture |
|
|
Michael Freedman |
Los Angeles CA |
Poincare conjecture |
|
1990 |
Vladimir Drinfeld |
Kharkov, USSR (now in Ukraine) |
algebraic geometry |
|
|
Vaughan Jones |
Gisborne, New Zealand |
knot theory |
|
|
Shigefumi Mori |
Nagoya, Japan |
algebraic geometry |
|
|
Edward Witten |
Baltimore MD |
superstring theory |
|
1994 |
Jean Bourgain |
Ostend, Belgium |
analysis |
|
|
Pierre-Louis Lions |
Grasse, France |
partial differential equations |
|
|
Jean-Christophe Yoccoz |
France |
dynamical systems |
|
|
Yefim Zelmanov |
Khabarovsk, USSR (now in Russia) |
group theory |
|
1998 |
Richard Borcherds |
Cape Town, South Africa |
mathematical physics |
|
|
William Gowers |
Marlborough, Wiltshire, England |
functional analysis |
|
|
Maksim Kontsevich |
Khimki, USSR (now in Russia) |
mathematical physics |
|
|
Curt McMullen |
Berkeley CA |
chaos theory |
|
2002 |
Laurent Lafforgue |
Antony, France |
number theory and analysis |
|
|
Vladimir Voevodsky |
Moscow, USSR (now in Russia) |
algebraic geometry |
|
2006 |
Andrei Okounkov |
Moscow, USSR (now in Russia) |
algebraic geometry |
|
|
Grigory Perelman (declined) |
Leningrad, USSR (now in Russia) |
Ricci flow |
|
|
Terence Tao |
Adelaide, SA, Australia |
prime numbers, nonlinear equations |
|
|
Wendelin Werner |
Cologne, West Germany |
mathematics of critical phenomena |
Japan Prize
The Science and Technology Foundation of Japan awards the Japan Prize annually to living individuals whose achievements in science and technology have advanced knowledge and promoted human peace and prosperity. A cash award of ¥50 million (about US$460,000), a certificate of merit, and a commemorative medal are given for each prize category. Web site: <www.japanprize.jp>.
|
YEAR |
LAUREATE |
COUNTRY |
|
1985 |
John R. Pierce |
US |
|
|
Ephraim Katchalski-Katzir |
Israel |
|
1986 |
David Turnbull |
US |
|
|
Willem J. Kolff |
US |
|
1987 |
Henry M. Beachell |
US |
|
|
GurdevS. Khush |
India |
|
|
Theodore H. Maiman |
US |
|
1988 |
Georges Vendryes |
France |
|
|
Donald A. Henderson |
US |
|
|
Isao Arita |
Japan |
|
|
Frank Fenner |
Australia . |
|
|
Luc Montagnier |
France |
|
|
Robert C. Gallo |
US |
|
1989 |
Frank Sherwood Rowland |
US |
|
|
Elias James Corey |
US |
|
1990 |
Marvin Minsky |
US |
|
|
William Jason Morgan |
US |
|
|
Dan Peter Mckenzie |
UK |
|
|
Xavier Le Pichon |
France |
|
1991 |
Jacques-Louis Lions |
France |
|
|
John Julian Wild |
US |
|
1992 |
Gerhard Ertl |
Germany |
|
|
Ernest John Christopher Polge |
UK |
|
1993 |
Frank Press |
US |
|
|
Kary B. Mullis |
US |
|
1994 |
William Hayward Pickering |
US |
|
|
Arvid Carlsson |
Sweden |
|
1995 |
Nick Holonyak, Jr. |
US |
|
|
Edward F. Knipling |
US |
|
1996 |
Charles K. Kao |
Hong Kong |
|
|
Masao Ito |
Japan |
|
1997 |
Takashi Sugimura |
Japan |
|
|
Bruce N. Ames |
US J |
|
|
Joseph F. Engelberger |
US i |
|
|
Hiroyuki Yoshikawa |
Japan i |
|
YEAR |
LAUREATE |
COUNTRY |
AREA OF ACHIEVEMENT |
|
1998 |
Leo Esaki |
Japan |
man-made superlattice crystals |
|
|
JozefS. Schell Marc C.E. Van Montagu |
Belgium t Belgium J |
transgenic plants |
|
1999 |
W. Wesley Peterson |
US |
algebraic coding theory |
|
|
Jack L. Strominger |
US X |
human histocompatibility |
|
|
Don C. Wiley |
US |
antigens and their peptides |
|
2000 |
Ian L. McHarg |
US |
ecological city planning and land-use evaluation |
|
|
Kimishige Ishizaka |
Japan |
immunoglobulin E and IgE-mediated allergic reactions |
|
2001 |
John B. Goodenough |
US |
environmentally benign electrode materials for rechargeable lithium batteries |
|
|
Timothy R. Parsons |
Canada |
fishery resources and marine environment conservation |
|
2002 |
