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Member Prizes
Bush, Johns, Buffett, and Ma Named 2010 Medal of Freedom Recipients
Four Academy members have been named recipients of America’s highest civilian honor,
the Medal of Freedom, which is awarded to “individuals who make an especially meritorious
contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace,
cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.” They are:
- George H.W. Bush , former president of the United States from 1989 to 1993,
vice president under Ronald Reagan, and CIA director. He also served as U.S. ambassador
to China and the United Nations, as was the U.S. Navy’s youngest aviator during
World War II.
- Jasper Johns , the first visual artist to win the national honor in 34 years,
is best knows for his 1954-1955 American flag painting. His subject matter often
includes images and objects from popular culture.
- Warren Buffett , sometimes called the “Oracle of Omaha” is one of the world’s
most successful investor and a notable philanthropist, pledging to give away 99
percent of his fortune.
- Yo-Yo Ma
is considered the world’s greatest living cellist, with a discography of over 75
albums (including more than 15 Grammy Award winners). He is the founder and artistic
director of the Silk Road Project, designed to promote the study of the cultural,
artistic and intellectual traditions along the ancient Silk Road trade route that
stretched from the Mediterranean Sea to the Pacific Ocean.
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Foner Wins 2011 Pulitzer Prize
The 2011 Pulitzer Prize in history was awarded to :
- Eric Foner (history) for The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American
Slavery, “a well orchestrated examination of Lincoln’s changing views of slavery,
bringing unforeseeable twists and a fresh sense of improbability to a familiar story.”
Fellows Receive 2010 National Humanities Medal and National
Medal of Arts
The National Humanities Medal honors individuals and organizations whose work has
deepened the nation’s understanding of the humanities, broadened citizens’ engagement
with the humanities, or helped preserve and expand America’s access to important
humanities resources. The National Medal of Arts is awarded is in recognition of
“outstanding achievement and support of the arts,” and is managed by the National
Endowment for the Arts. Among the recipients of the National Humanities Medal were
nine Academy Fellows:
- Daniel Aaron, literary scholar, ‘for his contributions to American literature
and culture. As the founding president of the Library of America, he helped preserve
our nation’s heritage by publishing America’s most significant writing in authoritative
editions.”
- Bernard Bailyn, historian, “for illuminating the nation’s early history and
pioneering the field of Atlantic history. Bailyn, who spent his career at Harvard,
has won two Pulitzer Prizes, the first for The Ideological Origins of the American
Revolution, and the second for Voyagers to the West.”
- Jacques Barzun, historian, “for his achievements as a poet, novelist, farmer,
and conservationist. The author of more than forty books, Berry has spent his career
exploring our relationship with the land and the community.”
- Roberto González Echevarría, literary scholar, “for his contributions to
Spanish and Latin American literary criticism. His path-breaking Myth and Archive:
A Theory of Latin American Narrative is the most cited scholarly work in
Hispanic literature. González Echevarría teaches at Yale University.”
- Stanley Nider Katz, historian, “for a career devoted to fostering public
support for the humanities. As director of the American Council of Learned Societies
for more than a decade, he expanded the organization’s programs and helped forge
ties between libraries, museums, and foundations.”
- Joyce Carol Oates, author, “for her contributions to American letters. The
author of more than fifty novels, as well as short stories, poetry, and non-fiction,
Oates has been honored with the National Book Award and the PEN/Malamud Award for
Lifetime Achievement in the Short Story.”
- Arnold Rampersad, literary scholar, “for his work as a biographer and literary
critic. His award-winning books have profiled W.E.B. Du Bois, Langston Hughes, Jackie
Robinson, and Ralph Ellison. He has also edited critical editions of the works of
Richard Wright and Langston Hughes.”
- Philip Roth, author, “for his contributions to American letters. Roth is
the author of twenty-four novels, including Portnoy’s Complaint and American
Pastoral, which won the 1998 Pulitzer Prize. His criticism has appeared
in American Poetry Review and The New York Times Book Review.”
- Gordon S. Wood , author, “for scholarship that provides insight into the
founding of the nation and the drafting of the U.S. Constitution. Wood is author
and editor of eighteen books, including The Radicalism of the American Revolution
, for which he earned a Pulitzer Prize.”
