The rockefeller university

Social psychologist Jennifer L. Eberhardt to be awarded the 2022 Lewis Thomas Prize

March 17, 2022

For over two decades, Jennifer L. Eberhardt has demonstrated, with hard data, the extensive and inescapable nature of hidden racial biases. She has also developed strategies to correct these damaging attitudes and the behaviors that result from them. In her book Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do, Eberhardt weaves experimental and observational studies with personal stories from her experience as an African American woman and mother, bringing to life the prejudice that pervades our society.

For her accomplished record in applying rigorous scientific methods to the behavioral study of race, and her exceptional storytelling, Eberhardt will be presented with the Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science on April 7. More>>

Evolutionary biologist and ornithologist Richard Prum receives the 2021 Lewis Thomas Prize

April 26, 2021

In his 2017 book, The Evolution of Beauty, Richard Prum challenges a central idea about evolution by natural selection, questioning the prevailing view that the astonishing visual and vocal displays of male birds signal their adaptive fitness. Instead, Prum posits that females’ preference for the most stimulating, attractive males is what drives the evolution of many of the most elaborate and extraordinary traits in animals.

For his exceptional writing, Prum was presented with the 2021 Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science last week. The prize, established by the trustees of Rockefeller in 1993, honors scientists as inspirational authors. More>>

Physician-writer Siddhartha Mukherjee will be awarded the 2019 Lewis Thomas Prize

March 22, 2019

His commitment to demystifying cancer takes multiple expressions. Siddhartha Mukherjee has won acclaim for the sensitive and caring treatment he delivers to his patients, and for his innovative cancer biology research. But what has ultimately made him a household name is his work as a science writer, especially his debut piece chronicling the past, present, and possible future of the disease.

Mukherjee has delighted, informed, and touched a wide audience through his books and essays, for which he will be awarded the 2019 Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science. The prize, honoring scientists as inspirational authors, will be presented Monday, April 22, at a free, public event on The Rockefeller University campus. More>>

Astrophysicist Kip Thorne to receive 2018 Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science

March 28, 2018

In his research, Nobel Laureate Kip Thorne has traveled deep into the strange world of general relativity—physicists’ description of gravity as a geometric property of space and time—and has become one of the world’s foremost experts on the topic. But even as Dr. Thorne has ventured into the theoretical complexities of the universe, he has successfully brought the rest of us along. With deft explanations and depictions, he draws people into the space-, time-, and mind-bending realm of Einstein’s ideas through books, talks, and films.

For all this, Thorne will be awarded the 2018 Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science, which honors scientists as inspirational authors. He will receive the award Tuesday, April 17, 2018, at a free, public event on The Rockefeller University campus. A reception will begin at 5:30 p.m., followed by the prize presentation and a lecture at 6:30 p.m. More>>

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2017: Gravitational waves finally captured

October 3, 2017

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Physics 2017 with one half to Rainer Weiss, LIGO/VIRGO Collaboration, and the other half jointly to Barry C. Barish, LIGO/VIRGO Collaboration and Kip S. Thorne, LIGO/VIRGO Collaboration “for decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves”.

Oceanographer and explorer Sylvia Earle will receive the 2017 Lewis Thomas Prize

February 22, 2017

Oceanographer, explorer, and author Sylvia Earle has been named the recipient of this year’s Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science. The award, given annually by Rockefeller University, recognizes Earle’s body of work, which includes memoirs, atlases, and children’s books, as well as advocacy for global marine conservation. Earle will be presented with the award at a ceremony on March 6.

Evolutionary Biologist Sean B. Carroll Wins Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing About Science

May 5, 2016

“How many true books about science include a coded message from occupied Hungary, written in invisible starch solution on the inside of a record album to be revealed by exposure to iodine?”

Jesse Ausubel, who chairs the selection committee for Rockefeller’s Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science, recently asked this question about Sean B. Carroll’s 2013 book Brave Genius: A Scientist, A Philosopher, and Their Daring Adventures from the French Resistance to the Nobel Prize. For this and other works, Dr. Carroll, an evolutionary biologist, film producer, and author, was awarded the 2016 Lewis Thomas Prize at a ceremony in Caspary Auditorium on March 14.

