Denis Burkitt, who first established the link between a virus and a cancer and later helped demonstrate the importance of adding more fiber to the Western diet, has received the Bower Award and Prize in Science. The three-year-old award carries a cash prize of $373,000, and will be formally presented in January by Philadelphia's Franklin Institute to honor outstanding work in the life or physical sciences.
Members of the international committee that chose the 81-year-old Burkitt to receive the award said at a September meeting at which their decision was announced that his selection emphasizes the vital importance of research in Third World countries. It also demonstrates that ground-breaking science can be done inexpensively, they said.
Burkitt says the world of research has become too expensive and too fixated on achievement as measured by exam performance. Given that viewpoint, he acknowledges that the large cash prize associated with the award...
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