Timothy John Berners-Lee |
UK |
World Wide Web |
|
|
Anne McLaren |
UK } |
study and manipulation of early- |
|
|
Andrzej K. Tarkowski |
Poland > |
stage mammalian embryos |
|
2003 |
Benoit B. Mandelbrot |
France |
fractals |
|
|
James A. Yorke |
US |
concept of chaos in complex systems |
|
|
Seiji Ogawa |
Japan |
magnetic resonance imaging |
|
2004 |
Kenichi Honda |
Japan 1 |
photochemical |
|
|
Akira Fujishima |
Japan ‘ |
catalysis |
|
|
Keith Sainsbury |
New Zealand |
sustainable usage of seabed-shelf ecosystems |
|
|
John H. Lawton |
UK |
conservation of biodiversity |
|
2005 |
Makoto Nagao |
Japan |
natural language and intelligent image processing |
|
|
Masatoshi Takeichi |
Japan 1 |
contributions to clarifying the molecular |
|
|
Erkki Ruoslahti |
US > |
mechanisms of cell adhesion |
|
2006 |
Sir John Houghton |
UK |
study of atmospheric structure using satellite technology and transglobal assessments of climate change |
|
2007 |
Albert Fert |
France 1 |
discovery of Giant Magneto- |
|
|
Peter Grunberg |
Germany ‘ |
Resistance (GMR) |
|
|
Peter Shaw Ashton |
UK |
conservation of tropical forests |
|
2008 |
Vinton Gray Cerf |
US \ |
invention of the network concept that |
|
\ |
Robert Elliot Kahn |
US > |
developed into the Internet |
|
|
Victor A. McKusick |
US |
establishment of many of the foundations of medical genetics |
National Medal of Science
|
YEAR |
NAME |
FIELD |
YEAR |
NAME |
FIELD |
|
1962 |
Theodore von Karman |
aerospace engineer- |
1965 |
John Bardeen |
physics |
|
|
|
ing |
|
Peter J.W. Debye |
physical chemistry |
|
1963 |
Luis W. Alvarez |
physics |
|
Hugh L. Dryden |
physics |
|
|
Vannevar Bush |
electrical engineering |
|
Clarence L. Johnson |
aerospace engineer- |
|
|
John Robinson Pierce |
communications |
|
|
ing |
|
|
|
engineering |
|
Leon M. Lederman |
physics |
|
|
Cornelius Barnardus |
biology |
|
Warren K. Lewis |
chemical engineering |
|
|
van Niel |
|
|
Francis Peyton Rous |
pathology |
|
|
Norbert Wiener |
mathematics |
|
William W. Rubey |
geology |
|
1964 |
Roger Adams |
chemistry |
|
George Gaylord Simp- |
paleontology |
|
|
Othmar Herman |
civil engineering |
|
son |
|
|
|
Ammann |
|
|
Donald D. VanSlyke |
chemistry |
|
Theodosius Dobzhansky genetics |
Oscar Zariski |
mathematics |
|||
|
|
Charles Stark Draper |
aerospace engineer- |
1966 |
Jacob A.B. Bjerknes |
meteorology |
|
|
|
ing |
|
Subrahmanyan Chan- |
astrophysics |
|
|
Solomon Lefschetz |
mathematics |
|
drasekhar |
|
|
|
Neal Elgar Miller |
psychology |
|
Henry Eyring |
chemistry |
|
|
H. Marston Morse |
mathematics |
|
Edward F. Knipling |
entomology |
|
|
Marshall Warren |
biochemistry |
|
Fritz Albert Lipmann |
biochemistry |
|
|
Nirenberg |
|
|
John Willard Milnor |
mathematics |
|
|
Julian Seymour |
physics |
|
William C. Rose |
biochemistry |
|
|
Schwinger |
|
|
Claude E. Shannon |
mathematics, electri- |
|
\ |
Harold C. Urey |
chemistry |
|
|
cal engineering |
|
|
Robert Burns Woodward chemistry |
|
John H. Van Vleck |
physics |
|
|
YEAR 1966 (cont.) 1967 |
NAME Sewall Wright Vladimir Kosma Zworykin Jesse W. Beams |
FIELD genetics electrical engineering physics |
|
|
Francis Birch |
geophysics |
|
|
Gregory Breit |
physics |
|
|
Paul Joseph Cohen |
mathematics |
|
|
Kenneth S. Cole |
biophysics |
|
|
Louis P. Hammett |
chemistry |
|
|
Harry F. Harlow |
psychology |
|
|
Michael Heidelberger |
immunology |
|
|
George B. Kistiakowsky |
chemistry |
|
|
Edwin Herbert Land |
physics |
|
|
Igor I. Sikorsky |
aircraft design |
|
|
Alfred H. Sturtevant |
genetics |
|
1968 |
Horace A. Barker |
biochemistry |
|
|
Paul D. Bartlett |
chemistry |
|
|
Bernard B. Brodie |
pharmacology |
|
|
