The BSHS Hughes Prize, formerly the BSHS Dingle Prize, is awarded every two years to the best book in the history of science (broadly construed) published in English which is accessible to a wide audience of non-specialists. The prize is very much in keeping with the Society’s aim to communicate history of science to a wide audience. The winning book should present some aspect of the field in an engaging and comprehensible manner and should also show proper regard for historical methods and the results of historical research.
In keeping with this mission to highlight accessible and engaging scholarship, we are delighted to announce that this year’s winner of the BSHS Hughes Prize for an accessible book in the history of science is Renée Bergland for the book Natural Magic: Emily Dickinson, Charles Darwin, and the Dawn of Modern Science.
The winning submission was recognised as
“a brilliant, engaging and accessible consideration of two significant historical characters and their overlapping contexts in the history of science”.
Reflecting on the strength and diversity of this year’s submissions, the jury noted:
“It’s a tough time to be writing about the history of science, and science more broadly, so we were very encouraged to see so many submissions across such a wide and varied range of subjects to this year’s Hughes Prize. It goes to show the discipline is very much alive and kicking, and the more we know about where our ideas come from, the better equipped we are to deal with them and their legacies.”
The previous winner of the BSHS Hughes Prize, Keith Wailoo was recognised for the book Pushing Cool. Big Tobacco, Racial Marketing, and the Untold Story of the Menthol Cigarette.
Hughes Prize Winner
Renée Bergland
Natural Magic
Emily Dickinson, Charles Darwin, and the Dawn of Modern Science
Princeton University Press
Shortlisted Books
Alongside the winning title, the jury was impressed by four other outstanding books that made the shortlist. Each of these works represents engaging and accessible scholarship in the history of science — highly recommended reading for anyone interested in the field!
Nicola Twilley
Frostbite –
How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves
Penguin Random House
Jon Adams & Edmund Ramsden
Rat City –
Overcrowding and Urban Derangement in the Rodent Universes of John B. Calhoun
Penguin Random House
Benjamin Wardhaugh
Counting –
Humans, History and the infinite Lives of Numbers
Harper Collins Publisher
Violet Moller
Inside the Stargazer’s Palace –
The Transformation of Science in 16th-century Northern Europe
Harper Collins Publisher