MacArthur Fellows Program


The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and colloquially called the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to typically between 20 and 30 individuals working in any field who have shown "extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction" and are citizens or residents of the United States.
According to the foundation's website, "the fellowship is not a reward for past accomplishments but rather an investment in a person's originality, insight, and potential", but it also says such potential is "based on a track record of significant accomplishments". The amount of the prize is $800,000 paid over five years in quarterly installments. Previously, it was $625,000. This figure was increased from $500,000 in 2013 upon the release of a review of the MacArthur Fellows Program. The award has been called "one of the most significant awards that is truly 'no strings attached.
The program does not accept applications. Anonymous and confidential nominations are invited by the foundation and reviewed by an anonymous and confidential selection committee of about a dozen people. The committee reviews all nominees and recommends recipients to the president and board of directors. Most new fellows learn of their nomination and award upon receiving a congratulatory phone call. MacArthur Fellow Jim Collins described this experience in an editorial column of The New York Times.

Recipients

, since the award's inception in 1981, 1,175 people have been named MacArthur Fellows, ranging in age from 18 to 82.
In the five broad categories defined by the foundation, the breakdown for recipient focus is as follows: Arts 336; Humanities 170; Public Issues 257; STEM 335; and Social Sciences 120.

1981

  • A. R. Ammons, poet
  • Joseph Brodsky, poet
  • John Cairns, molecular biologist
  • Gregory V. Chudnovsky, mathematician
  • Joel E. Cohen, population biologist
  • Robert Coles, child psychiatrist
  • Richard Critchfield, essayist
  • Shelly Errington, cultural anthropologist
  • Howard Gardner, psychologist
  • Henry Louis Gates Jr., literary critic
  • John Gaventa, sociologist
  • Michael Ghiselin, evolutionary biologist
  • Stephen Jay Gould, paleontologist
  • Ian Graham, archaeologist
  • David Hawkins, philosopher
  • John P. Holdren, arms control and energy analyst
  • Ada Louise Huxtable, architectural critic and historian
  • John Imbrie, climatologist
  • Robert Kates, geographer
  • Raphael Carl Lee, surgeon
  • Elma Lewis, arts educator
  • Cormac McCarthy, writer
  • Barbara McClintock, geneticist
  • James Alan McPherson, short story writer and essayist
  • Roy P. Mottahedeh, historian
  • Richard C. Mulligan, molecular biologist
  • Douglas D. Osheroff, physicist
  • Elaine H. Pagels, historian of religion
  • David Pingree, historian of science
  • Paul G. Richards, seismologist
  • Robert Root-Bernstein, biologist and historian of science
  • Richard Rorty, philosopher
  • Lawrence Rosen, attorney and anthropologist
  • Carl Emil Schorske, intellectual historian
  • Leslie Marmon Silko, writer
  • Joseph Hooton Taylor Jr., astrophysicist
  • Derek Walcott, poet and playwright
  • Robert Penn Warren, poet, novelist, and literary critic
  • Stephen Wolfram, computer scientist and physicist
  • Michael Woodford, economist
  • George Zweig, physicist and neurobiologist

    1982

  • Fouad Ajami, political scientist
  • Charles A. Bigelow, type designer
  • Peter Robert Lamont Brown, historian
  • Robert Darnton, European historian
  • Persi Diaconis, statistician
  • William Gaddis, novelist
  • Ved Mehta, writer
  • Bob Moses, educator and philosopher
  • Richard A. Muller, geologist and astrophysicist
  • Conlon Nancarrow, composer
  • Alfonso Ortiz, cultural anthropologist
  • Francesca Rochberg, Assyriologist and historian of science
  • Charles Sabel, political scientist and legal scholar
  • Ralph Shapey, composer and conductor
  • Michael Silverstein, linguist
  • Randolph Whitfield Jr., ophthalmologist
  • Frank Wilczek, physicist
  • Frederick Wiseman, documentary filmmaker
  • Edward Witten, physicist, creator of the M-Theory

    1983

  • R. Stephen Berry, physical chemist
  • Seweryn Bialer, political scientist
  • William C. Clark, ecologist and environmental policy analyst
  • Philip D. Curtin, historian of Africa
  • William H. Durham, biological anthropologist
  • Bradley Efron, statistician
  • David L. Felten, neuroscientist
  • Randall W. Forsberg, political scientist and arms control strategist
  • Alexander L. George, political scientist
  • Shelomo Dov Goitein, medieval historian
  • Mott T. Greene, historian of science
  • James E. Gunn, astronomer
  • Ramón A. Gutiérrez, historian
  • John J. Hopfield, physicist and biologist
  • Béla Julesz, psychologist
  • William Kennedy, novelist
  • Leszek Kołakowski, historian of philosophy and religion
  • Sylvia A. Law, human rights lawyer
  • Brad Leithauser, poet and writer
  • Lawrence W. Levine, historian
  • Ralph Manheim, translator
  • Robert K. Merton, historian and sociologist of science
  • Walter F. Morris Jr., cultural preservationist
  • Charles S. Peskin, mathematician and physiologist
  • A.K. Ramanujan, poet, translator, and literary scholar
  • Alice M. Rivlin, economist and policy analyst
  • Julia Robinson, mathematician
  • John Sayles, filmmaker and writer
  • Richard M. Schoen, mathematician
  • Peter Sellars, theater and opera director
  • Karen K. Uhlenbeck, mathematician
  • Adrian Wilson, book designer, printer, and book historian
  • Irene J. Winter, art historian and archaeologist
  • Mark S. Wrighton, chemist

