Simon Levin’s collaboration with economists and environmental scientists cited by foundation granting the $460,000 award.
By: David Campbell
Princeton University ecologist Simon Levin has been named a recipient of the Kyoto Prize for his contributions to environmental science. The award carries a cash prize of about $460,000, the university announced Friday.
The Inamori Foundation of Japan presents the annual awards in recognition of lifetime achievement in basic science, advanced technology, and arts and philosophy.
Professor Levin will receive the award for basic science during a week of ceremonies beginning Nov. 10 in Kyoto. George Heilmeier, the inventor of liquid crystal display technology and a graduate alumnus of Princeton, will receive the Kyoto Prize in advanced technology.
"In proposing many methods of biological conservation and ecosystem management, Professor Levin has made fundamental contributions to environmental science," the foundation said in a release announcing the award.
When asked about the future of conservation, Professor Levin said: "The science is improving rapidly, and Princeton has been a leader. It’s just in time, though, as the state of the planet is getting worse."
Professor Levin is the George Moffett Professor of Biology and a professor of ecology and environmental biology at Princeton. He also is director of the university’s Center for BioComplexity and former director of the Princeton Environmental Institute.
The Inamori Foundation cited his collaboration with economists and environmental scientists to propose new methods for dealing with environmental problems.
"Among his primary concerns are the staggering losses in biodiversity worldwide that have resulted in the recent past from the mass production, consumption and waste-disposal practices of human populations," the foundation said.
Professor Levin joined the Princeton faculty in 1992. He came to Princeton from Cornell University, where he had been a faculty member since 1965. He is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and earned his doctorate from the University of Maryland.
The Princeton ecologist has received numerous awards and honors. They include the A.H. Heineken Prize for Environmental Sciences from the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2004, and the Distinguished Landscape Ecologist Award from the U.S. Regional Association of the International Association for Landscape Ecology in 2003. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
Professor Levin edited the "Encyclopedia of Biodiversity," a five-volume set that covers biodiversity in all its facets, from how it arose through evolution to how it relates to the modern economy.
His other publications include the 1999 book "Fragile Dominion," which illustrates how the loss of biodiversity has created direct threats to human survival, and a 1992 paper published in Ecology, "The Problem of Pattern and Scale in Ecology," which was the most cited article in the field during the 1990s, the university said.
The Inamori Foundation was established in 1984 by Kazuo Inamori, founder and chairman emeritus of Kyocera Corp.
The Kyoto Prize was founded in 1985. It has been awarded to scientists, engineers, researchers and artists from 12 nations. The third 2005 Kyoto Prize, honoring achievement in arts and philosophy, will be awarded to Austrian conductor and musician Nikolaus Harnoncourt.
Mr. Heilmeier earned his doctorate in electrical engineering from Princeton in 1962. He was recognized by the foundation for his groundbreaking research in the field of liquid crystals while working for RCA Laboratories.