24-700: The Hector Medal , formerly known as the Hector Memorial Medal , is a science award given by the Royal Society Te Apārangi in memory of Sir James Hector to researchers working in New Zealand. It is awarded annually in rotation for different sciences – currently there are three: chemical sciences; physical sciences; mathematical and information sciences. It is given to a researcher who "has undertaken work of great scientific or technological merit and has made an outstanding contribution to
48-630: A child with his family in 1957. In 1979 Boyd completed a PhD at the University of Toronto with a dissertation on Vladimir Nabokov's novel Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle , in the context of Nabokov's epistemology, ethics, and metaphysics. That year he took up a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Auckland (on New Zealand novelist Maurice Gee ) before being appointed a lecturer in English there in 1980. Véra Nabokov , Nabokov's widow, in 1979 invited Boyd to catalogue her husband's archives,
72-701: A framework that protects and supports the free exchange of ideas". The list below shows all presidents of the Royal Society of New Zealand, known as the New Zealand Institute from 1867 to 1933, and since 2017 as the Royal Society Te Apārangi. The Academy Executive Committee of the Society from time to time elects as a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand any person who in its opinion "has achieved distinction in research or
96-431: A move requiring royal assent and a subsequent Act of Parliament . In 2010, the organisation's remit was expanded to include the social sciences and the humanities. In 2007, Te Apārangi ( Māori for 'group of experts') was added to its name, and in 2017, its sesquicentenary, this was shortened to Royal Society Te Apārangi. Its legal name, as defined in legislation, remains Royal Society of New Zealand. Constituted under
120-402: A series of 150 biographies of women who had contributed to knowledge in New Zealand, called " 150 women in 150 words ". On 10 July 2008, the Society released a statement on climate change that said, in summary: In 2021, a report by a working group appointed by the New Zealand government proposed changes to the school curriculum to ensure indigenous knowledge (or mātauranga Māori ) was given
144-433: A task he completed in 1981. That year he also began researching a critical biography of Nabokov. Nabokov's Ada : The Place of Consciousness (1985; rev. 2001) examined Ada in its own terms and in relation to Nabokov's thought and style. Vladimir Nabokov: The Russian Years (1990) and Vladimir Nabokov: The American Years (1991) won numerous awards and widespread acclaim and have been translated into seven languages. In
168-524: The Royal Society of New Zealand Act 1997 (amended in 2012), the society exists to: It is a federation of 49 scientific and technological organisations and several affiliate organisations, and also has individual members. The Society's activities include: The Society administers the Prime Minister's Science Prizes . As part of its 150th anniversary celebrations, the Society published
192-519: The "knee jerk" reaction to the Listener letter and described the view that mātauranga Māori be protected and only transmitted by Māori as contrary to the principles of universities and the Royal Society. Massey University chemistry distinguished professor Peter Schwerdtfeger criticised the Royal Society's investigation as shameful and urged them to be open to debate and discussion. New Zealand Free Speech Union spokesperson Jonathan Ayling argued that
216-459: The 1990s Boyd edited Nabokov's English-language fiction and memoirs for the Library of America (3 vols., 1996) and, with lepidopterist Robert Michael Pyle , Nabokov's writings on butterflies ( Nabokov's Butterflies , 2000). He also began a biography of philosopher Karl Popper , and work on literature and evolution . In 1996 Boyd was awarded a three-year James Cook Research Fellowship to write
240-655: The Academy Executive Committee and the Council. The first female fellow, Kathleen Curtis , was elected in 1936. Di McCarthy was Chief Executive from 2007 to 2014. Andrew Cleland led from 2014 until his retirement in 2021. Cindy Kiro was appointed Chief Executive from 1 March 2021. In July 2021 it was announced that Paul Atkins, Chief Executive of Zealandia , will be taking over from Cindy Kiro on 29 November. The Society has both individual and organisational members. Constituent Organisations help
264-881: The New Zealand Institute Act 1867, was an apex organisation in science, with the Auckland Institute, the Wellington Philosophical Society, the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, and the Westland Naturalists' and Acclimatization Society as constituents. It later included the Otago Institute and other similar organisations. The Colonial Museum (later to become Te Papa ), which had been established two years earlier, in 1865,
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#1732797750730288-507: The Origin of Stories helped precipitate an exhibition, On the Origin of Art , at the Museum of Old and New Art (Hobart, Australia) in 2016–17, in which he was one of four co-curators, the others being Marc Changizi, Geoffrey Miller and Steven Pinker. In November 2020, Boyd was awarded the prestigious Rutherford Medal by the Royal Society Te Apārangi . It was the first year the medal's scope
