Newsmakers

Brandt awarded prestigious Bancroft Prize

“The Cigarette Century: The Rise, Fall, and Deadly Persistence of the Product That Defined America,” by Amalie Moses Kass Professor of the History of Medicine Allan M. Brandt, has been selected to receive a Bancroft Prize from Columbia University. Established in 1948, the prize (which includes an award of $10,000) is given annually by the trustees of Columbia to the authors of books of exceptional merit in the fields of American history, biography, and diplomacy. The 2008 awards are for books published in 2007.

Gabrielse to receive physics prize

George Vasmer Leverett Professor of Physics Gerald Gabrielse has been named the winner of the 2008 Premio Caterina Tommassoni and Felice Pietro Chisesi Prize. The prize, which includes 13,000 euros, will be officially presented April 7 at the University of Rome.

According to the citation, Gabrielse received the award for “the measurement of the g-factor of the electron to an accuracy of 2.8 x 10-13 and for low energy antimatter physics, which included sensitive probes of the baryon/antibaryon asymmetry” and for his “pioneering methods [that] opened the way to antihydrogen production and future spectroscopy.”

Museum of Science to honor McCarthy with Walker Prize

James McCarthy, the Alexander Agassiz Professor of Biological Oceanography in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, will accept the 2008 Walker Prize from the Boston Museum of Science on April 7. The prize recognizes “meritorious published scientific investigation and discovery” in any scientific field.

A co-chair of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, McCarthy has served as a lead author of the 2005 Arctic Climate Impact Assessment and as vice chair of the 2007 Northeast Climate Impacts Assessment. His extensive research on global regions that are strongly affected by seasonal and inter-annual variation in climate has helped shape world awareness of environmental issues.

Association for Women in Psychology honors Caplan

Paula J. Caplan, lecturer on studies of women, gender, and sexuality at Harvard, has received a distinguished career award from the Association for Women in Psychology at its annual conference in San Diego last month. At the conference, Caplan delivered a lecture titled “Defying Authority: The Liberation and Poignancy of Challenging the Status Quo.”