Molecular biologist receives Stephen Jay Gould Prize

Sean Carroll, a University of Wisconsin–Madison molecular biologist and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, has been named the recipient of the 2010 Stephen Jay Gould Prize, an award given in recognition of exemplary efforts to advance public understanding of evolutionary science.

A distinguished researcher whose work lies at the intersection of the disciplines of development and evolution, Carroll is also one of science’s most colorful and prolific raconteurs. He is the author of six books, including “The Making of the Fittest” and, most recently, “Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origin of Species,” which was a finalist for the 2009 National Book Award in nonfiction.

Carroll has also served as a consulting producer for NOVA and has appeared in numerous programs on PBS, the BBC, National Public Radio, the Discovery Channel and many others.

“These efforts have made him a leading spokesperson in the public sphere for evolutionary biology,” according to a statement from the Society for the Study of Evolution, the group that annually confers the award to individuals who advance “public understanding of evolutionary science and its importance in biology, education and everyday life in the spirit of Stephen Jay Gould.”