312-749: The Origin of Stories proposes that art and storytelling are adaptations and derive from play . It also shows evolutionary literary criticism in practice in studies of Homer 's Odyssey and Dr. Seuss 's Horton Hears a Who! . As of 2019 Boyd continues to work on Nabokov, including ongoing annotations to Ada (since 1993), collected in a website ( Ada Online , since 2004), an edition of Nabokov's verse translations ( Verses and Versions , 2008), of his letters to his wife ( Letters to Véra , 2014), of his uncollected essays, reviews, and interviews ( Think, Write, Speak , 2019) and of his unpublished lectures on Russian literature, and also especially on Shakespeare, Jane Austen , Art Spiegelman , and Popper. Boyd's On
336-485: The Royal Society of New Zealand. The obverse of the medal bears the head of James Hector and the reverse a Māori snaring a huia . The last confirmed sighting of a living huia predates the award of the medal by three years. Royal Society Te Ap%C4%81rangi The Royal Society Te Apārangi (in full, Royal Society of New Zealand ) is a not-for-profit body in New Zealand providing funding and policy advice in
360-437: The Society identify and address issues relevant to the research, knowledge and innovation sectors, and link into the research information and activities that the Society undertakes. These constituent organisations are: Regional Constituent Organisations (branches) are geographical constituents and include: The Society includes Affiliate Organisations that cover a diversity of disciplines, including policy, science education and
384-431: The advancement of science, technology or the humanities." The number of Fellows is limited to such number as is agreed from time to time between the Academy Executive Committee and the Council of the Society. A Fellow is entitled to use, in connection with his or her name, either the letters FRSNZ, which stand for Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand, or such other letters or title as is agreed from time to time between
408-491: The advancement of the particular branch of science." It was previously rotated through more fields of science – in 1918 they were: botany, chemistry, ethnology, geology, physics (including mathematics and astronomy), zoology (including animal physiology). For a few years it was awarded biennially – it was not awarded in 2000, 2002 or 2004. In 1991 it was overtaken by the Rutherford Medal as the highest award given by
432-574: The biography of Popper. Boyd's 1999 book, Nabokov's Pale Fire : The Magic of Artistic Discovery , attracted attention both for the novelty of Boyd's reading of Pale Fire and for his rejecting his own influential interpretation of the notoriously elusive novel in Vladimir Nabokov: The American Years . In 2009 he published On the Origin of Stories: Evolution, Cognition and Fiction . Once compared in scope with Northrop Frye 's Anatomy of Criticism (1957), On
456-625: The fields of sciences and the humanities. These fundings (i.e., Marsden grants and research fellowships) are provided on behalf of the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment . The Royal Society of New Zealand was founded in 1867 as the New Zealand Institute , a successor to the New Zealand Society , which had been founded by Sir George Grey in 1851. The institute, established by
480-589: The museum sector: Brian Boyd Brian David Boyd (born 30 July 1952) is a professor of literature known primarily as an expert on the life and works of author Vladimir Nabokov and on literature and evolution . He is a University Distinguished Professor in the Department of English at the University of Auckland , New Zealand . Born in Belfast , Northern Ireland , Boyd emigrated to New Zealand as
504-419: The opportunity to participate in the world's scientific enterprises. The Royal Society's response was to launch an investigation into two of the co-authors of the letter, who happened to be fellows of the Society. This investigation was criticised by several others fellows, who threatened to resign if they were disciplined. University of Auckland literature professor Brian Boyd criticised what he described as
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#1732797750730528-611: The pursuit of science depends on free speech and accused the Royal Society of "abandoning its own heritage and tradition of academic freedom." On the other hand, scholars including Carwyn Jones FRSNZ have made clear that free speech, academic freedom, and tikanga māori are not in conflict, and indeed he has argued that "a tikanga-based approach would frame this conversation as a wānanga, a discussion in which participants are contributing to increasing collective understanding. Dialogue, debate, disagreement, challenge and contestation have always been important in te ao Māori, and tikanga provides
552-452: The same status as Western science. In response to this report, seven prominent academics co-authored a letter "In Defence of Science" to the current affairs magazine New Zealand Listener . The letter claimed mātauranga Māori falls "short of what can be defined as science itself", and that placing indigenous knowledge on the same level of science would patronise and fail indigenous populations. Instead, they proposed ensuring that everyone had
576-527: Was granted to the New Zealand Institute. Publishing transactions and proceedings was one of the institute's initial functions. James Hector was the manager of the institute and Director of the Colonial Museum and Geological Survey from 1867 until his retirement in 1903. In 1933, the Institute's name was changed to Royal Society of New Zealand, in reference to the Royal Society of London ,
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