Charles Doolittle Walcott Medal is an award presented by the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

every five years to promote research and study in the fields of

Precambrian The Precambrian (or Pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pꞒ, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of the ...

and

Cambrian The Cambrian Period ( ; sometimes symbolized C with bar, Ꞓ) was the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 53.4 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran Period 538.8 million ...

life and history. The medal was established and endowed in 1934 by the Walcott Fund, a gift of

Mary Vaux Walcott Mary Morris Vaux Walcott (July 31, 1860 – August 22, 1940) was an American artist and naturalist known for her watercolor paintings of wildflowers. She has been called the "Audubon of Botany." Life Vaux was born in Philadelphia, Pennsyl ...

, in honor of

paleontologist Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

Charles Doolittle Walcott Charles Doolittle Walcott (March 31, 1850February 9, 1927) was an American paleontologist, administrator of the Smithsonian Institution from 1907 to 1927, and director of the United States Geological Survey.Wonderful Life (book) by Stephen Jay G ...

(1850-1927). The medal was sculpted by

Laura Gardin Fraser Laura may refer to: People * Laura (given name) * Laura, the British code name for the World War I Belgian spy Marthe Cnockaert Places Australia * Laura, Queensland, a town on the Cape York Peninsula * Laura, South Australia * Laura Bay, a bay on ...

. Since 2008 the award has been linked to the

Stanley Miller Medal The Stanley Miller Medal is an award to be presented by the National Academy of Sciences every five years to promote research and study in the fields of "research on Earth's early development as a planet, including prebiotic chemistry and the origi ...

and the two medals are now presented alternately, known collectively as the NAS Award in Early Earth and Life Sciences. Each medal is supplemented by a $10,000 award.

Medalists

Source
NAS

References

{{National Academy of Sciences, state=collapsed Awards established in 1934 Awards of the United States National Academy of Sciences Paleontology awards 1934 establishments in the United States

Medalists

See also

References