2005 Honorary Member
David Quammen won his third National Magazine Award this year from the American Society of Magazine Editors for his National Geographic essay "Was Darwin Wrong?" He answered that question with a resounding no, concluding that "the evidence for evolution is overwhelming." Noting that many Americans don’t believe the theory of evolution, the judges called the story "courageous." Educated at Yale and Oxford University, Quammen twice received the National Magazine Award for his work in Outside magazine. His articles are collected in four volumes, Natural Acts: A Sidelong View of Science and Nature and The Flight of the Iguana: A Sidelong View of Science and Nature, plus Wild Thoughts from Wild Places and, most recently, The Boilerplate Rhino. His award-winning nonfiction book, The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions, is a readable and scholarly treatment of the history of evolutionary theory, biodiversity, population dynamics and extinction. His many honors include an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Lannan Literary Award for nonfiction and the John Burroughs Medal for nature writing. Born in Cincinnati, Quammen was drawn to Montana 32 years ago for the trout fishing and currently resides in Bozeman.