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Two activists who have long fought for the rights of scientists-especially in the Middle East-received the 2005 Heinz R. Pagels Human Rights of Scientists Award at the Academy's 187th Business Meeting held on September 29. The Pagels prize is awarded yearly in recognition of services on behalf of the human rights of scientists.
Zafra Lerman, distinguished professor of Science and Public Policy and head of the Institute for Science Education and Science Communication at Columbia College Chicago, was chair of the Subcommittee on Scientific Freedom and Human Rights of the American Chemical Society's Committee on International Activities for more than 15 years. Despite threats to her safety, she has worked tirelessly to publicize the plight of dissident scientists in China, Belarus, Cuba, the Middle East and Russia. In 2003, she worked with the Israel Academy of Science to allow nine Palestinian scientists to attend a conference in Malta.
Herman Winick, assistant director and professor emeritus of the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory at Stanford University, has been a human rights advocate for more than 25 years. In the 1990s, he supported the Human Rights activities of the American Physical Society (APS) as a member and as the Chair of the APS Committee on International Freedom of Scientists. He also created a new synchrotron research facility in the Middle East (the SESAME project), that involved scientists from Egypt, The Palestinian Authority, Israel, Syria, and others. For the past three years he has worked on behalf of an Iranian dissident physicist, Professor Hadizadeh, who has been imprisoned for his pro-democracy activities.
New Fellows and Honorary Life Governors
Torsten Wiesel, Chairman, Board of Governors, presented the Report of the Tellers and the Election of Governors, who have been elected to serve for three years: Frank Douglas, Brain Ferguson, Gerald D. Fischbach, Maria C. Freire, Maren Imhoff, Madeleine Jacobs, Abraham M. Lackman, Paul Marks, Bruce McEwen, Ronay Menschel, Stelios Papadopoulous, Jeffrey D. Sachs, and Deborah Wiley.
Afterwards, Bruce McEwen, Alfred E. Mirsky Professor of Neuroendocrinology at Rockefeller University, announced the names of 12 new Fellows: M. Flint Beal, Andrea Califano, Ronald Dahl, Titia de Lange, Lloyd Guth, Joseph LeDoux, David Perlin, Carol Shoshkes-Reiss, Saw-Teen See, Shirley Tilghman, Thomas Tuschl, and George Yancopoulous. Citing the Academy's global reach, McEwen praised the Academy's ability to influence events "not only in New York also around the world."
Honorary Life Memberships were presented to geneticist Matthew Meselson and cancer researcher Judah Folkman.
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