Stuart Pimm to Receive 2006 Heineken Prize
for Environmental Sciences
link
to Heineken Prize Web site for more details
(including a research video) >
Monday, April 10, 2006/DURHAM, N.C. – The Royal
Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences has
awarded the 2006 Dr. A.H. Heineken Prize for
Environmental Sciences to Stuart
L. Pimm, Doris
Duke Professor of Conservation Ecology at the
Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth
Sciences at Duke University.
The award, which carries a $150,000 cash prize,
is one of six Heineken Prizes presented biennially
by the Royal Netherlands Academy. Heineken Prizes
are awarded in history; medicine; biochemistry
and biophysics; environmental sciences; cognitive
science; and art. They are among the most prestigious
international awards presented in these fields.
Pimm and his fellow 2006 honorees will receive
their awards at a special ceremony on Sept. 28
in Amsterdam.
In selecting Pimm for this year’s environmental
sciences prize, the awards jury cited his “worldwide
reputation” for conducting “influential” research
on species extinction and conservation, and for
tirelessly working to educate policymakers, the
media and members of the public about the urgent
need to conserve tropical rainforests and other
threatened ecosystems.
“It was Stuart Pimm who introduced the concept
of the ‘food chain’ into research on the extinction
of plant and animal species in the early 1980s,”
the Heineken committee noted. “Pimm’s analyses
have proved to be highly inspiring for other
researchers. He has worked energetically for
many years to impart his research results to
the general public and policymakers. He has
succeeded in communicating the importance of
ecological conservation to a wide audience.”
Pimm
is widely cited for his research on biodiversity,
species extinction and habitat loss in Africa,
South America and Central America, as well as
the Everglades. His work has contributed to new
practices and policy for species preservation
and habitat restoration in many of the world’s
most threatened ecosystems.
He is a member of
the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and
was awarded the Society for Conservation Biology’s
Edward T. LaRoe III Memorial Award earlier this
year. He received a Pew Scholarship for Conservation
and the Environment in 1993 and an Aldo Leopold
Leadership Fellowship in 1999. The Institute
of Scientific Information recognized him in 2002
as one of the world’s most highly cited scientists.
The Heineken Prize for Environmental Sciences
was established in 1990. Past laureates include
Paul Ehrlich, president of the Center for Conservation
Biology at Stanford University; Simon A. Levin,
professor of ecology and evolutionary biology
at Princeton University; and James Lovelock,
honorary visiting fellow at Oxford University.
Media Contact: Tim Lucas at 919-613-8084
or tdlucas@duke.edu
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