Krauss, Lane Win AAAS Awards

Lawrence Krauss (left); Neal Lane (right).

APS Fellows Lawrence Krauss and Neal Lane received awards at the American Association for the Advancement of Science's February meeting in Washington, D.C. Krauss, an astrophysicist, is the chair and Ambrose Swasey Professor of Physics at Case Western Reserve University.

Lane is the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Krauss, author of the best-selling book, The Physics of Star Trek, received the 1999-2000 AAAS Public Understanding of Science and Technology Award. Established in 1987, the award honors those who improve communication between the scientific community and the public.

In addition to The Physics of Star Trek, Krauss is the author of The Fifth Essence, The Search for Dark Matter in the Universe, Fear of Physics, and Beyond Star Trek. He has a book under way called Genesis: The Lives of an Atom, which will be a companion to a five-part PBS series. Krauss says his quest is to remove "the nonsense and non-science" from the public science debate. Since 1996, he has given more than 300 lectures and media interviews, and is a frequent contributor to the op-ed pages of the New York Times. In October he made public appearances in Kansas in an effort to counter the creationism movement in the state's public school system. He said he believes it is important for scientists to talk to the public about these issues.

Lane, who served as Director of the National Science Foundation before becoming Presidential science advisor, received the AAAS Philip Hauge Abelson Prize, "for his performance as an exceptional public servant, a distinguished scientist and educator, and for his unstinting service to the scientific community."