Hamilton Award 2010
At IUSSI2010, the second Hamilton Award was presented to Charles D. Michener. The award consisted of an engraved glass ornament in the shape of a book, and US$ 1000.
Unfortunately, "Mich" couldn't be at the congress, but he sent a message to be read out to the delegates, which is reproduced below.
I very much wish that I were able to travel and to attend this IUSSI congress. Of course I greatly appreciate the honor of the Hamilton Award and I thank those, however misguided, who selected me.
The IUSSU or really its antecedents played a significant role in developing my interest in social behavior of bees. The idea of an organization of people with major interests in social insects probably arose in France in the 1940's or before. T.C.Schneirla, with a PhD in psychology and strong interest in ants, drew my interest to the social insect activities in France. He visited there and reported on his visits in the USA. He was that rare phenomenon, a behaviorist working in a museum. At that time the American Museum of Natural History had a Department of Animal Behavior, of which Schneirla was a member. I was also in the AMNH, curator of Lepidoptera but working also on bee systematics and evolution. A psychologist and an entomologist often did not speak the same language and had to re-explain their viewpoints, but nevertheless, partly as a result of conversations with Schneirla, I developed a strong interest in bee behavior and its evolution. The natural history of the highly social honey bees was well known, and the same could be said for the stingless bees and bumble bees, and the natural history of the numerous solitary bees was well known or easily understood. But to understand the origin and evolution of highly social behavior, an obvious need was to understand the natural history of the bees that live in small colonies (2 to 50 or more females) without recognizable castes. At least some such bees may be behaviorally similar to the now extinct social ancestors of the highly social bees. Therefore in about 1949, after moving to Kansas, I began studies of Halictinae (sweat bees) and of Allodapini; the groups in which some species live in small colonies of various kinds. With the help of excellent graduate students, some of whom are probably here today, we gathered lots of information on the life histories, behavioral castes, communication, and the like, of Halictinae and Allodapini, thus filling the gap in knowledge between solitary and highly social forms.
To return to today,-- I have repeatedly found IUSSI meetings to be among the most satisfying of the many meetings that I attended. The number of participants is usually moderate so that one can have productive discussions. Also, most participants find most of the presentations of interest; there is no mass of the disinterested in the hallways, bars, and meeting rooms. I trust that you are enjoying this gathering as much as I would if I were with you.
The secretay General of the IUSSI, Joan Herbers, gave a short presentation about his life and achievements, followed by some plaudits from some of his former students.
Delegates at the congress signed a congratulation card for Mich, which can be seen below (click on the image for a larger version). Characteristically, Mich has decided to donate the prze money to the Kansas Entomologial Society.
