Ernst Mayr, professor emeritus of zoology in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, received the Crafoord Prize from the Royal Academy of Sciences earlier this month, making him the first ever to win the three awards that make up the "triple crown of biology."

Because there is no Nobel Prize awarded for biology, the Crafoord Prize for "fundamental contributions to the conceptual development of evolutionary biology" stands as one of biology's highest honors.

Mayr, who won the Balzan Prize in 1983 and the National Medal of Science in 1970, completes the triple crown with the Crafoord.

Son-in-law Ron Cowan said Mayr was "very surprised and thrilled." His family was very pleased with Mayr's latest accolade, Cowan added.

Mayr will share the prize with John Maynard Smith of the University of Sussex, England and George C. Williams of the State University of New York. The three will split the $500,000 prize and will receive gold medals at a ceremony in Stockholm this September.

After graduating from the University of Berlin in 1926, Mayr traveled to New Guinea, where he studied birds. He continued his research when he became a professor at Harvard University.

Brian D. Farrell, Loeb associate professor of the natural science, said "reading [Mayr's] book as an undergraduate convinced me to be an evolutionary biologist. He is the father of evolutionary biology."

Farrell said that Mayr is best known for his allotropic model of speciation, which suggests that different species arise when a population is divided by geographical barriers.

Among Mayr's hundreds of published works are Populations, Species and Evolution and Systematics and the Origin of Species.

Mayr also served as the Director for the Museum of Comparative Zoology. In 1995, the Museum's library was dedicated in hisname.

"He should have won [the prize] a long timeago," Cowan joked.

Now retired, Mayr, 94, remains active inresearch and other areas of science. He continuesto deliver lectures at universities around theworld and write books synthesizing the worlds ofsystematics and genetics. He also occasionallyreviews colleagues' books.

Mayr, who traveled to Florida this week, wasunavailable for comment yesterday