The American Society of Naturalists has recognized Jonathan B. Losos, the William H. Danforth Distinguished University Professor at Washington University in St. Louis and director of the Living Earth Collaborative, with its 2019 Sewall Wright Award.
This award, established in 1991, is given annually and honors a senior but still active investigator who is making fundamental contributions to the society’s goals, namely promoting the conceptual unification of the biological sciences.
“Jonathan has made numerous…[and] fundamental contributions to the study of adaptive radiation and biodiversity, including the evolutionary genetics of biological invasions,” the award committee said. “However, his influence is not restricted solely to studies published in the primary scientific literature. For example, he is a coauthor of the widely used textbook Biology (Raven et al.) and has also published books and articles targeted towards the more general reader, the latest being the beautiful and highly readable book ‘Improbable Destinies: Fate, Chance, and the Future of Evolution‘ (Penguin Random House, 2017).”