The BSHS is delighted to announce that the 2015 Dingle Prize for the best book in history of science, technology and medicine accessible to a popular audience is awarded to Martin Rudwick for his book Earth’s Deep History: how it was discovered and why it matters (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2014). The judging was chaired by Gowan Dawson and three other members of the jury – Helen Bynum, Patricia Fara and Vanessa Heggie.
From the young Earth theories of the seventeenth century to the startling discoveries of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, inquisitive individuals have questioned the story of our planet’s development. Martin’s book captures vividly the significance and dynamism of these discoveries, providing an engaging yet rigorous account of how these ideas were debated and discussed. He will speak on the subject of his winning entry at the BSHS Annual Meeting in Swansea on Friday 3 July 2015.
The Dingle Prize was established in 1997 to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the British Society for the History of Science, and is named after the mathematician, astronomer and philosopher of science Herbert Dingle, a founder member of the BSHS. More information about the prize, including details of past winners, is available at http://www.bshs.org.uk/prizes/dingle-prize.