President Barack Obama presented the 2010 National Medal of Arts to five Academy
Fellows at a White House ceremony:
- Robert Brustein , theatrical critic, producer, playwright, and educator.
“As founder of the Yale Repertory Theatre and the American Repertory Theatre and
Institute and as the theatre critic for The New Republic since 1959, Mr.
Brustein has been a leading force in the development of theatre and theatre artists
in the United States.”
- Mark di Suvero , sculptor. “Mark di Suvero is one of the most prominent American
artists to emerge from the Abstract Expressionist era and his sculptures have appeared
in museums and outdoor public settings around the world. After being critically
injured, di Suvero learned to operate a crane and use an electric arc welder, creating
monumental steel sculptures fashioned from industrial materials and found objects.”
- Donald Hall , poet. “Donald Hall is an American poet who, through an illustrious
career and as Poet Laureate of the United States from 2006-2007, has worked to improve
poetry’s standing in the United States and provide new inspiration.”
- Quincy Jones , musician and music producer. “Quincy Jones has made extraordinary
contributions to American music as a musician, composer, record producer, and arranger.
He has traversed virtually every medium, including records, live performance, movies,
and television. During five decades in the entertainment industry, Jones has earned
a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend Award
in 1991.
- Meryl Streep
, actress. With more Academy Award nominations than any other actor in history,
Streep is widely considered one of the most talented and respected actors of our
time. Among her many awards are two Academy Award awards, seven Golden Globe awards,
two Emmy Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, a Cannes Film Festival award, four
New York Film Critics Circle Awards, five Grammy Award nominations, a BAFTA award,
and an Australian Film Institute Award. In 2004, she was awarded the American Film
Institute Lifetime Achievement Award.
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Weatherall Receives Lasker~Koshland Special Achievement Award
Sir David Weatherall (University of Oxford), received the 2010 Lasker~Koshland Special
Achievement Award in Medical Science for “five decades of statesmanship in biomedical
sciences exemplified by his discoveries concerning genetic diseases of the blood
and for leadership in improving clinical care throughout the world benefiting children
afflicted with the genetic blood disorder thalassemia.” The Special Achievement
Award honors scientists whose contributions to research are of unique magnitude
and have immeasurable influence on the course of science, health, or medicine, and
whose professional careers have engendered within the biomedical community the deepest
feelings of awe and respect.
Since 1945, the Awards Program, managed by the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation,
has recognized the contributions of scientists, physicians, and public servants
who have made major advances in the understanding, diagnosis, treatment, cure, and
prevention of human disease.
Three Fellows Receive 2011 Shaw Prize
Three Academy Fellows were awarded Shaw Prizes in 2011. The Shaw is known as the
“Nobel of the East.” It is awarded by the Shaw Prize Foundation in Hong Kong in
recognition of achievement in academic and scientific research. Three annual prizes
honor achievement in Astronomy, Life Science, and Medicine. Academy Fellows who
received the 2011 Shaw Prize were:
- Life Science and Medicine: Jules A Hoffmann, Professor at the University
of Strasbourg, (with Ruslan M Medzhitov and Bruce A Beutler) for his “path-breaking
work that established the mechanisms of the innate system and have set the stage
for a veritable torrent of work by others, leading to enormous progress and to the
expectation of many practical applications of this knowledge to improve the overall
function of the immune system.”
- Mathematical Sciences: Demetrios Christodoulou, Professor of Mathematics
and Physics at the ETH, Zurich, Switzerland and Professor Richard S Hamilton,
Davies Professor of Mathematics, Columbia University, “for their highly innovative
works on nonlinear partial differential equations in Lorentzian and Riemannian geometry
and their applications to general relativity and topology.”
Cahn Receives Kyoto Prize for Lifetime Achievement in Advanced
Technology
Dr. John W. Cahn, Emeritus Senior Fellow, National Institute of Standards
and Technology, and Affiliate Professor, University of Washington, received the
2011 Kyoto Prize in Advanced Technology, which focuses on Materials Science and Engineering.
Cahn received the prize for his “outstanding contributions to alloy materials engineering
through his establishment of the theory of spinodal decomposition.” The Kyoto Prize
is Japan’s highest private award for global achievement and honors significant contributions
to the betterment of society.
Fellows to Receive National Medal of Science
Nine Fellows have been named as recipients of the 2010 National Medal of Science.
