Every year, the Linnean Society of London presents a number of medals and awards to celebrate excellence in science, recognizing natural historians within and outside academia for improving our understanding of the natural world by demonstrating how in-depth study and practice both increases knowledge while also addressing some of our world’s most pressing environmental problems.
We are excited and pleased to recognize Dr. David Jablonski, distinguished professor of Geophysical Sciences and past Chair of the Committee on Evolutionary Biology, who is the 2022 recipient of the Darwin-Wallace Medal!
The Darwin-Wallace medal is awarded to a person or group who has made major advances in evolutionary science. As the Linnean Society aptly noted:
"David Jablonski has been one of the most influential and innovative palaeobiologists: a leader in the use of large-scale data sets to investigate macroevolutionary pattern over diverse temporal scales and levels in taxonomic hierarchy. His contributions cover topics as diverse as the effect of larval ecology on evolution, causes of the latitudinal diversity gradient, determinants and consequences of geographic range size, the origin and fate of evolutionary novelties, species selection, and, of pressing relevance, the biology and evolutionary impact of mass extinctions. Working with organisms from molluscs to mammals he has demonstrated that morphologically defined genera are largely concordant with clades present in molecular phylogenies, with coherent macroecological properties (like geographic range and body size), and therefore valid and meaningful evolutionary units for analyses of both fossil and living organisms. He is a tireless advocate for palaeobiology, and, more broadly, evolutionary biology."
Congratulations Dave!