Glittering prizes

Businessman and philanthropist Sir Sigmund Sternberg, awarded last year's Templeton prize for progress in religion, has become the first non-head of state to receive the Rotary International Award of Honour.

This year's Geological Society awards have gone to: John Dewey, professor of geology and fellow of University College, Oxford (Wallaston Medal); David Gubbins, professor of geophysics at Leeds University (Murchison Medal); Ernie Rutter, professor and head of earth sciences at the University of Manchester (Lyell Medal); John Lloyd, professor of hydrogeology at the University of Birmingham (William Smith Medal); Frederic Bell, professor at the University of Natal, South Africa and visiting research associate at the British Geological Survey (Coke Medal); Ali Mehmet Celal Sengor, professor at the Istanbul Teknik Universtesi (Bigsby Medal); Claude Jaupart, professor at the Institut de Physique du Globe du Paris (Prestwich Medal); Harry Pearman, director, William Pengelly Cave Studies Trust (R. H. Worth Prize); Philip Gibbard, lecturer in geology at the University of Cambridge (Lyell Fund); Nick Petford, marketing manager for the faculty of science at Kingston University (Murchison Fund); Simon Young, British Geological Survey, Edinburgh (William Smith Fund); James Brooks, Brooks Associates, Glasgow (distinguished service award).

Geological Society president's awards go to David Dobson, research assistant geological sciences, University College London, and Conal MacNiocaill, lecturer in geology at the University of Oxford.

Raymond Hide, emeritus professor of physics and an honorary fellow of Jesus College, Oxford has been awarded the 1999 Lewis Fry Richardson Medal by the European Geophysical Society.

Leicester University has awarded honorary degrees to Rachel Sullivan, who has worked with the university's adult education department since 1982, and Barry Supple, director of the Leverhulme Trust.