Roger Payne Ph.D., Indianapolis Prize Finalist, The Ocean Alliance & Save the Whales

Roger Payne, Ph.D., founder and president of The Ocean Alliance, has devoted more than 40 years to the study and protection of whales. He discovered that whales sing, and that their songs propagate across oceans. His whale song recordings became immensely popular and helped launch the "Save the Whales" movement, which led to a moratorium on whaling passed by the International Whaling Commission (IWC). Since then, he has worked with the IWC to create whale sanctuaries throughout the world.