MacArthur Winners Honored for Their Passion

Shawn Carlson, a physicist and stay-at-home dad, was spooning food into his baby’s mouth last week when the phone rang in his San Diego apartment. He answered and learned he had won a 1999 MacArthur Fellowship--$290,000 and five years of free health insurance, with no strings attached.

When his wife got home they rushed out to buy the double stroller they’ve been wanting but couldn’t afford. They are expecting their second child in six weeks and their income last year was $12,000.

The prestigious MacArthur Fellowships, popularly known as “the genius awards,” celebrate that amorphous human quality called creativity. The awards are given each year to individuals in any field whose work the foundation believes will lead to “finding something new--or to connecting the seemingly unconnected.”

Carlson, 39, one of two Southern California winners, was selected for his groundbreaking work as founder and executive director of the Society for Amateur Scientists.

Carlson, who has a PhD in nuclear physics from UCLA, said he started the society because “amateur scientists have made incredible, original contributions to scientific knowledge all throughout history.” But in the 20th century, he said, most amateurs get no resources or credibility from the credentialed scientific community.

Nominations for fellows are sent to the foundation’s Chicago offices, where the Board of Directors selects in secret. Winners receive a phone call that says, in essence: “We’ve heard about you, we admire what you’re doing, and here’s some money to help you keep doing it.” The premise, says foundation spokesman Ted Hearne, is that creative people should be free to pay bills, buy strollers and do whatever they need to keep creating. The hoped-for end result is that many humans will eventually benefit from the work done by the world’s relatively few innovators.

The other local winner, Saul Friedlander, 66, is a professor of history at UCLA. He received a $375,000 grant for work that enhances understanding of the nature and meaning of the Holocaust.” (See story above.)

Other winners include:

* Jillian Banfield, 39, assistant professor of geology and chemistry, Madison, Wis.; $255,000.

* Carolyn Bertozzi, 32, assistant professor of chemistry, Berkeley; $255,000.

* Bruce Blair, 51, foreign policy analyst, Brookings Institute, Washington, D.C.; $350,000.

* John Bonifaz, 33, executive director, National Voting Rights Institute, Boston; $260,000.

* Mark Danner, 40, independent journalist, visiting professor, UC Berkeley; $295,000.

* Alison Des Forges, 57, independent writer, consultant, Human Rights Watch / Africa, Buffalo N.Y.; $375,000.

* Elizabeth Diller, 45, and Ricardo Scofidio, 64, architects, New York City; $375,000.

* Jennifer Gordon, 33, lawyer and community organizer, Brooklyn, N.Y.; $260,000.

* David M. Hillis, 40, professor of zoology, University of Texas, Austin, Texas; $295,000.

* Sara Horowitz, 36, executive director, Working Today, New York City; $275,000.

* Jacqueline Jones, 51, professor of American civilization, Brandeis University, Wellesley, Mass.; $350,000.

* Laura Kiessling, 38, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis.; $285,000.

* Leslie V. Kurke, 39, associate professor of classics and comparative literature, UC Berkeley; $290,000.

* David Levering Lewis, 63, professor of history, Rutgers University, New York City; $375,000.

* Juan Martin Maldacena, 30, associate professor of physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.; $245,000.

* Gay McDougall, 51, executive director, International Human Rights Law Group, Washington, D.C.; $350,000.

* Campbell McGrath, 37, associate professor of creative writing, Florida International University, Miami Beach, Fla.; $280,000.

* Dennis Albert Moore, 54, anthropological linguist, Belem-Para, Brazil; $365,000.

* Elizabeth Murray, 58, independent artist, professor of studio arts, Bard College, New York City; $375,000.

* Pepon Osorio, 44, independent artist, New York City; $315,000.

* Peter Shor, 39, senior member of the research staff, AT&T; Labs Research, Florham Park, N.J.; $290,000.

* Eva Silverstein, 28, assistant professor of physics, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Stanford; $235,000.

* Wilma Subra, 55, independent public interest scientist, New Iberia, La.; $370,000.

* Ken Vandermark, 34, independent musician, Chicago, Ill.; $265,000.

* Naomi Wallace, 38, independent playwright, Otterburn, England and Prospect, Ky.; $285,000.

* Jeffrey Weeks, 42, independent mathematician, Canton, N.Y.; $305,000.

* Fred Wilson, 44, independent artist, curator, New York City; $315,000.

* Xu Bing, 44, independent artist, New York City; $315,000.

* Ofelia Zepeda, 45, professor of linguistics, University of Arizona; $320,000.