U.S. Honors Caltech Chief, UCLA Professor
LOS ANGELES — The president of Caltech and a renowned UCLA physiology professor were among the 17 recipients of the 1999 National Medals of Science and Technology, the White House announced Monday.
Caltech President David Baltimore, a biology professor who shared the 1975 Nobel Prize in medicine, was honored for “far-reaching, fundamental discoveries†in virology, molecular biology and immunology, the White House said.
The discoveries, a Caltech spokesman added, helped lead to a better understanding of how retroviruses reproduce. That, in turn, has led to a better understanding of cancer and AIDS, which is a retrovirus, the spokesman said.
Jared Diamond, of the UCLA School of Medicine, was named for his ability to communicate science to the public and for his application of Darwinian evolutionary approaches to physiology, ecology, conservation biology and human history.
Diamond won a 1998 Pulitzer Prize for his book “Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies.â€
President Clinton will present the awards, the nation’s highest for science and technology, at the White House in March.
“We honor these exceptional U.S. scientists and engineers for their achievements, contributions and innovations that have sustained U.S. leadership across the frontiers of scientific and technological knowledge,†Clinton said.
The National Medal of Science, established by Congress in 1959, has been awarded to 374 scientists and engineers, including this year’s recipients. The National Medal of Technology, created by Congress in 1980 to honor innovation in technology and global competitiveness, has gone to 110 individuals and 11 companies.
