"Vital Statistics"
Awardees of the 2000 National Medal of Science
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Behavioral and Social Sciences |
Biological Sciences
| Chemistry | Engineering | Mathematics | Physical Sciences See the December 1, 2000 Awards Ceremony Live! |
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BEHAVIORAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
Gary Becker
University Professor of Economics and Sociology
The University of Chicago
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What: Becker has been a pioneer in analyzing the economics of human capital, economic demography, crime and the role of social forces on shaping individual economic behavior. He has also led the economic analysis of racial discrimination that has contributed to a wider series of studies and helped foster greater societal understanding of discrimination in general. He won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1992 for his work.
In Human Capital (Columbia University Press, 1964) Becker initiated a broad assault on the fundamental determinants of income distribution and poverty. His ideas are central to public policies on income distribution and poverty, as well as in identifying one of the key "engines of economic growth." His work on economic demography has brought economic thinking to bear on fertility decisions, the marriage market, and the changing structure of families in modern society. Becker's application of cost-benefit calculus to personal decisions on whether or not to engage in criminal behavior has been influential in public policy debates on the causal connections between punishments and criminality.
Personal: Ph.D. and Masters degree from the University of Chicago. A.B. degree from Princeton University. Born in Pottsville, Penn., Dec. 2, 1930.
BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
Nancy C. Andreasen
Andrew H. Woods Chair of Psychiatry
University of Iowa
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What: Andreasen has made important and ongoing contributions to basic cognitive neuroscience and to the understanding of major mental illnesses. She was among the earliest investigators to demonstrate brain abnormalities in people with schizophrenia and mood disorders. She was the first to demonstrate, via Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), that patients with schizophrenia have frontal lobe abnormalities and decreased cerebral size due to a failure in brain development rather than a loss of tissue.
Andreasen established herself as one of the pioneers in the use of neuro-imaging techniques to study mental illness. She was the first investigator to show a relationship between manic-depressive illness and creativity. She was also responsible for the first large-scale application of MRI to schizophrenia.
Her book, The Broken Brain, has been translated into numerous languages and remains one of the world's most frequently purchased books on neuropsychiatry. It is widely acclaimed for increasing public awareness of mental illness and brings the public closer to understanding how the human brain works.
Personal: M.D., University of Iowa. Ph.D. and B.A., University of Nebraska. M.A., Radcliffe College, Mass. Born in Lincoln, Neb., Nov. 11, 1938.
Peter H. Raven
Director, Missouri Botanical Garden and Englemann Professor of Botany
Washington University in St. Louis
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What: Raven is one of the world's leading authorities on plant systematics and evolution, having published more than 550 books and papers in the fields of taxonomy, population biology, biogeography, reproductive biology, ethnobotany and conservation biology. Raven's 1965 paper with Paul Ehrlich on "Butterflies and plants" (Evolution, 18: 586-603) coined the term co-evolution and helped to refocus much subsequent evolutionary research. It also helped lay the groundwork for the ongoing re-evaluation of the nature and concept of biological species.
Since 1971, Raven has developed the Missouri Botanical Garden into the world's preeminent center for the study of plant diversity, with exploring and collecting programs throughout North and South America, Africa and Madagascar and China. One of the most influential spokespersons for the importance of understanding and preserving biological diversity he has championed the concept of national biological resource surveys in the United States, Taiwan, Mexico, and elsewhere, helping to establish a pattern critical for the preservation of worldwide ecosystems.
Personal: Ph.D. in plant sciences, UCLA, and A.B. in botany, University of California, Berkeley. Born in Shanghai, China, June 13, 1936.
Carl R. Woese
Stanley O. Ikenberry Professor of Microbiology
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
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What: Woese's molecular studies of RNA sequences and his research leading to a universal tree of life revolutionized the view of life's evolution and diversity. His proposal that there are three primary evolutionary domains (Bacteria, Archaea, and Eucarya) into which all living things can be classified is embodied in the quantitative map of evolutionary diversity. This formulation has resulted in a fundamental conceptual change in the thinking of biologists, forcing an upheaval in bacterial systematics and a major revision of texts. At the same time, Woese's work has offered a new coherence to the understanding of the evolution of all life.
Woese recently participated in the determination of the first archaeal sequence, that of Methanococcus jannaschii. The realization that ribosomal RNA sequences provide "signatures" for microorganisms has led to the development of rapid means for diagnosing microbial diseases and for characterizing the diversity of organisms in the environment, with significant implications for biotechnology. Woese's work has provided both a new paradigm and a new impetus for exploring the microbial world.
