2025: Individual Lifetime Achievement
Patrick Hamilton retired in 2024 after a 40-year career producing climate, energy, and environmental projects for the Science Museum of Minnesota. Major projects during his tenure included the Mississippi River Gallery, the Big Back Yard — the museum’s first outdoor environmental science park — and Science House, one of Minnesota’s first net zero energy buildings. Patrick also championed the museum’s advanced heat recovery retrofit project and its 100% carbon neutrality by 2030 commitment, achieving a 90% reduction from the museum’s peak emissions in 2014. Beyond the museum, Patrick served as a fellow with the University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment, an advisory board member to the UMN Climate Adaptation Partnership, and a principal investigator for over 10 years with the UMN’s National Center for Earth-surface Dynamics. In 2023, he and his wife, J. Drake Hamilton, were named Scientists of the Year by the ARCS Foundation of Minnesota. Patrick is an AAAS Fellow and a Leader Circle member to America Is All In — a network of over 5,000 U.S. entities committed to an all-of-society approach to the climate crisis. Patrick has participated in eight U.N. Climate Summits and continues to speak and write about climate change.