Lewis Thomas Prize to be awarded to Sean B. Carroll

January 28, 2016

Evolutionary biologist, educator, and author Sean B. Carroll will be presented with The Rockefeller University’s Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science at a ceremony on March 14. The award recognizes Carroll’s body of work, including his 2013 book Brave Genius: A Scientist, A Philosopher, and Their Daring Adventures from the French Resistance to the Nobel Prize.

Mathematicians Steven Strogatz and Ian Stewart Win Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing About Science

August 21, 2015

It takes a particular breadth of mind to succeed in bridging the world of advanced science and the world of letters. But perhaps even more unusual is the mathematician who can translate complex numerical investigations into poetry, comedy, suspense, and mystery for readers untrained in the field.

Ian Stewart and Steven Strogatz have spent their careers doing just this, and earlier this year, they became the first mathematicians to receive the Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science at a ceremony in Rockefeller’s Caspary Auditorium.

Lewis Thomas Prize to honor mathematicians Steven Strogatz and Ian Stewart

March 13, 2015

Two mathematicians, Ian Stewart and Steven Strogatz, will share the 2015 Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science awarded by The Rockefeller University. Stewart, from The University of Warwick and Gresham College in the United Kingdom, and Strogatz, from Cornell, are the first mathematicians to receive the prize. They will be honored during a program featuring actor Alan Alda, an advocate for science, on Monday, March 30, in Rockefeller’s Caspary Auditorium.

Surgeon and writer Atul Gawande awarded Lewis Thomas Prize

June 13, 2014

Dr. Gawande, who practices general and endocrine surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, was honored with the 2014 Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science at a ceremony in Rockefeller’s Caspary Auditorium in March.

Psychologist and Author Kay Redfield Jamison Awarded 2012 Lewis Thomas Prize

January 31, 2014

There has always been a fine line between madness and genius. As a clinical psychologist, Kay Redfield Jamison has been able to examine that line from a scientific perspective; and as a writer, she has shared both her scientific and personal findings on mental illness with the public. For her work, Dr. Jamison was presented with the 2012 Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science at a ceremony in Caspary Auditorium in June. The award recognized Dr. Jamison’s 1993 book Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament, which examines the relationship between artistic creativity and mood disorders.

Lewis Thomas Prize to be awarded to Kay Redfield Jamison

May 7, 2013

Clinical psychologist and author Kay Redfield Jamison will be presented with Rockefeller University’s 2012 Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science at a ceremony on June 5, 2013. The award recognizes Jamison’s 1993 book Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament, which examines the relationship between artistic creativity and mood disorders.

Martin Rees is 2009 Lewis Thomas Prize winner

May 14, 2010

For as long as humans have gazed at the night sky, we have questioned our place in the universe and how and where it all began. Martin Rees, the celebrated British cosmologist and astrophysicist, has chronicled scientists’ speculations about the cosmos through seven volumes of popular science. On April 26, President Paul Nurse presented Dr. Rees with the 2009 Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science. The prize recognizes Dr. Rees’s 2000 publication Just Six Numbers: The Deep Forces that Shape the Universe.

Rockefeller University names Martin Reese 2009 Lewis Thomas Prize Winner

April 8, 2010

For as long as humans have gazed at the night sky, we have questioned our place in the universe and how and where it all began. Martin Rees, the celebrated British cosmologist and astrophysicist, has chronicled scientists’ speculations about the cosmos through seven volumes of popular science. On April 26, President Paul Nurse presented Dr. Rees with the 2009 Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science. The prize recognizes Dr. Rees’s 2000 publication Just Six Numbers: The Deep Forces that Shape the Universe.

Rockefeller University names Robert Sapolsky 2008 Lewis Thomas Prize winner

May 18, 2009

Primatologist and Stanford University neuroscientist Robert M. Sapolsky has been named the recipient of Rockefeller University’s Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science for 2008. The award recognizes Sapolsky’s 2001 publication A Primate’s Memoir: A Neuroscientist’s Unconventional Life Among the Baboons and will be presented to him at a ceremony at the university’s Caspary Auditorium on June 2.

