Press Release: Seth Shostak wins 2015 Carl Sagan Prize for Science Popularization
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, Nov. 25, 2015 — Wonderfest, the 18-year-old Bay Area Beacon of Science, announced today that astronomer Seth Shostak has won the 2015 Carl Sagan Prize for Science Popularization, funded by Google (http://wonderfest.org/sagan-prize/).
Wonderfest’s Sagan Prize, which includes a $5000 cash award, is presented specifically to recognize and encourage researchers who “have contributed mightily to the public understanding and appreciation of science.” Past Sagan Prize winners include Stanford neuroscientist Robert Sapolsky, UC Berkeley astronomer Alex Filippenko, and Nobel Laureate biochemist Paul Berg.
Shostak is Senior Astronomer and Director of the Center for SETI Research, a division of The SETI Institute, in Mountain View, CA. (SETI is the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.) He holds a PhD in astrophysics from the California Institute of Technology.
Shostak has authored or co-authored a college textbook on astrobiology, four popular books on SETI, and 400 popular science articles. He has appeared on numerous television documentaries including Horizon, Naked Science, and The Universe. Shostak has also appeared on The Colbert Report, and he has received the Klumpke-Roberts Award of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific for his “outstanding contributions to the public understanding and appreciation of astronomy.” Shostak presents many dozens of public science talks annually, and he is the host of the SETI Institute’s weekly science radio show, “Big Picture Science.”
Tucker Hiatt Executive Director Wonderfest 47 Alta Way Corte Madera CA 94925 Phone: 415-577-1126 Email: tucker@wonderfest.org