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NSF PR 00-26 (NSB 00-103) - April 27, 2000
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Philip and Phylis Morrison, and Science Service Picked
for NSB Public Service Awards
The National Science Board (NSB) has named Philip
and Phylis Morrison - he, a renowned physicist and
science communicator, and she, an educator, author
and her husband’s long-time collaborator - for the
NSB’s third annual public service award. The NSB is
honoring both Morrisons with individual awards because
of their unique teaming efforts over many years in
communicating science and enhancing the public’s understanding
of it, and for educating, encouraging and influencing
a new generation of scientists.
The NSB also named Science Service, a nonprofit organization
founded in 1921 to advance public understanding and
appreciation of science, to receive the public service
award for organizations. Science Service administers
several prestigious education programs for middle
school and high school students, and also publishes
the highly regarded weekly news magazine Science
News.
The awards will be presented at a ceremony on the evening
of May 3.
Philip Morrison, institute professor emeritus at M.I.T.,
is widely known for his work in high-energy astrophysics
among several other fields. During World War Two,
he was a group leader for the Manhattan Project and
took part in the first test of the atomic bomb in
the New Mexico desert.
In the 1950s, Morrison turned his attention to studies
of gamma ray astronomy, and cosmology. He became one
of the first scientists to call for a coordinated
search for interstellar communications through use
of radio waves.
By the 1960s, Morrison shifted his focus into a broad
range of science communications. He began reviewing
books for Scientific American in 1965. And
with his wife Phylis, an art and science teacher he
met on an education project at M.I.T., the two went
on to co-author many books, work closely on education
reform initiatives, narrate and script films, and
appear widely on science programs for the BBC, Canadian
Broadcasting and American television’s NOVA
series on PBS. The Morrisons became widely recognized
for their presentation of a six-part PBS series, "The
Ring of Truth," aired in 1987. They also coauthored
and collaborated on a book and its film adaptation,
"The Powers of Ten," which present compelling visual
images of the world around us, from the most minute
objects to the unimaginably vast.
"Their ability is to see things whole, not from a single
perspective. They focus on teaching freshmen courses
that empower students to learn through experimentation.
Their reviews of childrens' science books and their
giveaways of these books to children each year are
all indicative of how special they are," Michael Ambrosino,
chair of the advisory committee to the NSB awards,
said. The Morrisons, he added, maintain a vast interest
in international education, especially in India and
Africa.
Science Service, based in Washington, D.C., has made
its mark through a wide variety of programs that encourage
students, parents, teachers and communities to learn
about and explore the worlds of science and discovery.
The organization has reached millions through its
many activities. The Intel Science Talent Search,
the nation’s oldest science competition, often referred
to as the junior Nobel, is for high school seniors
completing an original individual research project.
The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair
brings together 1,200 students from every state and
over 40 nations to compete for scholarships, tuition
grants, internships and the grand prize of a trip
to Sweden to attend the Nobel Prize ceremonies. In
1999, Science Service launched the Discovery Young
Scientist Challenge for students in grades 5-8 competing
in science fairs throughout the country, with finalists
making a trip to Washington to compete in science
challenges for the top scholarship prize worth $10,000,
and international field trips with notable scientists.
The weekly Science News has long been appreciated
by science journalists as a key source of information
and valuable news journal geared to scientists and
non-scientists alike.
"Science News and its offspring, Science
News On-Line are compelling, colorful and completely
accurate in describing advances in scientific discovery,"
David Perlman, a science editor and member of the
advisory committee for the awards, said. He added
that the Service’s Science Talent Search and International
Science and Engineering Fair "stimulate wonderful
inquiry-based scientific experiments and projects
among high school students in every community in America."
He described the Discovery Young Scientist Challenge
as having "an auspicious beginning" for being in just
its second year.
Science Service also provides a wide range of training
resources and enrichment programs for pre-college
students in science, technology and engineering, and
for future teachers. It also has initiated the first-ever
integrated effort between government, corporate and
nonprofit partners, called "Summit on Science," to
raise national awareness on the importance of science
literacy.
The NSB’s public service award to Science Service cited
the organization’s efforts to raise the level of understanding
of science and technology, and its work to foster
awareness among broad segments of the population.
See also: Fact
Sheet on National Science Board Public Service
Award
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