An Irish man who moved to Australia and became one of the world’s leading coral researchers and a Germany-based American who realised her career as a naturopath was based on nonsense have been honoured for “standing up for science”.
But the global feel to this year’s Maddox Prize highlights a worrying issue, according to those who judged the 136 nominations from 36 countries: the spread of anti-science feeling.
Now in its seventh year, the prize is run by the UK’s Sense about Science charity and the journal Nature, whose former editor John Maddox it is named after. The prize aims to honour those who champion science in the face of adversity.