Personal: Ph.D. in biophysics, Yale University. A.B. in mathematics and physics, Amherst College, Mass. Born in Syracuse, N.Y., July 15, 1928.
CHEMISTRY
John D. Baldeschwieler
J. Stanley Johnson Professor of Chemistry
California Institute of Technology
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What: Baldeschwieler has developed new methods for determining the properties, structures, motions and interactions of molecules and molecular assemblies and translated them into practical pharmaceutical and instrumentation products. His main contributions were in the development and application of magnetic resonance techniques to chemical and biochemical problems. He developed Ion Cyclotron Resonance (ICR) spectroscopy, an important tool for chemical and biochemical analysis. His more recent studies of new physical methods in biological systems, such as scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) made the cover of Nature, which featured his high-resolution image of double-helical DNA.
Baldeschwieler played a leadership role in science and technology programs involving the Soviet Union and China at the time that new relationships were being developed with these countries. He is presently serving on the Academy Committee on International Security and Arms Control, and the President's Committee on Gulf War Veterans Illnesses.
Personal: Ph.D. in physical chemistry, University of California at Berkeley, and bachelors' degree in chemical engineering from Cornell University. Born in Elizabeth, N.J., Nov. 14, 1933.
Ralph F. Hirschmann
Rao Makineni Professor of Bio-Organic Chemistry
University of Pennsylvania
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What: Hirschmann's research achievements span the fields of organic, medicinal and bioorganic chemistry, and his contributions led to the development of life-saving medicines, including the anti-parasite Ivermecâ which is eradicating river blindness in Third World nations.
At Merck & Co., Inc. Hirschmann's laboratory output resulted in the design of substances which became major drugs for the benefit of mankind. He led fundamental research which resulted in his associates discovering no fewer than four important new medicines in addition to Ivermecâ - the antihypertensives Vasotecâ and Prinivilâ for hypertension and congestive heart failure, the anti-infective Primaxinâ which is the drug of choice in severe infections when the causative agent is unknown, and Mevacorâ to treat arterioschlerosis, and which was shown in clinical trials to reduce mortality.
At the University of Pennsylvania as its first research professor in chemistry, Hirschmann initiated a collaborative research program within the University and with investigators on the outside, resulting in developments of biomedical importance.
Personal: Doctorate in organic chemistry and M.A. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. A.B., Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio. Born in Fuerth, Bavaria, Germany May 6, 1922.
ENGINEERING
Yuan-Cheng B. Fung
Professor Emeritus, Research Bioengineer
University of California at San Diego
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What: Fung's achievements in aeroelasticity formed the defining ideas in an extremely important technical field of aerospace engineering.
Fung's application of mechanics to the study of biological tissues helped establish a new interdisciplinary field in which engineering principles and techniques are used to solve biomedical problems. Fung established the foundation of biomechanics in a variety of living tissues, including the lung, the heart, blood vessels, blood cells, urethra, intestine, muscle and skin. In 1988 Fung introduced the concept of engineering biologic tissues for substitutes and repairs of damaged tissue and organs. This 'tissue engineering' concept has led to a large nationwide biotech endeavor, involving many major university programs and biotechnology companies.
Fung is one of a few scientists who have been elected to membership in all three National Academies: National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine.
Personal: Ph.D. in aeronautics and mathematics, California Institute of Technology. M.S. and B.S. degrees from Central University of China. Born in China Sep. 15, 1919.
MATHEMATICS
John Griggs Thompson
Graduate Research Professor, Department of Mathematics,
University of Florida
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What: Thompson is regarded as one of the greatest group theorists of all time. Thompson together with Walter Feit proved what is now called the Odd Order Theorem, supplying a critical step in understanding finite simple groups. Thompson's thesis, the Feit-Thompson "Odd Order Theorem", and Thompson's determination of the "minimal" finite simple groups opened up the field. For this he was awarded the Fields medal in 1970. His work was also instrumental in the classification of finite simple groups that was completed in the early 1980's.
In a series of papers on the Inverse Galois problem another major problem in algebra, Thompson introduced new methods which revealed connections between areas such as geometry, number theory and group theory that were not apparent previously. Like his thesis work 30 years earlier which opened the way for major progress in group theory, his work on this problem has introduced new ideas and methods which have inspired the work of other mathematicians.
Personal: Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, and B.A. in mathematics from Yale University. Born in Ottawa, Kansas, Oct. 13, 1932.
