Prizes

The University of Oxford has a number of prizes in the field of the history of science, medicine, and technology. 

Please find below details of prizes for which submissions are required: the St Cross Centre for the History and Philosophy of Physics (HAPP) Essay Prize, the Jane Willis Kirkaldy Prizes in the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology, and the Dev Family Prize in the History of Medicine.

The Charles Webster Prize for the best master’s dissertation in the MSc/MPhil in History of Science, Medicine, and Technology is awarded automatically by the relevant exam board.

HAPP Essay Prize

HAPP Essay Prize in the History/Philosophy of Physics

 

The HAPP Essay Prize in the History/Philosophy of Physics is awarded for an outstanding essay produced by an undergraduate or Master's student in History, Philosophy or Physics at the University of Oxford on any topic in the history or philosophy of physics, and is an award of £250.

The prize is intended for an essay which is based around a short piece of formal work submitted for academic study at Oxford with a maximum of 3,000 words, although this should be rewritten to make the submitted essay accessible to non-specialist readers.

Submissions for the prize with the word count and details of the current undergraduate/Master's course included should be sent to the Director of HAPP by email to happ-centre@stx.ox.ac.uk by Friday Week 5, Trinity Term.

Winners:

The 2023 Prize was awarded to Zhengrong Qian for his essay entitled "Is Thermodynamics Worryingly Anthropocentric?".

The 2022 Prize was awarded to Amit Karmon for his essay entitled Two Seconds per Second.

The 2021 Prize was awarded to Kabir Bakshi for his essay entitled Dualities and Empirical Equivalence.

The 2020 Prize was awarded to Marta Bielińska for her essay entitled The Best System Approach and Scientific Practice.

The 2019 Prize was awarded to Julian Waddell (MSc in HSMT 2018-19) for his essay entitled Microscopy and Leibniz's Argument Against the Void.

The 2018 Prize was awarded to Manveer Sahota for his essay entitled "Painting the Correct Picture of Probability in Everettian Quantum Mechanics: Why Branch Counting is Untenable".

The 2017 HAPP Essay Prize was awarded to Rebecca Charbonneau (MSc in HSMT 2016-17) for her essay entitled Intelligent Life in the Universe: The Influence of Cosmism in Mid-20th Century Astrophysics.

Jane Willis Kirkaldy Prizes

The Jane Willis Kirkaldy Prizes, Junior and Senior, are awarded annually to outstanding essays in the field of the history of science, medicine, and technology at the University of Oxford.  The best submission is awarded a prize of £300.  At its discretion, the prize committee may award a proxime accessit prize.

Junior Prize

The Committee for the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology gives notice that the Junior Prize of £300 will be offered for competition in Michaelmas Term. At its discretion, the Committee may award a proxime accessit prize.

The Junior Prize is open to all undergraduate members of the University and to those who, at the deadline for the submission of the essays, are within one term of having completed the examination for an undergraduate degree of the University, provided that the Junior Prize shall not be awarded a second time to the same person, nor shall a person who has been awarded the Junior Prize receive on any subsequent occasion a proxime accessit award to the Junior Prize. A person who has received a proxime accessit award to the Junior Prize may, however, be eligible to be awarded the Junior Prize for a different piece of work on a subsequent occasion.

Candidates are invited to submit an essay of the order of 10,000 to 15,000 words, on a topic concerning the history of science or technology. The history of science will be taken in this instance to include the history of medicine. Candidates are advised to state the principal sources whence their information has been obtained.  Candidates are to note that essays should be specifically historical in their approach and versions of essays previously submitted as undergraduate dissertations should be revised in order to meet the specifications of the Prize.  Candidates are encouraged to contact the coordinator of the prize, at kirkaldy@history.ox.ac.uk, for further guidance prior to submitting.

The prize money shall be spent on books, unless the express consent of the Committee for the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology is given to the contrary.

Essays should be emailed to the coordinator of the Prize, at kirkaldy@history.ox.ac.ukno later than Friday, Week 8 Trinity Term.

