Ted Anderson wins international award

For scientists, writers, and humanitarians, the Nobel Prize is the ultimate reward. For Olympic athletes, it's the gold medal. For actors on stage or screen, it's the Tony or Oscar.

But for retired Whitman College biology professor Ted Anderson, it's the Golden Cactus, or Cactus d'Or, the highest international honor given for research and study of cacti and succulent plants. The board of the International Organization for Succulent Plant Study (IOS), which represents scientists from more than 30 countries, selects the award recipients. Anderson became only the third American to receive it.

Anderson, who retired in 1992 after 30 years of teaching at Whitman, continues his work as senior research botanist at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona. He has published three books, including The Plants and People of the Golden Triangle.