Steven Strogatz wins Lewis Thomas science writing prize

Steven Strogatz
Strogatz

Steven Strogatz, the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor of Applied Mathematics, has won the Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing About Science. He will be honored at a March 30 reception at Rockefeller University.

A renowned teacher and highly cited mathematician, Strogatz has blogged about math for The New York Times and is a frequent guest on the National Public Radio show “Radiolab.” He is the author of “Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos,” “The Calculus of Friendship,” "Sync" and “The Joy of x.” His many professional honors include the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s Public Engagement with Science Award, and membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

The Lewis Thomas Prize honors “scientists as poets,” whose “voice and vision can tell us about science’s aesthetic and philosophical dimensions, providing not merely new information, but cause for reflection, even revelation.”

“Part of what I find exciting about Steve winning this award is that it so powerfully illustrates the theme and mission of our college – that crossing the range from art to science sparks innovation and discovery,” said Gretchen Ritter, the Harold Tanner Dean of Arts and Sciences.

Other Cornell winners of the Lewis Thomas Prize include: the late Thomas Eisner, a chemical ecologist and professor emeritus; physicist Freeman Dyson, professor emeritus; physicist Steven Weinberg ’54; and author and neurologist Oliver Sacks, an A.D. White Professor-at-Large.

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