A copy of the entry that wins the Junior Prize is to be deposited in the library of the History of Science Museum

Senior Prize

The Committee for the History of Science, Medicine and Technology gives notice that the Senior Prize of £300 will be offered for competition in Michaelmas Term. At its discretion, the Committee may award a proxime accessit prize.

The Senior Prize is open to all members of the University registered as students for the degree of MSc, MLitt, MSt, MPhil or DPhil in the University and who are not eligible to enter for the Junior Prize. The Senior Prize may not be awarded to the same person twice, nor may a piece of work submitted at any time for the Junior Prize be submitted at the same time or subsequently for the Senior Prize, nor shall a person who has been awarded the Senior Prize receive on any subsequent occasion a proxime accessit award to the Senior Prize. A person who has received a proxime accessit award to the Senior Prize may, however, be eligible to be awarded the Senior Prize for a different piece of work on a subsequent occasion.

Candidates are invited to submit an essay of the order of 10,000 to 15,000 words, on a topic concerning the history of science or technology. The history of science will be taken in this instance to include the history of medicine. Candidates are advised to state the principal sources whence their information has been obtained.  Candidates are to note that essays should be specifically historical in their approach and must be self-contained (i.e., not a chapter of a thesis).  Dissertations should be revised in order to meet the specifications of the Prize.  Candidates are encouraged to contact the coordinator of the prize, at kirkaldy(at)history.ox.ac.uk, for further guidance prior to submitting.  

The prize money shall be spent on books, unless the express consent of the Committee for the History of Science, Medicine and Technology is given to the contrary.

Essays should be emailed to the coordinator of the Prize, at kirkaldy@history.ox.ac.uk, no later than the first Monday of October.

The winner will be announced in the Oxford University Gazette.

Dev Family Prize

The Dev Family Annual Book Prize was established in 2014 according to the wishes of Dr Sukhendu Dev in memory of his brother Nagendu B Dev. 

Nagendu received his Masters degree from Bath University (UK) and his PhD from Ruhr University (Germany) before becoming a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Bombay.  He went on to become a scientist working at several institutions in the US including the University of California in San Diego. 

The Dev Family Annual Book Prize will be awarded annually for the best DPhil thesis in the history of medicine at the University of Oxford.  Should they win the prize the winner will be reimbursed for book purchases to the amount of the prize.  Theses eligible for the competition will be judged by a panel consisting of, or appointed by, the Committee for the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology and chaired by the Director of the Centre for the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology, or his/her deputy, and will also take into consideration the Examiners’ Reports.  The prize will be awarded in 9th week of Trinity Term each year.  All doctoral theses in the history of medicine successfully examined during the twelve months before Friday of 8th week of Hilary Term will be considered for the prize.  Candidates unsure whether their thesis is eligible should contact the Director of the Centre for the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology or his/her deputy prior to submitting their thesis. 

Winners:

2020 - Andrew Lea, University of Oxford
Computerising Diagnosis: Minds, Medicine and Machines in Twentieth-Century America

2019 - Mark Lee, University of Oxford
Madness, Medicine, and Religious Identity in the Nineteenth-century Atlantic World

2018 - Chris Andreas, University of Fort Hare
The Background to, and Impact and Management of, the Epizootics of Lungsickness and African Horsesickness in the Cape Colony, c.1853-7

2017 - Kathryn Olivarius, University of Oxford
Necropolis: Yellow Fever, Immunity, and Capitalism in the Deep South, 1800-1860

2016 - Claas Kirchhelle, University of Oxford
Pyrrhic Progress – Antibiotics and Western Food Production (1949-2013)

2015 - Mary Cox, University of Oxford
Hunger in War and Peace: An Analysis of the Nutritional Status of Women and Children in Germany, 1914-1924

2014 - Eric Schneider, University of Oxford
Studies in Historical Living Standards and Health: Integrating the Household and Children into Historical Measures of Living Standards and Health