Detlev W. Bronk |
biophysics |
|
|
J. Presper Eckert, Jr. |
engineering, computer science |
|
|
Herbert Friedman |
astrophysics |
|
|
Jay L. Lush |
livestock genetics |
|
|
Nathan M. Newmark |
civil engineering |
|
|
Jerzy Neyman |
statistics |
|
|
Lars Onsager |
chemistry |
|
|
B.F. Skinner |
psychology |
|
|
Eugene Paul Wigner |
mathematical physics |
|
1969 |
Herbert C. Brown |
chemistry |
|
|
William Feller |
mathematics |
|
|
Robert J. Huebner |
virology |
|
|
Jack Kilby |
electrical engineering |
|
|
Ernst Mayr |
biology |
|
|
Wolfgang K.H. Panofsky |
physics |
|
1970 |
Richard Dagobert Brauer |
mathematics |
|
|
Robert H. Dicke |
physics |
|
|
Barbara McClintock |
genetics |
|
|
George E. Mueller |
physics |
|
|
Albert Bruce Sabin |
medicine, vaccine development |
|
|
Allan R. Sandage |
astronomy |
|
|
John C. Slater |
physics |
|
|
John Archibald |
physics |
|
|
Wheeler |
|
|
|
Saul Winstein |
chemistry |
|
1971 |
no awards given |
|
|
1972 |
no awards given |
|
|
1973 |
Daniel I. Arnon |
biochemistry |
|
|
Carl Djerassi |
chemistry |
|
|
Harold E. Edgerton |
electrical engineering, photography |
|
|
Maurice Ewing |
geophysics |
|
|
Arie Jan Haagen-Smit |
biochemistry |
|
|
Vladimir Haensel |
chemical engineering |
|
|
Frederick Seitz |
physics |
|
|
Earl W. Sutherland, Jr. |
biochemistry |
|
|
John Wilder Tukey |
statistics |
|
|
Richard T. Whitcomb |
aerospace engineering |
|
|
Robert Rathbun |
particle physics |
|
|
Wilson |
|
|
1974 |
Nicolaas Bloembergen |
physics |
|
|
Britton Chance |
biophysics |
|
|
Erwin Chargaff |
biochemistry |
|
\ |
Paul J. Flory |
physical chemistry |
|
|
William A. Fowler |
nuclear astrophysics |
|
YEAR |
NAME |
FIELD |
|
1974 |
Kurt Godel |
mathematics |
|
(cont.) Rudolf Kompfner |
physics |
|
|
|
James Van Gundia |
genetics |
|
|
Neel |
|
|
|
Linus Pauling |
chemistry |
|
|
Ralph Brazelton Peck |
geotechnical engi- |
|
|
|
neering |
|
|
Kenneth Sanborn |
physical chemistry |
|
|
Pitzer |
|
|
|
James Augustine |
physiology |
|
|
Shannon |
|
|
|
Abel Wolman |
sanitary engineering |
|
1975 |
John W. Backus |
computer science |
|
|
Manson Benedict |
nuclear engineering |
|
|
Hans Albrecht Bethe |
theoretical physics |
|
|
Shiing-shen Chern |
mathematics |
|
\ |
George B. Dantzig |
mathematics |
|
|
Hallowell Davis |
physiology |
|
|
Paul Gyorgy |
medicine, vitamin |
|
|
|
research |
|
|
Sterling Brown Hen- |
chemistry |
|
|
dricks |
|
|
\ |
Joseph O. Hirschfelder |
chemistry |
|
|
William Hayward |
physics |
|
|
Pickering |
|
|
|
Lewis H. Sarett |
chemistry |
|
|
Frederick Emmons |
electrical engineering |
|
|
Terman |
\ |
|
|
Orville Alvin Vogel |
research agronomy |
|
|
Wernher von Braun |
aerospace engineer- |
|
|
|
ing |
|
|
E. Bright Wilson, Jr. |
chemistry |
|
|
Chien-Shiung Wu |
physics |
|
1976 |
Morris Cohen |
materials science |
|
|
Kurt Otto Friedrichs |
mathematics |
|
|
Peter C. Goldmark |
communications |
|
|
|
engineering |
|
|
Samuel Abraham |
physics |
|
|
Goudsmit |
|
|
|
Roger Charles Louis |
physiology |
|
|
Guillemin |
|
|
|
Herbert S. Gutowsky |
chemistry |
|
|
Erwin W. Mueller |
physics |
|
|
Keith Roberts Porter |
cell biology |
|
|
Efraim Racker |
biochemistry |
|
|
Frederick D. Rossini |
chemistry |
|
|
Verner E. Suomi |
meteorology |
|
|
Henry Taube |
chemistry |
|
|
George Eugene |
physics |
|
\ |
Uhlenbeck |
|
|
|
Hassler Whitney |
mathematics |
|
|
Edward O. Wilson |
biology |
|
1977 |
no awards given |
\ |
|
1978 |
no awards given |
\ |
|
1979 |
Robert H. Burris |
biochemistry |
|
|
Elizabeth C. Crosby |
neuroanatomy |
|
|
Joseph L. Doob |
mathematics |
|
|
Richard P. Feynman |
theoretical physics |
|
|
Donald E. Knuth |
