Royal Society Prizes for Science Books

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The Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books is an annual £25,000 prize celebrating outstanding popular science books from around the world. It is open to authors of science books written for a non-specialist audience, and over the decades has championed writers such as Stephen Hawking, Jared Diamond, Stephen Jay Gould and Bill Bryson.

History

The Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books was originally established as the "Science Books Prize" in 1988 with the aim of encouraging the writing, publishing and reading of good and accessible popular science books. From 1990-2000 it was known as the "Rhône-Poulenc Prize for Science Books", from 2001-2006 as the "Aventis Prize for Science Books" and from 2007-2010 as the "Royal Society Prize for Science Books".

Judging Process

A panel of 5-6 judges decide the shortlist and the winner of the Prize each year. The panel is chaired by a fellow of the Royal Society and includes authors, scientists and media personalities. The judges for the 2015 prize include Professor Ian Stewart FRS, Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Dr Adam Rutherford and Sarah Waters. All books entered for the prize must be published in English for the first time between September and October the preceding year. The winner is announced at an award ceremony in September and receives £25,000. Each of the other shortlisted authors receive £2,500 each.

Shortlisted books

Each year's shortlist appears below. A blue ribbon (Blue ribbon) appears against the winner.

2015

The shortlist was announced on August 5, 2015,[1] and the winner on September 24, 2015.[2]

  • Blue ribbon Adventures in the Anthropocene: A Journey to the Heart of the Planet We Made, Gaia Vince (Chatto & Windus)
  • Life’s Greatest Secret, Matthew Cobb (Profile)
  • Smashing Physics, Jon Butterworth (Headline)
  • The Man Who Couldn’t Stop, David Adam (Picador)
  • Alex Through the Looking-Glass: How Life Reflects Numbers and Numbers Reflect Life, Alex Bellos (Bloomsbury)
  • Life on the Edge: The Coming of Age of Quantum Biology, Johnjoe Mcfadden and Jim Al-Khalili (Bantam Press)

2014

  • Blue ribbon Stuff Matters: The Strange Stories of the Marvellous Materials that Shape Our Man-made World, Mark Miodownik, (Viking - an imprint of Penguin Books)[3]
  • Serving the Reich: The Struggle for the Soul of Physics under Hitler, Philip Ball (The Bodley Head)
  • Seven Elements That Have Changed The World: Iron, Carbon, Gold, Silver, Uranium, Titanium, Silicon, John Browne (Weidenfeld & Nicolson - an imprint of the Orion Publishing Group)
  • The Perfect Theory: A Century of Geniuses and the Battle over General Relativity, Pedro G. Ferreira (Little, Brown Book Group)
  • The Cancer Chronicles: Unlocking Medicine's Deepest Mystery, George Johnson (The Bodley Head)
  • Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal, Mary Roach (Oneworld)

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

This was the first year that the prizes were given by the Royal Society.

2006

It was Jared Diamond's third nomination for the prize, having won twice previously. The 2006 prize was the last one to be sponsored by the Aventis Foundation.

2005

2004

2003

2002

2001

2000

Pre-2000 Winners

References

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  4. http://royalsociety.org/awards/science-books/
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  7. "Expert in idleness is surprise winner of science book prize", The Independent, 18 November 2011
  8. Royal Society's science book prize will be the last 21 October
  9. BBC Science News Prize for wonder of science past

External links