Call for Nominations
2009 Bower Award and Prize for Achievement in Science
Eligibility and Selection Process
Nomination Information:
Theme: The Cosmos
Prize: $250,000 USD
Deadlines:
Complete Nomination: May 31, 2008
The Franklin Institute seeks nominations for the 2009 Bower Award and Prize for Achievement in Science of theorists, observers, and experimental technique developers who have made significant contributions to our study of the cosmos by advancing our knowledge of such areas as:
- Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation
- Standard Candles
- Sky Maps
- Gravitational Lensing
- Early Universe
- Galactic Rotation Curves
- Supermassive Black Holes
- Dark Energy & Dark Matter
- Background information on "The Cosmos"
Eligibility:
- This is an international competition primarily intended for individuals whose work has had a significant impact of the field of cosmology, but contributors to other fields of astronomy and astrophysics will NOT be excluded from consideration.
- The award is for an individual rather than for a group. If the recommended individual is part of a group whose joint work is selected for the award, he or she must be recognized as the group's leading scientist.
- Candidates for the award must be living, and the winner must participate in the April 2009 Awards Ceremony in Philadelphia.
The Bower Award and Prize for Science Achievement was established in 1990 through a $7.5 million bequest from Philadelphia chemical manufacturer and philanthropist Henry Bower (1896-1988). The award, with its gold medal and cash prize of $250,000, is presented annually to a distinguished member of the international scientific community for work in a prescribed discipline that changes each year.
The Bower Award and Prize for Achievement in Science and the Bower Award in Business Leadership are the newest in The Franklin Institute's long history of recognizing and encouraging achievement in science, technology, and leadership. Through The Franklin Institute Awards, which today includes the Benjamin Franklin Medals and the Bower Awards, the Institute has honored over 2,000 luminaries since 1925, representing the greatest minds of the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. The roster of The Franklin Institute laureates reads like a Who's Who of the history of science and invention, including such titans as Rudolph Diesel, Enrico Fermi, Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, Alan H. Guth, Elizabeth Blackburn, John N. Bahcall, Raymond Davis, Jr., Masatoshi Koshiba, Noam Chomsky, John Mather, and Jane Goodall.