Karen K. Uhlenbeck
Sid W. Richardson Foundation Regents Chair in Mathematics
University of Texas - Austin
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What: Uhlenbeck has made far reaching contributions at the interface between disciplines, within mathematics (on non-linear analysis, geometry and topology), and between mathematics and physics (especially gauge theory). The Saks-Uhlenbeck and Schoen-Uhlenbeck Theorems for harmonic maps, the Uhlenbeck-Yau Theorem for holomorphic bundles and the Uhlenbeck Special Gauges in mathematical gauge theory are but a few of her most influential contributions, and stand out as high points in geometry, topology, analysis and mathematical physics. They establish Uhlenbeck as one of the founders of geometry based on analytical methods.
Uhlenbeck's contributions in mathematics education include an aggressive effort to find new ways to help and encourage minorities and women. She is one of the founders of the Institute for Advanced Study/Park City Mathematics Institute (IAS/PCMI), which has programs for high school teachers, undergraduates, graduate students, postdoctoral students and senior researchers. She designed a ten-day mentoring program for women mathematicians in which undergraduate and graduate women work with postdoctoral researchers and senior women mathematicians from a variety of backgrounds. It provides excellent opportunities for young women to find role models and to do networking.
Personal: Ph.D. in mathematics, Brandeis University, B.S. in mathematics, University of Michigan.. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Aug. 24, 1942.
PHYSICAL SCIENCES
Willis E. Lamb
Regents Professor, Optical Sciences Center
University of Arizona
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What: Lamb is well known for introducing the concept of the Lamb Shift to atomic physics in 1949. Lamb's experimental work on hydrogen revealed a new quantum mechanical effect, one of the key foundations of quantum electrodynamics. The growth of modern elementary particle physics can be traced to this work, and garnered Lamb the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1955.
Lamb also pioneered the field of laser physics through a series of seminal studies in the 1950s and 1960s. He predicted the concept of "negative absorption" or gain in a microwave field. The extension of this theory to optical radiation provided a footing for gas and, ultimately, solid-state laser physics. Lamb's contributions have led to the development and applications of lasers, such as in communications, medical diagnosis and treatment, atomic clocks, laser scanners and other applications in industry, defense and academe.
Personal: Ph.D. in physics and B.S. in chemistry, University of California at Berkeley. Born in Los Angeles, Calif., July 12 1913.
Jeremiah P. Ostriker
Provost and Charles A. Young Professor of Astronomy
Princeton University
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What: The "self-consistent field" (SCF) method Ostriker and his collaborators developed formed the basis for new theoretical studies of the dynamics of galaxies and star clusters. These models led to the modern picture of galaxy formation, in which small fragments emerging from the Big Bang merge hierarchically to form galaxies and clusters. In the 1970s and 1980s, Ostriker's calculations helped to demonstrate the existence of large quantities of dark matter in galaxies, the nature of which remains one of the most important problems in modern astronomy and astrophysics.
In the late 1980s, Ostriker led a team of U.S. scientists to compute the first fully realistic models of galaxy formation. These models provided the first convincing picture of the births of galaxies. More recently, Ostriker has pioneered the development of sophisticated numerical simulations of the evolution of, and the formation of structure in, the early Universe. The "concordance model" which he helped to develop (a flat Universe with a cosmological constant) is now the standard model of cosmology, having received recent strong support from observations of distant supernovae.
Personal: Ph.D. in astrophysics, University of Chicago, and A.B. in physics and chemistry, Harvard University. Born in New York City Apr. 13, 1937.
Gilbert F. White
Gustavson Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Geography
University of Colorado at Boulder
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What: White's research contributions have spanned many disciplines, including geography, hydrology, hazard mitigation, and environmental change. His 1942 report, Human Adjustments to Floods, brought national attention to the potential for non-structural approaches to reduce damage from flooding. His subsequent research greatly increased knowledge about the uses of floodplains and the full range of social costs and benefits associated with their use in different locales. These studies provided the basis for a new research paradigm and new public policy.
White's research expanded to address the human responses and adjustments to other forms of natural and technological hazards. His concepts of human adjustments were applied to broader issues of resource management, such as the development of strategies for providing water supplies and sanitation, for conserving energy, and for recycling waste products.
White has advised every administration from Franklin Delano Roosevelt's to the present on floodplain policy, playing a central role in the establishment of the National Flood Insurance Program.
Personal: Doctorate, S.M. and S.B. degrees, University of Chicago. Born in Chicago, Ill., Nov. 26, 1911.
| Additional Information: |
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Medal of Science Fact Sheet |
2000 Science Medalists: Press Release |
2000 Science Medalists: Summaries of Achievements | Media Advisory: Laureates in Media Roundtable |
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