Canadian Biologist wins Herzberg Medal, 1 million dollars.

A Nova Scotian biologist has made the news and given the entire field of study a reason to fist pump. W. Ford Doolittle has won the 1 million dollar Herzberg Medal. This medal is awarded to researchers that have substantially advanced science or engineering as well as a sustained excellence and influence on their field of study.

W. Ford Doolittle was known for some of his controversial ideas which included a critique of the nominally untouchable Charles Darwin. Doolittle believed that Darwin’s evolutionary view was too simple and did not account for two thirds of the life that has lived on Earth. Doolittle came to this conclusion after utilizing many of the research fields that worked with bacteria and genealogy.

Doolittle first put this idea out in the journal Science, back in 1999, and he immediately faced a heavy whiplash of criticism. Not all was lost for Doolittle, obviously, as his idea was able to gain ground over the years. His idea attracted some of the top minds in the world and it eventually made its way back to the people behind the Herzberg Medal. Ford Doolittle is a professor of biochemistry and microbiology at the prestigious Dalhouse University

on the web

N.S. biologist W. Ford Doolittle wins $1M Herzberg Medal
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/n-s-biologist-w-ford-doolittle-wins-1m-herzberg-medal-1.2521326