The British Society for the History of Science is delighted to announce Alex Aylward (Leeds) and Lea Beiermann (Maastricht) as joint winners of the Singer Prize 2020. The prize, of £500, is awarded every two years to writers of essays outstanding in research, novelty and expression, based on original research into any aspect of the history of science, technology or medicine. The prize is intended for recent entrants into the profession
Aylward’s essay, ‘The best argument for the socialist state which I have yet seen’: R. A. Fisher, eugenics, and the campaign for family allowances in interwar Britain, explores the interest of the statistician RA Fisher in family allowances, which he saw – quite contrary to their normal purpose of the alleviation of child poverty and the struggle for women’s equality – as a eugenic measure to stimulate reproduction among, as he saw them, the eugenically ‘desirable’ middle and upper classes.
Beiermann’s piece, ‘A method for safe transmission’: the microscope slides of the American Postal Microscopical Club, is a fascinating case study of the centrality of a particular material culture to the practice of microscopy in late 19thc America, where craft skills in slide-preparation were shared by means of samples distributed via chain letter.
Press release quotation: ‘This year’s submissions for the Singer Prize, which is intended for new entrants to the profession, were of a very high standard, so that the panel were spoiled for choice between essays on a huge diversity of topics and an admirable variety of styles and approaches. On the evidence of these essays, the pursuit of history of science, technology and medicine is in good hands for years to come. It is our intention that members will be able to read a good selection of this work in BJHS in forthcoming issues.’
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