--- description: Roger Payne currently serves as Principal Advisor to Project CETI (Cetacean Translation Initiative), a TED Audacious Project and nonprofit, interdisciplinary scientific and conservation initiative. Payne's many honors and awards include a knighthood in the Netherlands; a MacArthur Fellowship; a WWF Member of Honor; a UNEP Global 500 award; and Oxford University's Dawkins Prize. title: TIME | Current & Breaking News | National & World Updates image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Roger Payne ## Roger Payne Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Roger Payne currently serves as Principal Advisor to Project CETI (Cetacean Translation Initiative), a TED Audacious Project and nonprofit, interdisciplinary scientific and conservation initiative. Payne's many honors and awards include a knighthood in the Netherlands; a MacArthur Fellowship; a WWF Member of Honor; a UNEP Global 500 award; and Oxford University's Dawkins Prize. ## Roger Payne Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close *  Jun 5, 2023 ### [I Spent My Life Saving the Whales. Now They Might Save Us](https://time.com/6284884/whale-scientist-last-please-save-the-species/) Over 50 years ago Roger Payne discovered that whales sing. Now he has an urgent plea for the world a... [IDEAS](/section/ideas/) Meta: null ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Organization","@id":"https://time.com/","name":"TIME","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/author/roger-payne/","name":"Roger Payne"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Person","@id":"https://time.com/author/roger-payne/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/author/roger-payne/"},"name":"Roger Payne","jobTitle":null,"description":"Roger Payne currently serves as Principal Advisor to Project CETI (Cetacean Translation Initiative), a TED Audacious Project and nonprofit, interdisciplinary scientific and conservation initiative. Payne's many honors and awards include a knighthood in the Netherlands; a MacArthur Fellowship; a WWF Member of Honor; a UNEP Global 500 award; and Oxford University's Dawkins Prize.","url":"https://time.com/author/roger-payne/","worksFor":{"@type":"Organization","name":"TIME","url":"https://time.com/"}}] ```