1971

Frederick Gardner Cottrell Award for Environmental Quality was established.

In 1971, Research Corporation established the Frederick Gardner Cottrell Award for Environmental Quality at the National Academy of Science, to be administered by the Academy.

The NAS website describes the award as: “Given for outstanding contributions based in science or technology to improve the quality of the environment or in the control of its pollution by man. Established in 1971 by the Research Corporation in honor of Frederick Gardner Cottrell, those selected received an award and a $5,000 honorarium.”

The awards were discontinued in 1980.

Recipients included:

Arie J. Haagen-Smit of CalTech for his “highly innovative studies on the formation of smog and his untiring efforts to shape the air pollution control policies of the nation”(1972);

W. T. Edmondson, “University of Washington limnologist whose studies of the pollution of Lake Washington provided the scientific basis for its rehabilitation” (1973);

G. Evelyn Hutchinson, retired professor of zoology at Yale, for “his scientific contributions to limnology and ecology and especially for his continuing public advocacy, for a period of over 30 years, of the desperate need for man to understand, preserve and protect the environment in which he lives” (1974);

John T. Middleton, one of the first scientists to document the harmful effects of air pollution on crops and forests, for his “scientific achievements which revealed the significance of air pollution, and his consultative and administrative efforts to effect its control” (1975);

David M. Evans, an engineering geologist who produced a landmark study that established the cause of Denver-area earthquakes and who documented the dangers of pumping wastes underground (1976);

Miron L. Heinselman, forest ecologist at University of Minnesota, for “his contributions in clarifying the natural role of wildfire in virgin conifer stands” (1977);

Alexander Hollaender, physical chemist known for his research on the effects of ultraviolet and ionizing radiation on living organisms (1979);

and Gilbert F. White, geographer, for his work on natural hazards, particularly flooding, and the importance of sound water management in contemporary society (1980).