The Center for Science Writings

At Stevens, the science/engineering school where I’ve been teaching the last year or so, I’m trying to raise awareness of environmental issues among students and faculty. With that in mind, I just created the Stevens Center for Science Writings “Green Book Award.” I’m thrilled to announce that Edward O. Wilson, one of our era’s greatest and most eloquent scientists, will receive the first Green Book Award for his new book The Creation.

Wilson will receive the award and talk about conservation, science and religion on May 9 in a public event at Stevens, open to one and all. Please pass around the following press release. Oh, and by the way, I’m looking for a permanent sponsor for this award.

Stevens’ Center for Science Writings honorsEdward O. Wilson with Green Book AwardWilson selected for The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth

HOBOKEN, N.J. — Edward O. Wilson, Pellegrino University Research Professor, Emeritus, at Harvard University, is the recipient of the first Green Book Award from Stevens Institute of Technology’s Center for Science Writings. John Horgan, Director of the Center for Science Writings, created the Green Book Award to draw attention to books that raise awareness of environmental issues.

Wilson, whom the London Times recently called “one of the greatest men alive,” was selected for his book, The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth. Written as a letter from Wilson to a Christian pastor, The Creation argues that secular scientists and people of faith can find common ground in the cause of conserving nature.

Horgan will present the award to Wilson, which includes an honorarium of $5,000, during an event in the Howe Center’s Bissinger Room on May 9, 2007, at 4 p.m. After the award ceremony, Wilson will discuss conservation, the relationship between science and religion, and other issues in a conversation with Horgan.

Wilson, both an author and co-author of 20 books, has received many prizes for his writings, including two Pulitzers (for The Ants, co-written with Bert Holldobler, and On Human Nature). He has also won the National Medal of Science and the Crafoord Prize, the equivalent of a Nobel Prize for ecology.

This event is free and open to the public. For more information on the Green Book Award, contact John Horgan, Director of the Center for Science Writings, at jhorgan@stevens.edu, or check the Center’s website www.stevens.edu/csw.