Robert P. George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton, has received a 2023 Barry Prize from the American Academy of Sciences and Letters (the Academy) in recognition of intellectual excellence and courage. Ten Barry Prizes were awarded by the Academy at a ceremony at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

The Barry Prizes for Distinguished Intellectual Achievement are the Academy’s premier awards to promote excellence in scholarship. The Prizes recognize leading scholars across diverse fields and disciplines, honoring those whose work has made outstanding contributions to humanity's knowledge, appreciation, and cultivation of the good, the true, and the beautiful. Recipients are selected by the Academy’s board of directors. Winners of the Barry Prize receive a $50,000 cash award and become members of the Academy.

Academy board member Brandice Canes-Wrone of Stanford University conferred the award on Professor George, reading the following citation:

“With intelligence, civility, and courage, Robert George has advanced our understanding of the intellectual and moral foundations of our Nation’s republican civic order. Bridging the disciplines of law and philosophy, he has illuminated not only the principles and institutions of American constitutionalism, but also the natural basis of justice, human rights, and the common good. The Academy honors Dr. George’s distinguished contributions to humanity’s pursuit of moral wisdom and liberty and justice for all.”

The American Academy of Sciences and Letters promotes scholarship and honors outstanding achievement in the arts, sciences, and learned professions. It supports learning by encouraging the exchange of ideas within academia and in society at large, and by sponsoring occasions for scholarly interaction and providing platforms for the presentation ad dissemination of scholarship in the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, mathematics and engineering.

The ten 2023 Barry Prize laureates are: 

Robert P. George, Politics, Princeton University

Jonathan D. Haidt, Psychology, New York University

Svetlana Y. Jitomirskaya, Mathematics, University of California-Irvine

Steven E. Koonin, Physics, New York University

Anna I. Krylov, Chemistry, University of Southern California

Jon D. Levenson, Jewish Studies, Harvard University

Josiah Ober, Classics, Stanford University

Ruth L. Okediji, Law, Harvard University

Orlando Patterson, Sociology, Harvard University

Candace A. Vogler, Philosophy, University of Chicago