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The Walker Prize was established in 1864 by Dr. William Johnson Walker, one of the most eminent surgeons of his era and a generous benefactor of the Boston Society of Natural History, the Museum's founding organization. This special award was established to recognize work in the field of natural history.
In the 1960s, the Walker Prize guidelines were broadened to recognize "meritorious published scientific investigation and discovery" in any scientific field. The recipient must be a noted scientist, professor, or researcher who is a superb science communicator via the written word and is well known for superlative work in her / his field.
Photo: 2017 Walker Prize recipient, Dr. George Whitesides.
Professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School and the Alex Rich Distinguished Investigator in the Department of Molecular Biology and the Center for Computational and Integrative Biology at Massachusetts General Hospital
Jean Mayer Professor of Nutrition and Medicine, and Dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science & Policy at Tufts University
Woodford L. and Ann A. Flowers University Professor, Harvard University
President, Wellesley College
Harvard University, Frank B. Baird, Jr. Professor of Science
Columbia University Earth Institute, Climate Science, Awareness and Solutions
Chief Technology Advocate, Google
W.M. Keck Professor of Energy, Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
David H. Koch Institute Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and Director, Office of Science and Technology Policy, Executive Office of the President of the United States; Teresa and John Heinz Professor of Environmental Policy, John F. Kennedy School of Government; Professor of Environmental Science, Harvard University; Director, Woods Hole Research Center
Alexander Agassiz Professor of Biological Oceanography, Harvard University Co-chair of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
Cofounder, Apple Computer, Inc., Chief Technology Officer, Jazz Technologies, Inc
Physician, Researcher, President Emeritus, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Analogic Corporation
Director of National Human Genome Research Institute
Aeronautical Engineer, Inventor
MIT Institute Professor and Director of the McGovern Institute for Brain Research
Surgeon, Researcher, Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School
Psychologist, Neurologist, Director of Harvard University's Project Zero
Surgeon, Advocate for Patients with Breast Cancer
Paleontologist, Professor of Organismal Biology at University of Chicago
Nobel Prize Winner, Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry at MIT
Professor of Biochemistry at MIT, Whitehead Institute
Nobel Prize Winner, Baird Professor of Science at Harvard University
Institute Professor Emeritus of Physics at MIT
Teacher, Author
Nobel Prize Winner, Gerhard Gade University Professor Emeritus at Harvard University
Bowditch Professor of Central American and Mexican Archeology and Ethnology at Harvard University
Professor, Department of Anthropology at University of California, Berkeley
Department of Zoology at University of California, Berkeley
Natural History Scholar
Director, Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University
Professor of Anthropology at Harvard University
Ornithologist and Professor of Zoology at University of Texas
Curator of Insects, Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University
Director, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama Canal Zone
