The BSHS’s new Pickstone Prize is our tribute to a much-missed colleague and friend. In honouring the best recent scholarly book in the history of science, medicine and technology, the Prize is a fitting memorial both to the man and to his gift for promoting excellence in our field. The list of shortlisted books for the 2014 Pickstone Prize was exceptionally strong. But in the end one book stood out: Patently Contestable: Electrical Technologies and Inventor Identities on Trial in Britain, by Stathis Arapostathis and Graeme Gooday (MIT, 2013). The Prize Committee’s commendation can be read in full below.
Another pair of BSHS Prizes, the Great Exhibitions Prizes, were recently awarded by the Society’s Outreach and Education Committee (OEC). In the large displays category, the winner was the National Maritime Museum, London, for Ships, Clocks and Stars: The Quest for Longitude, which can be seen until 4 January. The winner in the small displays category was the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments at Harvard University for Body of Knowledge: A History of Anatomy (in 3 Parts). Never at rest, the OEC are now in the thick of judging the 2015 Dingle Prize, for the best recent book in the field for a general audience.
Our other major committee, the recently renamed Conferences Committee, has likewise been busy, awarding small grants for conferences around the country (see below for details on future deadlines and how to apply), and planning the 2015 BSHS annual conference in Swansea, 2-5 July. Proposals for sessions and individual papers for the Swansea conference are now being accepted, up to 31 January. Again, details can be found below.
A final word on one of the Society’s publications, our magazine Viewpoint. The most recent issue to arrive in your pigeonhole, mailslot or mailbox will be the last under the editorship of Melanie Keene. For five years, Mel has filled issue after colourful issue with vivid writing from an extraordinary range of contributors, on everything from meetings to museum objects to, in this final issue, the Meccano Magazine (in a piece by Peter Bowler), with each issue organized around a theme of her devising. She’s been an exemplary editor in every way, and Viewpoint a constant delight. On behalf of all of us, her grateful readers, it’s a pleasure to offer our deepest thanks and appreciation.