computer science |
|
|
Arthur Kornberg |
biochemistry |
|
Emmett N. Leith |
electrical engineering |
|
|
|
Herman F. Mark |
chemistry |
|
|
Raymond D. Mindlin |
mechanical engineer- |
|
|
\ |
ing |
|
|
Robert N. Noyce |
computer science |
|
\ |
Severo Ochoa |
biochemistry |
|
|
Earl R. Parker |
materials science |
|
|
Edward M. Purcell |
physics |
|
YEAR |
NAME |
FIELD |
YEAR |
NAME |
FIELD |
|
1979 |
Simon Ramo |
electrical engineering |
1987 |
Philip Hauge Abelson |
physical chemistry |
|
(cont.) John H. Sinfelt |
chemical engineering |
|
Anne Anastasi |
psychology |
|
|
|
Lyman Spitzer, Jr. |
astrophysics |
|
Robert Byron Bird |
chemical engineering |
|
|
Earl Reece Stadtman |
biochemistry |
|
Raoul Bott |
mathematics |
|
|
George Ledyard |
botany, genetics |
|
Michael E. DeBakey |
heart surgery |
|
|
Stebbins |
\ |
|
Theodor O. Diener |
plant pathology |
|
|
Victor F. Weisskopf |
physics |
|
Harry Eagle |
cell biology |
|
|
Paul Alfred Weiss |
biology |
|
Walter M. Elsasser |
physics |
|
1980 |
no awards given |
|
\ |
Michael H. Freedman |
mathematics |
|
1981 |
Philip Handler |
biochemistry |
|
William S. Johnson |
chemistry |
|
1982 |
Philip W. Anderson |
physics |
|
Har Gobind Khorana |
biochemistry |
|
|
Seymour Benzer |
molecular biology |
|
Paul C. Lauterbur |
chemistry |
|
|
Glenn W. Burton |
genetics |
|
Rita Levi-Montalcini |
neurology |
|
|
Mildred Cohn |
biochemistry |
|
George E. Pake |
research, physics |
|
|
F. Albert Cotton |
chemistry |
|
H. Bolton Seed |
civil engineering |
|
|
Edward H. Heinemann |
aerospace engineer- |
|
George J. Stigler |
economics |
|
\ |
|
ing |
|
Walter H. Stockmayer |
chemistry |
|
|
Donald L. Katz |
chemical engineering |
\ |
Max Tishler |
chemistry |
|
|
Yoichiro Nambu |
theoretical physics |
|
James Alfred Van |
physics |
|
|
Marshall H. Stone |
mathematics |
|
Allen |
|
|
|
Gilbert Stork |
organic chemistry |
|
Ernst Weber |
electrical engineering |
|
|
Edward Teller |
nuclear physics |
1988 |
William O. Baker |
chemistry |
|
|
Charles Hard Townes |
physics |
|
Konrad E. Bloch |
biochemistry |
|
1983 |
Howard L. Bachrach |
biochemistry |
|
David Allan Bromley |
physics |
|
|
Paul Berg |
biochemistry |
|
Michael S. Brown |
molecular genetics |
|
|
E. Margaret Burbidge |
astronomy |
|
Paul C.W. Chu |
physics |
|
|
Maurice Goldhaber |
physics |
|
Stanley N. Cohen |
genetics |
|
|
Herman H. Goldstine |
computer science |
Elias James Corey |
chemistry |
|
|
|
William R. Hewlett |
electrical engineering |
|
Daniel C. Drucker |
engineering educa- |
|
|
Roald Hoffmann |
chemistry |
|
|
tion |
|
|
Helmut E. Landsberg |
climatology |
|
Milton Friedman |
economics |
|
|
George M. Low |
aerospace engineer- |
|
Joseph L. Goldstein |
molecular genetics |
|
|
|
ing |
|
Ralph E. Gomory |
mathematics, |
|
|
Walter H. Munk |
oceanography |
|
|
research |
|
|
George C. Pimentel |
chemistry |
|
Willis M. Hawkins |
aerospace engineer- |
|
|
Frederick Reines |
physics |
|
|
ing |
|
|
Wendell L. Roelofs |
chemistry, entomology |
|
Maurice R. Hilleman |
vaccine research |
|
\ |
Bruno B. Rossi |
astrophysics |
|
George W. Housner |
earthquake engineer- |
|
|
Berta V. Scharrer |
neuroscience |
|
|
ing |
|
|
John Robert Schrieffer |
physics |
|
Eric Kandel |
neurobiology |
|
|
Isadore M. Singer |
mathematics |
|
Joseph B. Keller |
mathematics |
|
|
John G. Trump |
electrical engineering |
|
Walter Kohn |
physics |
|
|
Richard N. Zare |
chemistry |
|
Norman Foster |
physics |
|
1984 |
no awards given |
|
|
Ramsey |
|
|
1985 |
no awards given |
|
|
Jack Steinberger |
physics |
|
1986 |
Solomon J. Buchsbaum |
physics |
|
Rosalyn S. Yalow |
medical physics |
|