    1984

  • George W. Archibald, ornithologist
  • Shelly Bernstein, pediatric hematologist
  • Peter J. Bickel, statistician
  • Ernesto J. Cortes Jr., community organizer
  • William Drayton, public service innovator
  • Sidney Drell, physicist and arms policy analyst
  • Mitchell J. Feigenbaum, mathematical physicist
  • Michael H. Freedman, mathematician
  • Curtis G. Hames, family physician
  • Robert Hass, poet, critic, and translator
  • Shirley Heath, linguistic anthropologist
  • J. Bryan Hehir, religion and foreign policy scholar
  • Bette Howland, writer and literary critic
  • Bill Irwin, clown, writer, and performance artist
  • Robert Irwin, light and space artist
  • Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, novelist and screenwriter
  • Fritz John, mathematician
  • Galway Kinnell, poet
  • Henry Kraus, labor and art historian
  • Paul Oskar Kristeller, intellectual historian and philosopher
  • Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, educator
  • Heather Lechtman, materials scientist and archaeologist
  • Michael Lerner, public health leader
  • Andrew W. Lewis, medieval historian
  • Arnold J. Mandell, neuroscientist and psychiatrist
  • Peter Mathews, archaeologist and epigrapher
  • Matthew Meselson, geneticist and arms control analyst
  • David R. Nelson, physicist
  • Beaumont Newhall, historian of photography
  • Roger S. Payne, zoologist and conservationist
  • Michael Piore, economist
  • Edward V. Roberts, disability rights leader
  • Judith N. Shklar, political philosopher
  • Charles Simic, poet, translator, and essayist
  • Elliot Sperling, Tibetan studies scholar
  • David Stuart, linguist and epigrapher
  • Frank Sulloway, psychologist
  • John E. Toews, intellectual historian
  • Alar Toomre, astronomer and mathematician
  • James Turrell, light sculptor
  • Amos Tversky, cognitive scientist
  • J. Kirk Varnedoe, art historian
  • Bret Wallach, geographer
  • Jay Weiss, psychologist
  • Arthur Winfree, physiologist and mathematician
  • Carl R. Woese, molecular biologist
  • Billie Young, community development leader

    1985

  • Joan Abrahamson, community development leader
  • John Ashbery, poet
  • John F. Benton, medieval historian
  • Harold Bloom, literary critic
  • Valery Chalidze, physicist and human rights organizer
  • William Cronon, environmental historian
  • Merce Cunningham, choreographer
  • Jared Diamond, environmental historian and geographer
  • Marian Wright Edelman, Children's Defense Fund founder
  • Morton Halperin, political scientist
  • Robert M. Hayes, lawyer and human rights leader
  • Edwin Hutchins, cognitive scientist
  • Sam Maloof, professional woodworker and furniture maker
  • Andrew McGuire, trauma prevention specialist
  • Patrick Noonan, conservationist
  • George Oster, mathematical biologist
  • Thomas G. Palaima, classicist
  • Peter Raven, botanist
  • Jane S. Richardson, biochemist
  • Gregory Schopen, historian of religion
  • Franklin Stahl, geneticist
  • J. Richard Steffy, nautical archaeologist
  • Ellen Stewart, theater director
  • Paul Taylor, choreographer, dance company founder
  • Shing-Tung Yau, mathematician

    1986

  • Paul Adams, neurobiologist
  • Milton Babbitt, composer and music theorist
  • Christopher Beckwith, philologist
  • Richard Benson, photographer
  • Lester R. Brown, agricultural economist
  • Caroline Bynum, medieval historian
  • William A. Christian, historian of religion
  • Nancy Farriss, historian
  • Benedict Gross, mathematician
  • Daryl Hine, poet and translator
  • John Robert Horner, paleobiologist
  • Thomas C. Joe, social policy analyst
  • David Keightley, historian and sinologist
  • Albert J. Libchaber, physicist
  • David C. Page, molecular geneticist
  • George Perle, composer and music theorist
  • James Randi, magician
  • David Rudovsky, civil rights lawyer
  • Robert Shapley, neurophysiologist
  • Leo Steinberg, art historian
  • Richard P. Turco, atmospheric scientist
  • Thomas Whiteside, journalist
  • Allan C. Wilson, biochemist
  • Jay Wright, poet and playwright
  • Charles Wuorinen, composer

    1987

  • Walter Abish, writer
  • Robert Axelrod, political scientist
  • Robert F. Coleman, mathematician
  • Douglas Crase, poet
  • Daniel Friedan, physicist
  • David Gross, physicist
  • Ira Herskowitz, molecular geneticist
  • Irving Howe, literary and social critic
  • Wesley Charles Jacobs Jr., rural planner
  • Peter Jeffery, musicologist
  • Horace Freeland Judson, historian of science
  • Stuart Alan Kauffman, evolutionary biologist
  • Richard Kenney, poet
  • Eric Lander, geneticist and mathematician
  • Michael Malin, geologist and planetary scientist
  • Deborah W. Meier, education reform leader
  • Arnaldo Dante Momigliano, historian
  • David Mumford, mathematician
  • Tina Rosenberg, journalist
  • David Rumelhart, cognitive scientist and psychologist
  • Robert Morris Sapolsky, neuroendocrinologist and primatologist
  • Meyer Schapiro, art historian
  • John H. Schwarz, physicist
  • Jon Seger, evolutionary ecologist
  • Stephen Shenker, physicist
  • David Dean Shulman, historian of religion
  • Muriel S. Snowden, community organizer
  • Mark Strand, poet and writer
  • May Swenson, poet
  • Huỳnh Sanh Thông, translator and editor
  • William Julius Wilson, sociologist
  • Richard Wrangham, primate ethologist