In a star-studded eyent next month, the National Academy of Sciences will give out more than a quarter of a million dollars in prizes, ranging from honors for an associate professor of astronomy to a medal for a computer industry chairman of the board.

One award is a new one: the National Academy of Sciences Award in Molecular Biology, intended for young scientists. The winner will be Kiyoshi Mizunchi, chief-of the section on genetic mechanisms at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

The Academy will also honor 12 other scientists:

Richard Axel, a biochemistry professor at Columbia University and a Howard Hughes investigator, will be presented with the Richard Lounsbery Award (providing a $50,000 prize plus a $20,000 allowance for travel in France) for his “discoveries elucidating gene structure in animal cells.”

Ronald C.D. Breslow, a chemistry professor from Columbia, will receive the...

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