|
Stanley Cohen |
biochemistry |
1989 |
Arnold O. Beckman |
chemistry |
|
|
Horace R. Crane |
physics |
|
Richard B. Bernstein |
chemistry |
|
|
Herman Feshbach |
physics |
|
Melvin Calvin |
biochemistry |
|
\ |
Harry Gray |
chemistry |
|
Harry G. Drickamer |
chemistry, physics |
|
\ |
Donald A. Henderson |
medicine, public |
|
Katherine Esau |
botany |
|
|
\ |
health |
|
Herbert E. Grier |
aerospace engineer- |
|
|
Robert Hofstadter |
physics |
|
|
ing |
|
|
Peter D. Lax |
mathematics |
|
Viktor Hamburger |
biology |
|
|
Yuan Tseh Lee |
chemistry |
|
Samuel Karlin |
mathematics |
|
|
Hans Wolfgang |
aerospace engineer- |
|
Philip Leder |
genetics |
|
|
Liepmann |
ing |
|
Joshua Lederberg |
genetics |
|
|
T.Y. Lin |
civil engineering |
|
Saunders Mac Lane |
mathematics |
|
|
Carl S. Marvel |
chemistry |
|
Rudolph A. Marcus |
chemistry |
|
|
Vernon B. Mount- |
neurophysiology |
|
Harden M. McConnell |
chemistry |
|
|
castle |
|
|
Eugene N. Parker |
theoretical astro- |
|
|
Bernard M. Oliver |
electrical engineering |
|
|
physics |
|
|
George Emil Palade |
cell biology |
|
Robert P. Sharp |
geology |
|
|
Herbert A. Simon |
social science |
|
Donald C. Spencer |
mathematics |
|
\ |
Joan A. Steitz |
molecular biology |
|
Roger Wolcott Sperry |
neurobiology |
|
\ |
Frank H. Westheimer |
chemistry |
|
Henry M. Stommel |
oceanography |
|
|
Chen NingYang |
theoretical physics |
|
Harland G. Wood |
biochemistry |
|
|
Antoni Zygmund |
mathematics |
|
|
|
|
YEAR NAME |
FIELD |
YEAR |
NAME |
FIELD |
|
1990 Baruj Benacerraf |
pathology, immunol |
1994 |
George S. Hammond |
chemistry |
|
|
ogy |
(cont.) Robert K. Merton |
sociology |
|
|
Elkan R. Blout |
chemistry |
|
Elizabeth F. Neufeld |
biochemistry |
|
Herbert W. Boyer |
biochemistry, genet- |
|
Albert W. Overhauser |
physics |
|
|
ics |
|
Frank Press |
geophysics, adminis- |
|
George F. Carrier |
mathematics |
|
|
tration |
|
Allan MacLeod Cormack |
physics |
1995 |
Thomas Robert Cech |
biochemistry |
|
Mildred S. Dresselhaus |
physics |
|
Hans Georg Dehmelt |
physics |
|
Karl August Folkers |
chemistry |
|
Peter M. Goldreich |
astrophysics |
|
Nick Holonyak, Jr. |
electrical engineering |
|
Hermann A. Haus |
electrical engineering |
|
Leonid Hurwicz |
economics |
|
Isabella L. Karle |
chemistry |
|
Stephen Cole Kleene |
mathematics |
|
Louis Nirenberg |
mathematics |
|
Daniel E. Koshland, Jr. |
biochemistry |
|
Alexander Rich |
molecular biology |
|
Edward B. Lewis |
developmental genet- |
|
Roger N. Shepard |
psychology |
|
|
ics |
1996 |
Wallace S. Broecker |
geochemistry |
|
John McCarthy |
computer science |
|
Norman Davidson |
chemistry, molecular |
|
Edwin Mattison |
nuclear physics |
|
|
biology |
|
McMillan |
|
|
James L. Flanagan |
electrical engineering |
|
David G. Nathan |
pediatrics |
|
Richard M. Karp |
computer science |
|
Robert V. Pound |
physics |
|
C. Kumar N. Patel |
electrical engineering |
|
Roger R.D. Revelle |
oceanography |
|
Ruth Patrick |
limnology |
|
John D. Roberts |
chemistry |
|
Paul Samuelson |
economics |
|
Patrick Suppes |
philosophy, statistics |
|
Stephen Smale |
mathematics |
|
|
education |
1997 |
William K. Estes |
psychology |
|
E. Donnall Thomas |
medicine |
|
Darleane C. Hoffman |
chemistry |
|
1991 Mary Ellen Avery |
pediatrics |
|
Harold S. Johnston |
chemistry |
|
Ronald Breslow |
chemistry |
|
Marshall N. Rosen- |
theoretical plasma |
|
Alberto P. Calderon |
mathematics |
|
bluth |
physics |
|
Gertrude B. Elion |
pharmacology |
|
Martin Schwarzschild |
astrophysics |
|
George H. Heilmeier |
electrical engineering |
|
James Dewey Watson |
genetics, biophysics |
|
Dudley R. Herschbach |
chemistry |
