Posted on September 24, 2008  Comments (1)

MacArthur Fellows receive $500,000 is support over 5 years with no strings attached. Unfortunately for me, I was passed over again. However, 25 people have been selected including

Kirsten Bomblies, Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, Tubingen, Germany. Plant Evolutionary Geneticist opening avenues into the mysteries of how new species originate through her explorations of incompatible hybrids as a mechanism for speciation in shared ecological niches.

Marin Soljacic, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Optical Physicist demonstrating both theoretically and experimentally that power can be transmitted wirelessly, potentially leading to a range of electrical devices that can operate without batteries or wall connections.

Rachel Wilson, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts. Experimental Neurobiologist integrating electrophysiology, neuropharmacology, molecular genetics, and anatomy to measure the activity of neurons in the diminutive brain of the fruit fly.

Andrea Ghez, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California. Astrophysicist using novel, ground-based telescopic techniques to identify thousands of new star systems and illuminate the role of super-massive black holes in the evolution of galaxies.

Photos, from the MacArthur Foundation web site left to right Kirsten Bomblies, Marin Soljacic, Rachel Wilson and Andrea Ghez.

Related: 2006 MacArthur Fellows – Wireless Power – 2008 Draper Prize for Engineering – 2005-6 National Science and Technology Medals