The 2010 International Cosmos Prize was awarded to botanist Dr. Estella Leopold of the University of Washington. The contents of the prize included a medallion and a monetary prize of approximately $500,000.
For more than 35 years, Dr. Leopold has been researching and teaching at the University of Washington’s biology department. As a palynologist and wilderness advocate, her most notable accomplishment is the advancing of her father’s (Aldo Leopold) work on the notion of Land Ethic. Land Ethic refers to the belief that individuals are responsible for the health surrounding environment. The execution of the Land Ethic in the United States as well as the universal implication to the environment led to her award.
The annual award was announced by the Japan’s Expo’ 90 Foundation in Osaka. The foundation seeks to promote the “harmonious coexistence between nature and mankind”.
