science

John Maddox Prize

John Maddox Prize is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand John Maddox Prize rather than just read about it. In short: The John Maddox Prize is an international prize administered by Sense about Science in partnership with Nature. One or two individuals are recognised annually by the Prize for their work promoting sound science and evidence despite hostility.

Key takeaways

John Maddox Prize belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect John Maddox Prize to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of John Maddox Prize from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The John Maddox Prize is an international prize administered by Sense about Science in partnership with Nature. One or two individuals are recognised annually by the Prize for their work promoting sound science and evidence despite hostility. The prize was started in 2012 in commemoration of John Maddox, former editor-in-chief of Nature, who was distinguished in his advancement of science for the public interest. Winners receive a monetary award and an announcement is published in Nature.

Recipients

2012 In 2012, the John Maddox Prize was awarded to British psychiatrist Simon Wessely and Chinese science writer Shi-min Fang. Wessely was recognised for continuing his research on Myalgic Encaphalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome despite criticism from patient groups, and Fang was recognised for his work exposing pseudoscience and fraud as a popular science writer in China. There have been objections to Wessely being awarded the prize, however, due to concerns about his quality of research.

2013 In 2013, British neuropsychopharmacologist David Nutt was awarded the John Maddox Prize for his influence on the evidence-based classification of drugs in the UK and elsewhere. He had faced adversity such as dismissal from his government position on the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs.

2014 In 2014, the John Maddox Prize was awarded to US writer and journalist Emily Willingham and Irish physicist and science writer David Robert Grimes. Both winners are science writers who have communicated difficult science topics to the public despite intense criticism, and in Willingham's case, legal action.

2015 In 2015, University of Exeter academic physician Edzard Ernst and University of Oxford nutrition scientist Susan Jebb shared the John Maddox Prize. Ernst was awarded for applying evidence-based methodologies to research in complementary and alternative medicines, and for communicating this research despite severe hostility. Jebb was awarded for her work to promote evidence in public understandings of nutrition in the face of criticism and false claims of industry funding.

2016 Cognitive psychologist Elizabeth Loftus was awarded the 2016 John Maddox Prize for persistence in researching and communicating the evidence behind false memory.

2017 In 2017, Japanese doctor and journalist Riko Muranaka won the John Maddox Prize for her work countering misinformation about the HPV vaccine with science and evidence, despite hostility including legal suits.

2018 In 2018, an early-career researcher John Maddox Prize was awarded to former naturopath Britt Hermes for promoting evidence-based medicine. Marine biologist Terry Hughes was also awarded the John Maddox Prize for his work documenting coral reef decline despite lawsuits and death threats.

2019 In 2019, the John Maddox Prize was awarded to Bambang Hero Saharjo, a professor of forestry and forest fires forensics at Bogor Agricultural University, for sharing his research findings as an expert witness for at least 500 forest fire cases in Indonesia since 2000 despite facing harassment, intimidation and lawsuits. The early career prize was awarded to Olivier Bernard, a pharmacist from Quebec, Canada who became the target of a smear campaign for challenging the use of high-dose vitamin C injections in cancer patients.

2020 2020's prize was awarded, for communicating the science behind COVID-19, to Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and Salim S. Abdool Karim, director of the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa. Anne Abbott, a neurologist from the Central Clinical School at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia was awarded the early career prize for her perseverance in challenging unnecessary procedural treatment of carotid stenosis, which can lead to strokes.

2021 The 2021 prize was awarded to Elisabeth Bik for "outstanding work exposing widespread threats to research integrity in scientific papers". Mohammad Sharif Razai, from St George's, University of London, was awarded the early career prize for his work "tackling racial health inequalities; from vaccine hesitancy among ethnic minority groups, to revealing systemic racism as a fundamental cause and driver of adverse health outcomes".

2022 In 2022, the John Maddox Prize was awarded to Eucharia Oluchi Nwaichi, a biochemist at the University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria, has been awarded the 2022 John Maddox Prize for engaging communities in conflict to research solutions to pollution in the oil fields of the Niger Delta.

2023 The 2023 prize was awarded to Canadian scientist Nancy Olivieri for "her communication of the importance of being open with patients about medical research". Olivieri lost her post at SickKids Hospital in Toronto after raising concerns about the drug deferiprone during a clinical trial of its use. The early career prize went to American epidemiologist Chelsea Polis, a specialist in sexual and reproductive health issues, for challenging false claims in the marketing of a fertility tracking device, overcoming a lawsuit from the manufacturer.

2024 The 2024 prize was awarded to Patrick Ball for his work analyzing data on human rights violations and to Kelly Cobey for her advocacy for the reform of predatory journals. The judges gave a special commendation to Shiba Subedi for his work on earthquake awareness in Nepal.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with John Maddox Prize

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what John Maddox Prize claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to John Maddox Prize before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about John Maddox Prize ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of John Maddox Prize

In research: John Maddox Prize appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses John Maddox Prize in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: John Maddox Prize is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2012 establishments, Science communication awards, Scientific research awards, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for John Maddox Prize outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study John Maddox Prize in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what John Maddox Prize means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain John Maddox Prize out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is John Maddox Prize in simple terms?

Why does John Maddox Prize matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study John Maddox Prize?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on John Maddox Prize.