National Academy Bestows Honors On 18 Accomplished Researchers

Eighteen accomplished researchers, including a 91-year-old endocrinologist who's known affectionately as "the George Burns of science," are being honored for their achievements at the 134th annual meeting of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), scheduled for April 28 in Washington, D.C. They will be feted during an event that will include the election of new academy members and the induction of members elected last year (T.W. Durso, The Scientist, May 27, 1996, page 3). The academy's highest honor-and the only award not to confer a cash prize-is the Public Welfare Medal, being given to George W. Thorn, 91, the Samuel A. Levine Professor of Medicine, emeritus, and the Hersey Professor of the Theory and Practice of Physics, emeritus, at Harvard Medical School. The bronze medal, established in 1914, is presented annually to honor contributions in the application of science to the public welfare. Among his accomplishments, Thorn helped establish the Chevy Chase, Md.-based Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), the United States' largest philanthropic institution in terms of endowment. He was HHMI research director from 1956 to 1978, president from 1981 to 1984, and chairman of the board of trustees from 1984 to 1990. Thorn is receiving the Public Welfare Medal for his establishment, guidance, and administration of the institute. Thorn, who also helped develop the organ-transplant program at Harvard University's Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, where he was physician-in-chief from 1942 to 1972, is modest about his accomplishments. He says his most exciting endeavor occurred 70 years ago, when he worked with a team of doctors who discovered and administered cortin, a hormone used in treating Addison's disease, caused by failure of the adrenal gland (G.W. Thorn et al., Endocrinology, 35 :247, 1937). Known by some at the academy as "the George Burns of science" because of his sunny disposition and legendary fitness-he plays four tennis matches a week-Thorn got involved with HHMI at the request of Hughes's personal physician, Verne Mason, in 1956. Recalling a meeting with Hughes, Thorn says: "We were the same age, and so we had a little in common. He was direct and understood exactly what he wanted. "I saw him again a year later when we settled on the plans [for HHMI], and that was it. I never saw him again. In fact, when I was head of the institute and needed his approval to do something, I'd write him a note. And if I didn't hear back from him after two weeks, I would go ahead and do it." Two researchers are sharing the annual NAS Award in Molecular Biology, which confers a bronze medal and a $20,000 prize for a notable discovery by a young scientist. One of the winners is Richard H. Scheller, a 43-year-old professor of molecular and cellular physiology at the Stanford University School of Medicine and an HHMI investigator. Also receiving the award is Thomas C. Südhof, 41, a HHMI investigator who holds the Gil Distinguished Chair in Neurosciences Research in the department of molecular genetics at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. NAS is honoring the pair for "their performance of elegant experiments to resolve the molecular components responsible for controlling neurotransmitter vesicle release and chemical communication within the nervous system" (T.C. Södhof, Nature, 375, 645-53, 1995; J. Pevsner et al., Neuron, 13 :353-61, 1994). The award was established by the U.S. Steel Foundation and is now supported by St. Louis-based Monsanto Co. Isabella Abbott Ernest Eliel Matthew Fisher Alexander George M. Frederick Hawthorne Richard Ivry Patrick Kirch Keith Kluender William Morgan Bohdan Paczynski James Rothman Richard Scheller Thomas Södhof George Thorn Carl Woese Ernst Zinner "This prize is a very big deal for me," comments Südhof, adding that he is "fascinated" by how a synapse transmits information. "I happened to stumble upon an opportunity in my scientific career to basically describe a biological structure that turned out to be very useful and important in understanding how a synapse works." The NAS Award for Scientific Reviewing annually confers a $5,000 prize for excellence in scientific reviewing within the past decade. This year, it's being given to Paul Harvey, a professor of zoology at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Harvey is cited for "his many influential reviews embracing all aspects of evolutionary biology, and particularly for bringing evolutionary perspectives to other areas of biological investigation." The award was established by Annual Reviews Inc. of Palo Alto, Calif., and the Philadelphia-based Institute for Scientific Information. Harvey, 50, is now working on gene sequence data from closely related individuals. "By showing when pairs of individuals in a population last shared common ancestry, it's possible to show which periods of time had more or less common ancestors," he explains. "The consequence is that we can tell population dynamics and epidemic history in the absence of historical records." The Gilbert Morgan Smith Medal is being presented to Isabella A. Abbott, the G.P. Wilder Professor of Botany at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. The bronze medal and $15,000 prize, given every three years, rewards excellence in published research on marine or freshwater algae. Abbott was selected for "her comprehensive investigations of the biogeography and systematics of marine algae in the eastern and central Pacific with emphasis on Rhodophyta, the red algae." Abbott, acknowledging that "seaweed isn't the jazziest subject," was "stunned" by the recognition. The 76-year-old-researcher says that "I consider it irresponsible to have the luxury of studying something I love to do if I don't publish. They're rewarding me for something I would have done without ever knowing there was such a reward. I'm about to retire. So I'm going out in a blaze of glory." The NAS Award for Chemistry in Service to Society, bestowed every two years, is going to Ernest L. Eliel, the W.R. Kenan, Jr., Chairman and Professor of Chemistry, emeritus, at the University of North Carolina. The $20,000 prize is made for contributions in fundamental science or its application. Eliel was chosen "for his seminal and far-reaching contribution in organic stereochemistry" and for his "leadership in professional societies that represent the interests of chemists and of society." The award was established by Wilmington, Del.