AAAS Science Journalism Awards

2004 RECIPIENT: Online

Carl Zimmer
Corante.com
"Hamilton's Fall"
"Why The Cousins are Gone"
"My Darwinian Daughters"
www.corante.com/loom/archives/000907.html
www.corante.com/loom/archives/001014.html
www.corante.com/loom/archives/001866.html
18 December 2003, 30 December 2003, 12 February 2004

Zimmer's three-part series impressed the panel of judges because he provided a microcosm of the world that leads the public to question assumptions.

"He explains everyday phenomenon with a wonderful coinage of phrase," said Gary Stix of the Scientific American. "Zimmer was able to take the science and then communicate it in a strong voice."

Paul Guinnessy of Physics Today said, "This is the closest thing to Stephen Jay Gould I've read in ages."

"All of the articles are very well-written without being pretentious," said Stix. "I give Zimmer credit for finding topics that aren't written about everyday."

The New York Times Book Review calls Carl Zimmer "as fine a science essayist as we have." His first book, At the Water's Edge (1999) followed scientists as they tackled two intriguing evolutionary puzzles: how fish walked ashore, and how whales returned to the sea. It was followed in 2000 by Parasite Rex, a book that explores the bizarre world of nature's most successful life forms. In 2001 he published Evolution: The Triumph of An Idea, the companion volume to a PBS television series. It was named one of the best science books of the year by both Discover and New Scientist. From 1994 to 1999 Zimmer was a senior editor at Discover. He currently writes for magazines including The New York Times Magazine, National Geographic, Science, Newsweek, and Natural History.

He is the recipient of several journalism prizes, including the Pan-American Health Organization Award for Excellence in International Health Reporting, the American Institute Biological Sciences Media Award, and the Everett Clark Award for science writing. In 2002 he was named a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellow.