Three Harvard professors were among the 18 named as “America’s Best” scientists and doctors in Time Magazine this week.

Professor of Psychology Elizabeth Spelke, paleontologist and Fisher Professor of Natural History Andrew Knoll, and evolutionary biologist Edward O. Wilson, Pellegrino university professor emeritus, were among the leaders chosen from a field of 100 by a group of distinguished scientists—including psychology professor Stephen Kosslyn—and Time editors.

The list came as part of a monthly series Time is running this year to name a list of “definitive” best in five fields.

Three other Boston area researchers were honored, including Brigham and Women’s Hospital cardiologist Paul Ridker, MIT biomedical engineer Robert Langer, and MIT cell death specialist H. Robert Horvitz.

The panel of scientific advisors, which included Steven Pinker, MIT professor of brain and cognitive sciences, and Stephen Kosslyn, Professor of Psychology, chose the 18 winners from a list of 100 experts in science and medicine.

Elizabeth Spelke

Spelke has been at the forefront of the field of developmental psychology almost since she began her career. During graduate school at Cornell in the 1970s, Spelke answered a long-standing question about what babies perceive by looking at “simple, naturally occurring behavior.” Using two television screens and a stereo, she proved that babies could connect their senses and tell that a person who was talking was the same as the person at whom they were looking.