-based E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. "I didn't know I was nominated. I thought it would go to someone whose work had led to the creation of a widget," states Eliel, 75, who published a widely read book on stereochemistry-the 3-D view of molecules-in 1962 (Stereochemistry of Carbon Compounds, New York, McGraw-Hill Book Co. Inc.). He is a former chairman of the American Chemical Society as well as other prestigious organizations, such as the Council of Scientific Society Presidents. The winner of the Richard Lounsberry Award, a vermeil medal that is awarded each year and rotates between French and American researchers, is James E. Rothman, 46, who chairs the program in cellular biochemistry and biophysics at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. The award, which confers a $50,000 prize and a $20,000 travel stipend, recognizes extraordinary achievement in biology and medicine. Rothman was selected for "a dissection of the biochemical mechanisms by which proteins are transferred from one cellular compartment to another and to the outside world." "I'm pleased that this recognizes this field [and] our work on protein transport," says Rothman. The recipient of the Selman A. Waksman Award in Microbiology-a biannual $5,000 prize established by the New York-based Foundation for Microbiology, endowed with the royalties from streptomycin and other antibiotics-is Carl R. Woese, a professor of microbiology in the department of microbiology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Woese was chosen for "discovering a kingdom of life, the Archaea-using ribosomal RNA sequences for phylogenetic studies of microorganisms-which has influenced concepts of evolution and microbial ecology, and has major technical and industrial applications" (C.R. Woese, Microbiology Review, 51 :221-71, 1987). Woese, 68, developed the phylogeny of the microbial world, which led to the study of microbiology as a biological science, rather than molecular biochemistry. "This did for bacteria what was already done for animals and plants. It's pretty exciting stuff." The NAS Award for Behavioral Research Relevant to the Prevention of Nuclear War-a $15,000 prize-honors a cognitive or behavioral scientist who has employed rigorous formal or empirical methods to advance the understanding of the risks of nuclear war. This year, the award is going to Alexander George, the Graham H. Stuart Professor of International Relations, emeritus, at Stanford University, for "combining theory with history to elucidate the requirements of deterrence, the limits to coercive diplomacy, and the relationship between force and statecraft." The John J. Carty Award for the Advancement of Science is being given to Patrick Kirch, Class of 1954 Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley. The $25,000 prize and bronze medal is awarded for accomplishments in any field recognized by NAS (this year, it's anthropology). Kirch is receiving the honor for the "unique breadth of his distinguished anthropological accomplishments, spanning many Pacific Islands and joining their archaeology with ethnobotany, ethnobiohistory, historical linguistics, and human biology." The NAS Award in Chemical Sciences this year honors M. Frederick Hawthorne, a professor of chemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles. The $10,000 prize is given for innovative research that contributes to a better understanding of the natural sciences and the benefit of humanity. NAS is recognizing his "fundamental contributions to boron chemistry." The gold-plated, bronze Henry Draper Medal, an annual award for original investigation in astronomical physics that includes a $10,000 prize, is being given to Bohdan Paczynski, the Lyman Spitzer Jr. Professor of Theoretical Astrophysics at Princeton University. He is recognized "for his epochal contributions toward understanding gamma-ray bursts, the evolution of binary stars and the gravitational lensing and microlensing of light from distant objects." William B. Morgan is receiving the vermeil Gibbs Brothers Medal, which includes a $5,000 prize for contributions in naval architecture and marine engineering. Morgan heads the hydromechanics directorate, David Taylor Model Basin, Carderock division, Naval Surface Warfare Center in Bethesda, Md. He is cited for his "technical leadership" in improving marine propulsion systems. The NAS Award for Initiatives in Research is a $15,000 prize given annually to innovative scientists (this year, the field is physics). Matthew P.A. Fisher, a permanent member of Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, is being recognized for his "seminal contributions to the theory of the vortex-glass phase, the superconductor-insulator transition, and the quantum properties of mesoscopic wires and n-leg Hubbard ladders." This year, the J. Lawrence Smith Medal, awarded for investigations of meteoric bodies, goes to Ernst Zinner, a research professor of physics and of earth and planetary sciences at the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences in Washington University in St. Louis. The bronze medal and $20,000 prize recognizes his "pioneering studies of the isotopic composition of circumstellar dust grains preserved in meteorites." The Troland Research Awards, which consist of $35,000 given annually to each of two recipients to support their research in experimental psychology, are going to Richard Ivry and Keith R. Kluender. Ivry, an associate professor in the department of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, was selected for "his innovative work with normal humans and neurological patients showing the importance of the cerebellum for computations related to sensory and motor timing." Kluender, an associate professor in the department of psychology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, was chosen for "his empirical and theoretical contributions to our understanding of the perception of speech." The Charles Doolittle Walcott Medal is being presented to Mikhail A. Fedonkin, who heads the laboratory of Precambrian paleobiology, Palentological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow. The prize, which consists of a bronze medal and $2,000, recognizes his "meticulous and insightful documentation of the body fossils, tracks, and trails that record the earlier evolution of animals."l Edward R. Silverman is a writer with the Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J.

National Academy Bestows Honors On 18 Accomplished Researchers

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