|
Robert A. Weinberg |
biology, cancer |
|
G. Evelyn Hutchinson |
zoology |
|
|
research |
|
Elvin A. Kabat |
immunology |
|
George W. Wetherill |
planetary science |
|
Robert W. Kates |
geography |
|
Shing-Tung Yau |
mathematics |
|
Luna B. Leopold |
hydrology, geology |
1998 |
Bruce N. Ames |
biochemistry, cancer |
|
Salvador Luria |
biology |
|
|
research |
|
Paul A. Marks |
hematology, cancer |
|
Don L. Anderson |
geophysics |
|
|
research |
|
John N. Bahcall |
astrophysics |
|
George A. Miller |
psychology |
|
John W. Cahn |
materials science |
|
Arthur L. Schawlow |
physics |
|
Cathleen Synge |
mathematics |
|
Glenn T. Seaborg |
nuclear chemistry |
|
Morawetz |
|
|
Folke K. Skoog |
botany |
|
Janet D. Rowley |
medicine, cancer |
|
H. Guyford Stever |
aerospace engineer- |
|
|
research |
|
ing |
|
Eli Ruckenstein |
chemical engineering |
|
|
Edward C. Stone |
physics |
|
George M. Whitesides |
chemistry |
|
Steven Weinberg |
nuclear physics |
William Julius Wilson |
sociology |
|
|
Paul C. Zamecnik |
molecular biology |
1999 |
David Baltimore |
virology, administra- |
|
1992 Eleanor J. Gibson |
psychology |
|
|
tion |
|
Allen Newell |
computer science |
|
Felix E. Browder |
mathematics |
|
Calvin F. Quate |
electrical engineering |
|
Ronald R. Coifman |
mathematics |
|
Eugene M. Shoemaker |
planetary geology |
|
James Watson Cronin |
particle physics |
|
Howard E. |
chemistry |
Jared Diamond |
physiology |
|
|
Simmons, Jr. |
Leo P. Kadanoff |
theoretical physics |
||
|
Maxine F. Singer |
biochemistry, admin- |
|
Lynn Margulis |
microbiology |
|
|
istration |
|
Stuart A. Rice |
chemistry |
|
Howard Martin Temin |
virology |
|
John Ross |
chemistry |
|
John Roy Whinnery |
electrical engineering |
|
Susan Solomon |
atmospheric science |
|
1993 Alfred Y. Cho |
electrical engineering |
|
Robert M. Solow |
economics |
|
Donald J. Cram |
chemistry |
|
Kenneth N. Stevens |
electrical engineer- |
|
Val Logsdon Fitch |
particle physics |
|
|
ing, speech |
|
Norman Hackerman |
chemistry |
2000 |
Nancy C. Andreasen |
psychiatry |
|
Martin D. Kruskal |
mathematics |
|
John D. Balde- |
chemistry |
|
Daniel Nathans |
microbiology |
|
schwieler |
|
|
Vera C. Rubin |
astronomy |
|
Gary S. Becker |
economics |
|
Salome G. Waelsch |
molecular genetics |
|
Yuan-Cheng B. Fung |
bioengineering |
|
1994 Ray W. Clough |
civil engineering |
|
Ralph F. Hirschmann |
chemistry |
|
John Cocke |
computer science |
|
Willis Eugene Lamb, Jr. |
physics |
|
Thomas Eisner |
chemical ecology |
|
Jeremiah P. Ostriker |
astrophysics |
|
YEAR NAME |
FIELD |
YEAR |
NAME |
FIELD |
|
2000 Peter H. Raven |
botany |
2003 |
Solomon H. Snyder |
neuroscience |
|
(cont.) John Griggs Thompson |
mathematics |
(cont.) |
Charles Yanofsky |
molecular biology |
|
Karen K. Uhlenbeck |
mathematics |
2004 |
Kenneth J. Arrow |
economics |
|
Gilbert F. White |
geography |
|
Norman E. Borlaug |
agriculture |
|
Carl R. Woese |
microbiology |
|
Robert N. Clayton |
geochemistry |
|
2001 Andreas Acrivos |
chemical engineering |
|
Edwin N. Lightfoot |
engineering |
|
Francisco J. Ayala |
molecular biology |
|
Stephen J. Lippard |
chemistry |
|
George F. Bass |
nautical archaeology |
|
Phillip A. Sharp |
molecular biology, |
|
Mario R. Capecchi |
genetics |
|
|
biochemistry |
|
Marvin L. Cohen |
materials science |
|
Thomas E. Starzl |
medicine |
|
Ernest R. Davidson |
chemistry |
|
Dennis P. Sullivan |
mathematics |
|
Raymond Davis, Jr. |
chemistry, astro- |
2005 |
Jan D. Achenbach |
mechanical engineer- |
|
|
physics |
|
|
ing |
|
Ann M. Graybiel |
neuroscience |
|
Ralph A. Alpher |
astronomy |
|
Charles D. Keeling |
oceanography |
|
