Paul Nurse to receive Copley Medal

The Royal Society has chosen Rockefeller University President Paul Nurse to receive the prestigious Copley Medal, its premiere award. Nurse will be honored for his “contributions to cell biology in general and to the elucidation of the control of cell division.”

The Copley Medal is the Royal Society’s oldest medal, having been first awarded in 1731 to Stephen Gray. It is awarded annually for outstanding achievements in research in any branch of science and alternates between the physical sciences and the biological sciences. During its long history it has been awarded to such luminaries as Benjamin Franklin, Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein.

Nurse, who shared the 2001 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for the discovery of key regulators of the cell cycle, was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1989. He was the chair of the Society’s Science in Society Committee, which aims to gain public confidence in science, encourage dialogue between scientists and the public and ensure the public’s voice is heard in science policy making.

The medal will be presented at a ceremony in London on November 30.