Museum of Science, Boston

Special Program [Return to listing page]

Join the Museum community in honoring this year's Walker Prize recipient, James J. McCarthy, PhD, Alexander Agassiz Professor of Biological Oceanography at Harvard University. Recognized as one of the world's leading experts on global climate change, McCarthy has served on numerous international committees and panels assessing the impact of climate change. One of the Museum's most prestigious awards, the Walker Prize recognizes "meritorious published scientific investigation and discovery" in any scientific field.

>6:15 p.m. Event registration in the Museum lobby

>7:00 p.m. Award presentation and Climate Change: Facts and Uncertainties lecture

>8:00 p.m. Dessert reception

Tickets are $25 per person. Complimentary parking is provided and dress is business casual. For more information, please call 617-589-0185 or email rsvp@mos.org. Tickets may be purchased online by following the link above. Ticket holders also each receive an Exhibit Halls pass to come back and see Double Exposure: Photographing Global Climate Change, on exhibit through June 22. Passes will be available at registration the day of the event.

The Walker Prize

In 1864 William Johnson Walker, MD, one of the most eminent surgeons of his era, established a special award at the Boston Society of Natural History, the founding organization of the Museum of Science. The award, known as the Walker Prize, recognizes "meritorious published scientific investigation and discovery" in any scientific field.

The 2008 Recipient

James J. McCarthy, PhD, is well known in international circles as one of the co-chairs of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). In addition he has served as a lead author of the 2005 Arctic Climate Impact Assessment and as vice-chair of the 2007 Northeast Climate Impacts Assessment. Dr. McCarthy's extensive research on global regions that are strongly affected by seasonal and inter-annual variation in climate has helped shape world awareness of environmental issues.

Dr. McCarthy is the Alexander Agassiz Professor of Biological Oceanography at Harvard University and served as the director of Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology from 1982 to 2002. After receiving his undergraduate degree in biology from Gonzaga University in Spokane, Dr. McCarthy earned his PhD from Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego.

Dr. McCarthy is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and the president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The Museum's Green Initiative

In our decision-making, our educational products and services, and in all we do, the Museum of Science strives to be a leader in using science to understand and consider the consequences of human actions on the Earth's ability to sustain and nurture life, and to use that understanding to guide our endeavors.

Related Links:

Harvard Medical School, Center for Health and the Global Environment
Double Exposure: Photographing Global Climate Change Exhibit