Walker Prize
Honoring Excellence
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 founding organization of the Museum of Science. This special award was originally 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.
Recipients have included doctors, teachers, authors, public policy directors, inventors, entrepreneurs, and Nobel Prize-winning scientists. The awardee is presented with an honorarium and a seated dinner held at the Museum.
Walker Prize Recipients
2012
- Angela Belcher, PhD
- W.M. Keck Professor of Energy, Department of Materials Science & Engineering and Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2011
- Robert S. Langer, PhD
- David H. Koch Institute Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2010
- John P. Holdren, PhD
- 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
2008
- James J. McCarthy, PhD
- Alexander Agassiz Professor of Biological Oceanography, Harvard University Co-chair of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
2007
- Steve Wozniak
- Co-Founder, Apple Computer, Inc., Chief Technology Officer, Jazz Technologies, Inc
2006
- David G. Nathan, MD
- Physician, Researcher, President Emeritus, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
2004
- Bernard M. Gordon
- Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Analogic Corporation
2003
- Francis S. Collins, MD, PhD
- Director of National Human Genome Research Institute
2002
- Paul MacCready, PhD
- Aeronautical engineer, inventor
2001
- Phillip A. Sharp, PhD
- MIT Institute Professor and Director of the McGovern Institute for Brain Research
2000
- M. Judah Folkman, MD
- Surgeon, Researcher, Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School
1999
- Howard Gardner, PhD
- Psychologist, Neurologist, Director of Harvard University's Project Zero
1998
- Susan Love, MD
- Surgeon, Advocate for Patients with Breast Cancer
1997
- Paul C. Sereno, PhD
- Paleontologist, Professor of Organismal Biology at University of Chicago
1996
- Mario Molina, PhD
- Nobel Prize Winner, Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry at MIT
1995
- Robert Allen Weinberg, PhD
- Professor of Biochemistry at MIT, Whitehead Institute
1994
- Dudley R. Herschbach, PhD
- Nobel Prize Winner, Baird Professor of Science at Harvard University
1993
- Philip Morrison, PhD
- Institute Professor Emeritus of Physics at MIT
- Phylis Morrison
- Teacher, Author
1983
- Edward Mills Purcell, PhD
- Nobel Prize Winner, Gerhard Gade University Professor Emeritus at Harvard University
1981
- Gordon R. Willey, PhD
- Bowditch Professor of Central American and Mexican Archeology and Ethnology at Harvard University
1978
- Sherwood L. Washburn, PhD
- Professor, Department of Anthropology at University of California, Berkeley
1976
- Richard M. Eakin, PhD
- Department of Zoology at University of California, Berkeley
1973
- Alfred C. Redfield, PhD
- Natural History Scholar
1971
- Ernst Mayer, PhD
- Director, Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University
1970
- Irven DeVore, PhD
- Professor of Anthropology at Harvard University
1969
- Robert K. Selander, PhD
- Ornithologist and Professor of Zoology at University of Texas
1968
- Howard Ensign Evans, PhD
- Curator of Insects, Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University
1967
- Martin H. Moynihan, PhD
- Director, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama Canal Zone
