2020 Recipient

The 2020 award was given to Erin Kimmerle, a forensic anthropologist who worked to account for dozens of children buried at a notorious Florida reform school.

Past Recipients

2019

Sarath Gunatilake and Channa Jayasumana were recognized for their work investigating a possible connection between glyphosate and chronic kidney disease that occurred under challenging circumstances.

2018

Marc Edwards is recognized for his efforts to apply his engineering expertise to revealing dangerous levels of lead contamination in water supplies in Flint, Michigan.

2017

Award years adjusted; see 2018.

2016

Kurt Gottfried is honored for his long and distinguished career as a ‘civic scientist,’ through his advocacy for arms control, human rights, and integrity in the use of science in public policy making.”

2015

Jean Maria Arrigo is honored for her courage in speaking against the American Psychological Association’s approval of its members’ participation in “enhanced interrogation techniques”

2014

Omid Kokabee is recognized for his steadfast courage in defending scientific freedom by refusing to participate in weapons-related research in Iran.

2013

Hoosen Coovadia is recognized for his lifelong devotion to children’s health and for defending, in the face of opposition from his government, the use of sound science in the development of policies addressing the treatment and prevention of HIV/ AIDS.

2012

Kiyoshi Kurokawa is honored for his contribution to society by his remarkable stewardship of an independent investigation into the causes of the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe.

2011

Drs. Jentsch, London, and Ringach are recognized for their determination to defend the value of the use of animals in research and to ensure that extremists trying to prevent animal studies will not prevail.

2010

Elizabeth Loftus is honored for the profound impact that her pioneering research on human memory has had on the administration of justice in the United States and abroad.

2009

Nancy Olivieri is honored for her indefatigable determination that patient safety and research integrity come before institutional and commercial interests and for her courage in defending these principles in the face of severe consequences.

2008

Drummond Rennie is honored for his career-long efforts to promote integrity in scientific research and publishing.

2007

James Hansen is honored for his courageous and steadfast advocacy in support of scientists’ responsibilities to communicate their scientific opinions and findings openly and honestly on matters of public importance.

2006

Eugenie Scott, the Dover High School Science Department, and R. Wesley McCoy: These dedicated individuals are honored for their determination to defend sound education in U.S. public schools by vigorously challenging attempts to introduce intelligent design into science classes.

2005

Dr. David Michaels is this year’s recipient of the AAAS Award for Scientific Freedom and Responsibility. He is recognized for his commitment to obtain justice for workers whose health suffered from working in nuclear weapons programs, and for advocating scientific integrity in public policy making.

2004

The Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee (RAC) of the National Institutes of Health, for steadfast commitment to academic freedom in the face of mounting social and political pressure.

2003

Walter Reich, for his longstanding devotion to human rights issues, particularly his role in making known the abuses of psychiatry in the Soviet Union and spearheading an international effort to condemn such practices.

2002

L. Dennis Smith, for his steadfast commitment to academic freedom in the face of mounting social and political pressure.

2001

No Award Given.

2000

Howard K. Schachman, for his advocacy of scientific freedom and the responsible conduct of research.

1999

Aleksandr Nikitin, in recognition of his outstanding efforts to protect the environment and human health by documenting the dangerous nuclear waste management practices in post-Soviet Russia.

1998

Joel L. Lebowitz, for his tireless devotion to the rights of scientists in oppressive regimes throughout the world and his extraordinary creativity in finding ways to help these scientists survive their ordeals.

1997

JoAnn Burkholder, in recognition of her dedicated and untiring efforts to focus public attention on the potential negative impacts of the microorganism Pfisteria piscicida on the marine environment.

1996

Salim Kheirbek, for his steadfast courage and uncompromising commitment, at great personal sacrifice and risk, to promote and defend the rights of Syrian citizens, particularly the right of scientists and engineers to form professional societies independent of the state.

For a complete listing of past AAAS Award for Scientific Freedom and Responsibility recipients, please see the Archives.

For More Information

AAAS Office of Science, Policy and Society Programs

Attn: Deborah Runkle

American Association for the Advancement of Science

1200 New York Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20005

Phone: 202-326-6794

Fax: 202-289-4950

E-mail: drunkle@aaas.org