“Their achievements have redrawn the frontiers of human knowledge while enhancing
American prosperity, and it is my tremendous pleasure to honor them for their important
contributions,” said President Barack Obama, who will award the medals at a White
House ceremony later this year. The winners are:
- Stephen J. Benkovic (Pennsylvania State University)
- Esther M. Conwell (University of Rochester)
- Marye Anne Fox (University of California San Diego)
- Susan L. Lindquist (Whitehead Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
- Mortimer Mishkin (National Institutes of Health)
- David B. Mumford (Brown University)
- Stanley B. Prusiner (University of California San Francisco)
- Warren M. Washington (National Center for Atmospheric Research)
- Amnon Yariv (California Institute of Technology)
Academy Members Win 2010 Nobel Prize in Economics
Two Academy Fellows were awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize by the Royal Swedish Academy
of Sciences. Peter A. Diamond (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and
Dale T. Mortensen (Northwestern University) shared the prize in economics
with Christopher A. Pissarides of the London School of Economics for developing
a theory and models “that help us understand the ways in which unemployment, job
vacancies, and wages are affected by regulation and economic policy.” According
the Nobel Committee, Diamond has “analyzed the foundations of search markets” and
Mortensen “expanded the theory and … applied it to the labor market.” Search theory
“has been applied to many other areas in addition to the labor market. This includes,
in particular, the housing market. … Search theory has also been used to study questions
related to monetary theory, public economics, financial economics, regional economics,
and family economics.”
Fellows Awarded Kavli Prize in Neuroscience and Astrophysics
Three Academy Fellows, Thomas Südhof (Stanford University), Richard Scheller
(Genentech), and James Rothman (Yale University) are the joint recipients
of the 2010 Kavli Prize in Neuroscience. The laureates were recognized for their
work to reveal the precise molecular basis of the transfer of signals between nerve
cells in the brain.
In addition, Fellow J. Roger P. Angel (University of Arizona) shares the
Kavli Prize in Astrophysics with two others for innovations in telescope design
that have allowed us glimpses of distant and ancient objects and events in remote
corners of the Universe.
The Kavli Prize, named after and funded by the entrepreneur, philanthropist, and
Academy Fellow Fred Kavli, is also awarded in the field of nanoscience. The winners
will share a $1 million prize in each of the three categories.
The 2010 Lemelson-MIT Prize
Carolyn Bertozzi (University of California, Berkeley) has received the 2010
Lemelson-MIT Prize. The $500,000 award honors an “outstanding mid-career inventor
who is dedicated to improving our world through technological invention and innovation.”
A chemical biologist, Bertozzi received the award for developing chemical reactions
used in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, arthritis, and tuberculosis.
George A. Miller Prize in Cognitive Neuroscience
Steven Pinker (Harvard University) has received the 2010 George A. Miller
Prize in Cognitive Neuroscience. Pinker was honored for his “distinguished and sustained
scholarship and research at the cutting-edge of cognitive neuroscience.”
Two Academy Members Win Wolf Prize in Mathematics
Dennis Sullivan (City University of New York, Stony Brook University) and
Shing-Tung Yau (Harvard University) share the 2010 Wolf Foundation Prize
in mathematics. President Shimon Peres and Education Minister and Wolf Foundation
Council Chairman Gideon Sa’ar will present the award in May at the Israeli Knesset.
Sullivan, a Fellow since 1991, was honored “for his innovative contributions to
algebraic topology and conformal dynamics.” Yung, elected in 1983, was cited for
his work in geometric analysis, which “has had a profound impact on geometry and
physics.”
Brown Awarded Kluge Prize
Academy Fellow Peter Robert Lamont Brown (Princeton University) is one of
two recipients of the 2008 Kluge Prize for Lifetime Achievement in the Study of
Humanity. The $1 million prize, endowed by Library of Congress benefactor John W.
Kluge, is shared with historian Romila Thapar and recognizes scholars for their
deep and sustained intellectual accomplishments in the study of humanity that have
an impact beyond narrow academic disciplines. Brown was honored for bringing conceptual
coherence to the field of late antiquity and looking anew at the end of the Roman
Empire, the emergence of Christianity, and the rise of Islam within and beyond the
Mediterranean world.
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