For more than 175 years, The Franklin Institute has annually presented awards for achievement in science and technology. The list of award winners includes familiar names such as Edison, Curie, and Einstein.

This year's awards ceremony is tonight, when the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Earth Science will be awarded to Dr. Eville Gorham, Professor of Ecology at the University of Minnesota. For more than 45 years, Dr. Gorham has researched the effects of human-made chemicals and pollutants on soil and water. Before there was an EPA or an Earth Day, Dr. Gorham studied the impact of acid rain on water systems, the spread of radioactive fallout into the food chain, and the effect of sulfur dioxide pollution on forests.

In simple terms, Dr. Gorham's work has helped clarify precisely where all the "stuff" that we put into the air, land, and water goes, and what it does when it gets there.