Gordon H. Bower |
psychology |
|
Gene E. Likens |
ecology |
|
Bradley Efron |
statistics |
|
Victor A. McKusick |
medical genetics |
|
Anthony S. Fauci |
immunology |
|
Calyampudi R. Ro |
mathematics, |
|
Tobin J. Marks |
chemistry |
|
|
statistics |
|
Lonnie G. Thompson |
glaciology |
|
Gabor A. Somorjai |
chemistry |
|
Torsten N. Wiesel |
neurobiology |
|
Elias M. Stein |
mathematics |
2006 |
Hyman Bass |
mathematics |
|
Harold Varmus |
virology, administra- |
|
Marvin H. Caruthers |
genetic engineering |
|
|
tion |
|
Rita R. Colwell |
marine microbiology |
|
2002 Leo L. Beranek |
engineering |
|
Peter B. Dervan |
organic chemistry |
|
John I. Brauman |
chemistry |
|
Nina V. Fedoroff |
molecular biology |
|
James E. Darnell |
cell biology |
|
Daniel Kleppner |
atomic physics |
|
Richard L. Garwin |
physics |
|
Robert S. Langer |
medical research |
|
James G. Glimm |
mathematics, |
|
Lubert Stryer |
biochemistry |
|
|
statistics |
2007 |
Fay Ajzenberg-Selove |
nuclear physics |
|
W. Jason Morgan |
geophysics |
|
Mostafa A. El-Sayed |
laser dynamics |
|
Evelyn M. Witkin |
genetics |
|
Leonard Kleinrock |
Internet technology |
|
Edward Witten |
mathematical physics |
|
Robert J. Lefkowitz |
receptor biology |
|
2003 J. Michael Bishop |
microbiology |
|
Bert W. O’Malley |
molecular biology |
|
G. Brent Dalrymple |
geology |
|
Charles P. Slichter |
condensed-matter |
|
Carl R. de Boor |
mathematics |
|
|
physics |
|
Riccardo Giacconi |
astrophysics |
|
Andrew J. Viterbi |
wireless communi- |
|
R. Duncan Luce |
cognitive science |
|
|
cations |
|
John M. Prausnitz |
chemical engineering |
|
David J. Wineland |
ionic physics |
National Inventor of the Year Award
The National Inventor of the Year Award is given by the Intellectual Property Owners Association, a trade organization established in 1972. Patented American inventions from the preceding four years are eligible for nomination annually; runners-up receive recognition as Distinguished Inventors. The winner for 2008 was scientist Ihor Lys, honored for his development of Powercore, a technological innovation in light emitting diode (LED) systems. LED systems can last as much as 50 times longer than traditional incandescent light bulbs, but they required an external power supply and cables. Powercore eliminates this need by integrating power supply and voltage conversion into the light fixture, resulting in increased efficiency, ease of installation, and lower overall cost. Award amount: US$25,000.
Intel Science Talent Search
The Intel Science Talent Search encourages American high-school seniors to pursue careers in the sciences by awarding scholarships for outstanding science projects. Created in 1942 by Science Service, a nonprofit organization devoted to public appreciation of science, and West-inghouse Electric Corporation, the contest brings 40 finalists each year to exhibit their projects at the Science Talent Institute in Washington DC and compete for the top prizes. Since 1998 the talent search has been sponsored by Intel Corp. The highest-place winners for 2008 were Shivani Sud of Durham NC (first prize, US$100,000), Graham William Wake-field Van Schaik of Columbia SC (second prize, US$75,000), and Brian Davis McCarthy of Hillsboro OR (third prize, US$50,000). Sud presented statistical analysis of a 50-gene model to attempt to predict recurrence of colon cancer in patients and to determine which drug combinations would be most effective in their treatment. Van Schaik studied the long-term effects of pyrethroids, found in pesticides, on human health. McCarthy created new types of solar cells using photosynthetic materials.