Alumnus Robert Sapolsky Honored with 2008 Lewis Thomas Prize

November 6, 2009

It is a rare child who dreams of growing up to be a mountain gorilla. When, for young Robert Morris Sapolsky, such lofty aspirations proved less than feasible, he decided on the next most exciting life — becoming a scientist. Upon graduating with a Ph.D. from The Rockefeller University in 1984, Dr. Sapolsky began what would become a lifelong, passionate pursuit studying the baboons of the East African Serengeti Plain. The fruit of that labor, a book aptly titled A Primate’s Memoir: A Neuroscientist’s Unconventional Life Among the Baboons, has won numerous awards. At a ceremony in Caspary Auditorium on June 2, Rockefeller added to the acclaim with the 2008 Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science.

Lewis Thomas Prize awarded to Richard Dawkins

May 25, 2007

The committee that nominates and selects recipients of the Lewis Thomas Prize does not have an easy job; few people eloquently straddle the fields of science and literature. But there was little debate over Richard Dawkins, British ethologist and popular science writer, who was presented with the 2006 Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science April 24.

Richard Dawkins Accepts 2006 Lewis Thomas Prize

April 25, 2007

The 2006 Rockefeller University Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science has been awarded to British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and popular science writer Richard Dawkins. Rockefeller’s president, Paul Nurse, presented the award to Dawkins yesterday at a ceremony in Caspary Auditorium, where Dawkins gave a lecture titled “Queerer than We Can Suppose: The Strangeness of Science.”

Renowned French neuroscientist Jean-Pierre Changeux receives Rockefeller University’s science writing prize

March 20, 2005

Jean-Pierre Changeux, Ph.D., one of the boldest thinkers in modern neuroscience, received the Rockefeller University Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science Tues., March 29. Paul Nurse, Ph.D., president of Rockefeller University, presented Changeux with the annual prize following a public lecture titled “The Physiology of Truth: Toward a Neuroscience of Human Knowledge.”

Thomas Eisner to receive 2005 Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science

September 23, 2005

A world authority on animal behavior, ecology and evolution, Thomas Eisner, has been chosen to receive The Rockefeller University’s 2005 Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science. Eisner will receive the prize, and give a lecture titled “The Ruling Class: Tales of Insect Survival,” on Tuesday, October 11 at 5:30 p.m. in Rockefeller University’s Caspary Auditorium.

Oliver Sacks, Awakenings Author, Receives Rockefeller University’s Lewis Thomas Prize

March 22, 2002

Oliver Sacks, author of the best-selling book Awakenings, which was the basis for a movie of the same name starring Robin Williams and Robert de Niro, received The Rockefeller University’s 2001 Lewis Thomas Prize on Monday, March 18, in the university’s Caspary Auditorium. The prize, “Honoring the Scientist as Poet,” has been awarded annually since 1993 to a writer who is accomplished in the realms of both science and literature.

Lewis Thomas Prize Honors Max Perutz

May 2, 1997

Nobel laureate, molecular biologist and author Max Perutz, Ph.D., is the recipient of the 1997 Lewis Thomas Prize, which honors scientists for their literary achievements and is awarded by The Rockefeller University.

Lewis Thomas Prize Honors Ernst Mayr

April 8, 1998

Evolutionary biologist and author Ernst Mayr, Ph.D., is the recipient of the 1998 Lewis Thomas Prize: Honoring the Scientist as Poet. The prize, which honors scientists for their literary achievements, is awarded by The Rockefeller University.

Lewis Thomas Prize Honors Freeman Dyson

May 22, 1996

Mathematical physicist and author Freeman Dyson will receive the 1996 Lewis Thomas Prize, which honors scientists for their artistic achievements, from The Rockefeller University.

Physicist and writer Freeman Dyson to receive Rockefeller University’s Lewis Thomas Prize

May 10, 1996

News and Notes, 1996, v6 #28

Rockefeller physicist and award-winning writer Abraham Pais to receive 1995 Lewis Thomas Prize

May 28, 1995

News and Notes, 1995, v5 #28

Francois Jacob receives Lewis Thomas Prize and gives lecture

June 3, 1994

News and Notes, 1994, v4 #30

French Nobelist, Author, to Receive 1994 Lewis Thomas Prize from Rockefeller University

May 25, 1994

Seeking to honor that rare individual in whom the two cultures of science and art are combined, The Rockefeller University will present François Jacob, the Nobel Prize-winning molecular geneticist and highly acclaimed author of three books on science, with the second Lewis Thomas Prize on Wednesday, May 25.