Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History bestows it highest honors

Sir David Attenborough, May Berenbaum, Naomi Pierce, Neil Shubin and Geerat Vermeij

received the Yale Peabody Museum’s prestigious Verrill Medal in a ceremony at Yale University

 

NEW HAVEN - Sir David Frederick Attenborough, the "renowned British naturalist, broadcaster and documentary filmmaker,"  was among five "giants in the fields of natural history and natural science to receive the Addison Emery Verrill Medal, the highest honor bestowed by the curators of the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History", at a ceremony at the Yale Law School, according to a release.

 

"With the knowledge Attenborough could not attend the November ceremony, Peabody Director David Skelly traveled to London and presented the award to Attenborough on the occasion of his 90^th birthday in May. The private ceremony was taped and kept under wraps until Friday when it was shared with the Law School audience."

 

Also in the release and presented unedited here:

 

Attenborough has devoted his life to celebrating and preserving wildlife and bringing it into countless homes worldwide via his nature documentaries. His celebrated Life series, beginning with Life on Earth in 1976 in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, collectively form a comprehensive survey of animal and plant life on the planet. His practice of filming wildlife on location and at a respectful distance set the standard for the modern nature documentary. During his lifetime of achievement, he has received a myriad of honors. He was knighted in 1985, received the Order of Merit from Queen Elizabeth in 2002 and holds at least 31 honorary degrees from British universities, including Oxford and Cambridge.

Accepting medals in person were four eminent U.S. scientists: May Berenbaum ('75), Swanlund Chair and head of Entomology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Naomi Pierce ('76), Hessel Professor of Biology and curator of Lepidoptera, Harvard University; Neil Shubin, the Robert R. Bensley Professor of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, University of Chicago; and Geerat Vermeij (PhD '71), Distinguished Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California at Davis.

 

Created in 1959 to honor “signal practitioners in the arts of natural history and natural sciences,” the Verrill Medal is the highest honor bestowed by the curators of the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History. It is named for Addison Emery Verrill, Yale’s first professor of zoology and one of the Peabody’s first curators, who described more than 1,000 species across virtually every major taxonomic group during a long and illustrious career. Through his efforts, the Peabody’s zoological collections became one of the most renowned in the United States.

 

Since the award’s inception, there have been just 18 recipients. They include Ernst Mayr, George Gaylord Simpson, G. Ledyard Stebbins, G. Evelyn Hutchinson, John H. Ostrom, Peter Raven, E.O. Wilson and Alison Richard.

Editor's note: All information and the photo in this post were contributed. Click one of the buttons below to share it.

New Haven museums have the 'write stuff' - "Win Coveted Publication Awards"

 

The New England Museum Association said in a release that New Haven-area museums won awards in the 2014 Publication Awards Competition.

 

According to the release, the winners are:

 

 - New Haven Museum & Historical Society

• In the Educational Publications, Materials & Kits category, Family Guide to the Exhibition "Beyond the New Township: Wooster Square" won Second Place.

 - Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University

• In the Books category, Connecticut's Indigenous Peoples: What Archaeology, History, and Oral Traditions Teach Us About Their Communities and Cultures won Second Place.

- Yale Center for British Art

• In the Supplementary Materials category, Edwardian Opulence won First Place.

 

- Yale University Art Gallery

• In the Invitations category, Francesco Vanni: Art in Late Renaissance Siena won Second Place.
• In the Websites category, Yale University Art Gallery Website won Third Place.

 “These awards put each of the winning museums in very good company at the top ranks of our region’s institutions,” NEMA Executive Director Dan Yaeger said, also in the release. “Graphic communication is vital to connecting a museum with its community, so their success with publications reflects their success in their overall operations as well.”

 

Yaeger said, also in the release, that 168 publications from 57 museums entered in 20 different categories. "Competition winners will be recognized and exhibited at the 96^th Annual NEMA Conference in Boston/Cambridge, Massachusetts November 19-21, 2014. "

 

 

Yale Peabody Museum of New Haven needs your story!

NEW HAVEN – On  April 3 the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History needs you to share a story.

The museum "will be the featured finalist on the IMLS Facebook page as the six-week selection process for the 12 National Medal winners draws to a close," according to a release. 

"As announced in February by the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences, the Museum is one of 33 finalists for the prestigious IMLS National Medal, the nation’s highest honor conferred on museums and libraries for service to the community."

