25 MacArthur Fellows Announced by the MacArthur Foundation Today

Recipients this year include:

• a molecular biologist reconstructing the emergence of multicellular organisms from unicellular life (Nicole King)
• a sculptor integrating architecture and the optical effects of color and light into exquisitely constructed, contemplative spaces (Teresita Fernández)
• a pharmacist reducing preventable drug and drug delivery errors in the healthcare industry (Michael Cohen)
• a laser physicist engineering state-of-the-art lasers for novel and important applications in such fields as environmental monitoring, medicine, industry, and communications (Claire Gmachl)
• a conservation biologist protecting endangered, diverse and previously unknown plants and animals of Madagascar (Steven Goodman)
• a violinmaker producing new and world-class instruments for the twenty-first century (Joseph Curtin)
• a clinician/researcher translating findings on the molecular genetics of breast cancer in African and African-American women into innovative clinical practices in the United States and abroad (Olufunmilayo Olopade)
• a rare book preservationist raising the profile of the book as one of humankind’s greatest inventions (Terry Belanger)
• a photographer using the personalizing power of portraiture to bring the faces of the world’s displaced into focus (Fazel Sheikh)
• a fisherman fusing the roles of applied scientist and lobsterman to respond to increasing threats to the fishery ecosystem (Ted Ames)

An overview of the 2005 Winners is here.