Golden Goose Award

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The Golden Goose Award is a United States award in recognition of scientists whose federally funded basic research has led to innovations or inventions with significant impact on humanity or society. Created by Congressman Jim Cooper of Tennessee in 2012, recipients receive the award in a ceremony during the fall each year on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. [1]

Contents

Background

Between 1975 and 1988, William Proxmire, a Democratic United States Senator for Wisconsin awarded the tongue-in-cheek Golden Fleece Awards to public officials for spending public money in ways he considered irresponsible or wasteful. These awards were often given to scientists working on seemingly obscure federally funded scientific studies causing ridicule and scrutiny of the usefulness of such research.

The Golden Goose Awards were established over two decades later in order to highlight the value of federally-funded basic research. With the Golden Goose Award, Cooper wanted to reverse the image created by Proxmire's award by highlighting examples of seemingly obscure studies that have led to major breakthroughs and resulted in significant societal impact. [2] [3] The award has bipartisan support in Congress, sponsored by multiple organizations and legislators.


Awardees

YearAward TitleProjectAwardees
2012Coralline Ceramics Bone Grafts from Coral Jon Weber, Eugene White, Rodney White, Della Roy
Green Fluorescent Protein Medical Advances from Jellyfish Osamu Shimomura, Martin Chalfie, Roger Tsien
The Maser The Maser Charles Townes
2013Diabetes Medication Diabetes Medication Developed from Gila Monster Venom John Eng
Thermus aquaticus Thermus aquaticus Thomas D. Brock, Hudson Freeze
Market DesignMarket Design Alvin E. Roth, David Gale, Lloyd Shapley
2014Black Holes and SupercomputingBlack Holes and Supercomputing Larry Smarr
Auction DesignAuction Design Preston McAfee, Paul Milgrom, Robert Wilson
Rat and Infant MassageRat Massage Research Helps Premature Babies Thrive Tiffany Field, Gary Evoniuk, Cynthia Kuhn, Saul Schanberg
2015Trick or Treat: The Marshmallow Test The Marshmallow Test Walter Mischel, Yuichi Shoda, Philip Peake
Out of Sight: Neuroplasticity and Vision Ocular Dominance Columns Torsten Wiesel, David Hubel
Of Maps and MenHypsographic Demography Joel E. Cohen, Christopher Small
2016A Tale of Two Studies: The Adolescent Health StoryThe National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health Peter Bearman, Barbara Entwisle, Kathleen Mullan Harris, Ronald Rindfuss, Richard Udry
The Sex Life of the Screw Worm Fly The Sex Life of the Screw Worm Fly Edward F. Knipling, Raymond C. Bushland
The Honey Bee AlgorithmThe Honey Bee AlgorithmJohn J. Bartholdi III, Sunil Nakrani, Thomas Dyer Seeley, Craig A. Tovey, John Hagood Vande Vate
2017The Sea Soy Solution [4] The Sea Soy SolutionKaichang Li
The Silence of the Frogs [5] The Silence of the Frogs Joyce Longcore, Elaine Lamirande, Don Nichols, Allan Pessier
Fuzzy Logic, Clear Impact [6] Fuzzy Logic, Clear Impact Lotfi A. Zadeh
2018The Goose Gland: Discoveries in Immunology [7] The Goose Gland: Discoveries in ImmunologyBruce Glick
Chickens, Cells and Cytokines [8] Chickens, Cells and CytokinesStanley Cohen
Implicit Bias, Explicit Science [9] Implicit Bias, Explicit Science Mahzarin Banaji, Anthony Greenwald, Brian Nosek
2019The Blood of the Horseshoe Crab [10] The Blood of the Horseshoe CrabJack Levin, Frederik Bang
Advancing Autoimmunity [11] Advancing Autoimmunity Noel Rose, Ernest Witebsky
The Frog Skin that saved 50 Million Lives [12] The Frog Skin that saved 50 Million Lives David B. Sachar
2020A Llama Named Winter [13] A Llama Named Winter Jason McLellan, Daniel Wrapp
The Human Immunome: Small Moves Become a Movement [14] The Human Immunome: Small Moves Become a Movement James E. Crowe
A Spike in Momentum [15] A Spike in Momentum Kizzmekia Corbett, Barney Graham, Emmie de Wit, and Vincent Munster


Founding organizations

Some of the twelve founding organizations for this award are the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the Association of American Universities (AAU), the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (A۰P۰L۰U), the Breakthrough Institute, the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI), and The Science Coalition (TSC) [3]

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References

  1. ↑ "History — The Golden Goose Award".
  2. ↑ "Golden Goose Award History".
  3. 1 2 "First Golden Goose Awards Given for Seemingly Odd—but High-Impact—Research". American Association for the Advancement of Science. September 14, 2012. Archived from the original on May 9, 2013. Retrieved 2012-09-07.
  4. ↑ "2017: The Sea Soy Solution — The Golden Goose Award". The Golden Goose Award.
  5. ↑ "2017: The Silence of the Frogs — The Golden Goose Award". The Golden Goose Award.
  6. ↑ "2017: Fuzzy Logic, Clear Impact — The Golden Goose Award". The Golden Goose Award.
  7. ↑ "2018: The Goose Gland: Discoveries in Immunology — The Golden Goose Award". The Golden Goose Award.
  8. ↑ "2018: Chickens, Cells and Cytokines — The Golden Goose Award". The Golden Goose Award.
  9. ↑ "2018: Implicit Bias, Explicit Science — The Golden Goose Award". The Golden Goose Award.
  10. ↑ "2019: The Blood of the Horseshoe Crab — The Golden Goose Award". The Golden Goose Award.
  11. ↑ "2019: Advancing Autoimmunity — The Golden Goose Award". The Golden Goose Award.
  12. ↑ "2019: The Frog Skin that Saved 50 Million Lives — The Golden Goose Award". The Golden Goose Award.
  13. ↑ Swenson, Haylie. "2020: A Llama Named Winter — The Golden Goose Award". The Golden Goose Award. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  14. ↑ Asbury, Meredith. "2020: The Human Immunome: Small Moves Become a Movement — The Golden Goose Award". The Golden Goose Award. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  15. ↑ Heath, Erin. "2020: A Spike in Momentum — The Golden Goose Award". The Golden Goose Award. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
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