Americans disagree about a lot of things, but we rarely quarrel when it comes to our food. For a nation built on grand democratic virtues, there is still nothing that defines us quite like our love of chow time. We have plenty of reasons to fetishize our food—not the least being that we’ve always had so much of it. Settlers fleeing the privations of the Old World landed in the new one and found themselves on a fat, juicy center cut of continent, big enough to baste its coasts in two different oceans. The prairies ran so dark with buffalo, you could practically net them like cod; the waters swam so thick with cod, you could bag them like slow-moving buffalo. The soil was the kind of rich stuff in which you could bury a brick and grow a house, and the pioneers grew plenty— fruits and vegetables and grains and gourds and legumes and tubers, in a variety and abundance they’d never seen before.
With all that, was it any wonder that when we had a chance to establish our first national holiday, it was Thanksgiving—a feast that doesn’t merely accompany a celebration but in effect is the celebration? Is it any wonder that what might be our most evocative patriotic song is “America the Beautiful,” in which an ideal like brotherhood doesn’t even get mentioned until the second-to-last line, well after rhapsodic references to waves of grain and fruited plains?
“We’ve defined an American version of what it means to succeed,” says neuroscientist Randy See-ley, associate director of the Obesity Research Center at the University of Cincinnati Medical School. “And a big part of that is access to an environment in which there is a lot of food to be consumed.”
The problem is, all those calories come at a price. Humans, like most animals, are hardwired not just to eat but to gorge, since living in the wild means never knowing when the next famine is going to strike. Best to load up on calories when you can—even if that famine never comes. “We’re not only programmed to eat a lot,” says Sharman Apt Russell, author of Hunger: An Unnatural History, “but to prefer foods that are high in calories.” What’s more, the better we got at producing food, the easier it became. If you’re a settler, you eat a lot of buffalo in part because you need a lot of buffalo—at least after burning so many calories hunting and killing it. But what happens when eating requires no sweat equity at all, when the grocery store is always nearby and always full?
What happens is, you get fat, and that’s precisely what we’ve done. In 1900 the average weight of a college-age male in the US was 133 lb (60 kg); the average woman was 122 lb (55 kg). By 2000, men had plumped up to 166 lb (75 kg) and women to 144 lb (65 kg). And while the small increase in average height for men (women have remained the same) accounts for a bit of that, our eating habits are clearly responsible for most. Over the past 20 years in particular, we’ve stuffed ourselves like pate geese. In 1985 there were only eightstates in which more than 10% of the adult population was obese—though the data collection then was admittedly spottier than it is now. By 2006, there were no states left in which the obesity rates were that low, and in 23 states, the number exceeded 25%. Even those figures don’t tell the whole story, since they include only full-blown obesity. Overall, about two-thirds of all Americans weigh more than theyshould. “Sit down on a bench in a park with a person on eitherside of you,” says Penelope Slade-Royall, director of the US Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. “If you’re not overweight, statistically speaking, both of the other people sitting with you are.”
The Kids Are Not Alright. If there was any fire wall against the fattening of American adults, it was American kids. The quick metabolism and prodigious growth spurts of childhood make it a challenge just to keep up with all the calories you need, never mind exceed them. But even the most active kids could not hold out forever against the storm of food coming at them every day. In 1971 only 4% of 6-to-11-year-old kids were obese; by 2004, the figure had leaped to 18.8%. In the same period, the number rose from 6.1% to 17.4% in the 12-to-19-year-old group and from 5% to 13.9% among kids ages just 2 to 5. And as with adults, that’s just obesity. Include all overweight kids, and a whopping 32% of all American children now carry more pounds than they should. “There’s no way to overestimate how scary numbers like this are,” says Seeley.
Obese boys and girls are already starting to develop the illnesses of excess associated with people in their 40s and beyond: heart disease, liver disease, diabetes, gallstones, joint breakdown, and even brain damage as fluid accumulation inside the skull leads to headaches, vision problems, and possibly lower IQs. A staggering 90% of overweight kids already have at least one avoidable risk factor for heart disease, such as high cholesterol or hypertension. Type 2 diabetes is now being diagnosed in teens as young as 15. Health experts warn that the current generation of children may be the first in American history to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents’. “The more overweight you are, the worse all of these things will be for you,” says acting US Surgeon General Steven Galson. And, warns Seeley, the worse they are likely to stay: “When you’re talking about morbidly obese kids, zero percent will grow up to be normal-weight adults.”
It’s hardly a secret how American children have come to this sickly pass. In the era of the 64-ozsoda, the 1,200-calorie burger, and the 700-calorie Frap-puccino, food companies now produce enough each day for every American to consume a belt-popping 3,800 calories per day, never mind that even an adult needs only 2,350 to survive. Not only are adults and kids alike consuming far more calories than they can possibly use, but they’re also doing less and less with them. The transformation of American homes into high-def, Web-enabled, TiVo-equipped entertainment centers means that children who come home after a largely sedentary day at a school desk spend an average of three more sedentary hours in front of some kind of screen. Schools have contributed, with shrinking budgets causing more and more of them to slash physical-education programs. In 1991, only 42% of high-school students participated in daily phys ed—al-ready a troublingly low figure. Today that number is 25% or less.
