Psychologist Wins Million-Dollar Prize for Work on the Adolescent Brain

Temple University psychologist Laurence Steinberg has been awarded the first Klaus J. Jacobs Research Prize. The new award, worth $1 million, comes from the Zurich-based Jacobs Foundation, founded by chocolate magnate Klaus Jacobs. It's designed to further "groundbreaking contributions to the improvement of the living conditions of young people."

Steinberg is well known for his research on adolescent brain development. He's a former director of the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Adolescent Development and Juvenile Justice. And he was one of the experts who wrote a U.S. Supreme Court brief arguing that 16- and 17-year-olds are too immature to be executed for capital crimes (Science, 30 July 2004, p. 596). In 2005, the court abolished the death penalty for these juveniles.