Thomas Bothwell, is a Member of ASSAf and Emeritus Professor of Medicine at the University of the Witwatersrand. He has devoted much of his academic career, spanning more than 50 years, to the pursuit of scientific research aimed at improving the health and well-being of major sections of the world’s population.  His major research thrust has been human iron metabolism and the consequences of too little or too much of the metal in the body. He has written more than 300 full-length articles in scientific and medical journals, chapters in international textbooks, and invited reviews on many aspects of this subject.

George Ellis, is a Member of ASSAf, Emeritus Professor and a Distinguished Professor of Complex Systems at the University of Cape Town. He is one of the most distinguished scholars that this country has produced. His output over a period of forty years includes over 300 articles or chapters in books, and 12 books spanning disciplines as diverse as cosmology, complexity, neural development and the brain, science policy, social development, science and mathematics education, and the relationship between science and religion. He has also contributed in significant ways, through enduring public service, towards improving the quality of life of the most marginalised of our fellow citizens, and through various means towards the success of our new democracy.