"The medal celebrates institutions that make a difference for individuals, families, and communities."

The museum hopes visitors will share their "personal stories on April 3 of how their visits to the Yale Peabody Museum have enriched their life, created a memorable experience or in some way had an impact on them."

"The voice of the community, as demonstrated by the stories posted, is an important factor in the selection of winners," the release said.

To Share Your Story, visit www.facebook.com/USIMLS. National Medal winners will be announced this spring.

Editor's note: All information in this post was contributed.

Opening celebration for "Big Food" is Saturday in New Haven

NEW HAVEN - The exhibition opening celebration for "Big Food: Health, Culture and the Evolution of Eating" will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Feb. 11 at the Yale Peabody Museum, 170 Whitney Ave.

"This new hands-on exhibition addresses evolving food environments, increasing obesity rates and decreasing physical activity as it examines behavioral choice and the influence of social, environmental and cultural settings," according to a statement.

"Visitors can pedal a specially-designed exercise bike, explore an interactive timeline on the history of food, and identify popular processed foods by their ingredients alone. Local food and health related organizations will be on hand to advise visitors on nutrition, healthy life choices and physical fitness. Kids can challenge themselves in the Physical Activity Bingo game that will take them around the Museum, and adults can try out a Zumba class. There will be games, craft activities and a puppet show," the statement said.

Cost: Museum admission of $5-9, under age 3 free ($9 adults, $8 seniors 65+, $5 ages 3-18 and college students)

In the photo: Melanie Brigockas/Peabody Museum photos: This portion of the exhibit illustrates the amount of food the average American consumes every year.

Editor's note: All information in this post was contributed.

Plant It and They Will Come: Butterflies of Connecticut

The Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History this week offers a program about the state’s butterflies.

Andy Brand, manager of Broken Arrow Nursery and past president of the Connecticut Butterfly Association, and Peabody Education Coordinator Jim Sirch team up to introduce you to the common butterfly groups found in Connecticut. Learn how to attract these colorful visitors to your yard with plants that are truly “butterfly magnets”!

The event will be held 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at the museum, 170 Whitney Ave. The fee is $20 for members, $24 for nonmembers. To register, contact 203-432-3775 or peabody.education@yale.edu.

Learn about 'Black Holes' at the Peabody

NEW HAVEN - The Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History will hold a talk dubbed "Black Holes, Galaxies and the Evolution of the Universe: An Observer’s View," by Meg Urry, the Israel Munson Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Yale at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 3.
Urry, shown in the photo, also is and director of the Yale Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, according to a museum statement.
"Black holes are an incredibly strange phenomenon. Predicted by Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, they arise when a great deal of matter is concentrated in a small volume. Theory became reality when astronomers began seeing evidence for black holes in our galaxy and out to the farthest reaches of the universe," the statement said.


Urry will describe simple ways of thinking about black holes, show some of the evidence for astrophysical black holes, and suggest the effect that the growth of black holes might have on the evolution of galaxies, the statement said.
 
The event will be held in the 3rd floor auditorium at the museum.
It is free and open to the public.
The museum is at 170 Whitney Ave.


Editor's note: Meg Urry photo is by Lisa Keresci

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Black holes are an incredibly strange phenomenon. Predicted by Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, they arise when a great deal of matter is concentrated in a small volume. Theory became reality when astronomers began seeing evidence for black holes in our galaxy and out to the farthest reaches of the universe.



Urry will describe simple ways of thinking about black holes, show some of the evidence for astrophysical black holes, and suggest the effect that the growth of black holes might have on the evolution of galaxies.



Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, 170 Whitney Avenue, New Haven, CT

www.peabody.yale.edu Infotape: 203-432-5050

Wild about flowers

NEW HAVEN - The "Wildflowers of New England, a 5-session botanical course taught by Lauren Brown, will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. June 3, 10, and 17; and 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. June 5 and 12, at Yale Peabody Museum 170 Whitney Ave.

The fee is $130 for museum members and $150 for nonmembers. The course focuses on the identification of wild plants, provides field experience across the spectrum of New England flora, museum officials said in a statement.

Meet at the Peabody. To register, call 203-432-3775 or email peabody.education@yale.edu.

Photo: Erythronium americanum by D. Long.