About the Award
Established by the NAS Council in October 2008 by combining two awards: The Charles Doolittle Walcott Medal established by a gift of Mrs. Mary Vaux Walcott in memory of her husband, Charles Doolittle Walcott, and the Stanley Miller Medal established through a bequest from NAS member Stanley Miller. The award rotates presentation between the Charles Doolittle Walcott Medal for research on Cambrian or pre-Cambrian life, and the Stanley Miller Medal which recognizes research on Earth’s early development as a planet, including prebiotic chemistry and the origin of life; planetary accretion, differentiation, and tectonics; and early evolution of the atmosphere and oceans. Each medal is presented with a $10,000 prize.
John D. Sutherland, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, will receive the 2025 NAS Award in Early Earth and Life Studies – Stanley Miller Medal.
Sutherland’s pioneering work on prebiotic chemical pathways and geochemical scenarios provides fresh insight into the synthesis of the building blocks of biology on the early Earth.
Sutherland studies the syntheses of the informational, catalytic and compartment-forming molecules necessary for the emergence of life. His research has uncovered a plausible solution to the central problem of prebiotic nucleotide synthesis.
Sutherland’s lab explores similar ‘systems chemistry’ approaches to the purine ribonucleotides, and ways of assembling RNA from these ribonucleotides with regiocontrol of the internucleotide phosphodiester linkage. He is also interested in improving our understanding of the chemical origins of genetically encoded translation, and the abiogenesis of lipids.
Sutherland will be honored in a ceremony on Sunday, April 27 during the National Academy of Sciences’ 162nd annual meeting. The ceremony will be livestreamed.
Mary L. Droser, University of California, Riverside, received the 2022 NAS Award in Early Earth and Life Sciences – Charles Doolittle Walcott Medal.
Droser is known for her pioneering discoveries and insights on Ediacaran-Paleozoic life that have transformed our understanding of early animals, their communities, and their environments.
Her research has had a profound impact on our understanding of the earliest animal-dominated marine communities through her sustained focus on the role of bioturbation and microbial interactions, and her long-term project excavating, studying, documenting, and preserving Ediacaran fossil beds in South Australia.
Droser has introduced innovative and rigorous field methods to illuminate the fossil record of organism-environment interactions of the Ediacaran, Cambrian, and Ordovician faunas.
Droser’s impact on the people in her field is as important as her research activities. Throughout her career she has served as a mentor to generations of paleontologists and is a public voice for science.
Award History
Charles Doolittle Walcott Medal History
The Charles Doolittle Walcott Medal is presented to encourage and reward individual achievement in advancing our knowledge of Cambrian or pre-Cambrian life and its history in any part of the world.
Stanley Miller Medal History
The Stanley Miller Medal was established upon bequest of Stanley L. Miller in 2007. Miller is best known for his groundbreaking work in the Miller-Urey Experiment. In the experiment, Miller combined gasses believed to be present in the early Earth’s atmosphere into a closed environment. To simulate the electrical charges emitted by lighting during Earth’s youth, Miller pumped a continuous electrical current through the gasses. After one week of emitting the electrical current, 10-15% of the carbon contained in the simulated atmosphere formed into organic compounds and 2% of the compounds formed into amino acids, clearly demonstrating the ability of organic compounds to form under Earth’s early atmospheric conditions. While criticisms now exist as to how accurately Miller’s experiment emulated Earth’s early atmospheric conditions, Miller’s findings still provide invaluable insight into the formation of essential organic compounds.
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