Ludwik Fleck Prize
Awarded annually for the best book in the area of science and technology studies.
Created by the 4S Council in August of 1992. The author(s) receives a monetary stipend and an engraved plaque.
"Science and technology studies" is an interdisciplinary field, so the range of eligible books is very broad. It includes, but is not limited to, the disciplines of sociology, anthropology, history, philosophy, political science, economics, education, geography, and psychology as well as works combining or outside of the traditional academic disciplines. It includes studies of knowledge, policy, government, R&D, the uses of expertise, feminist and gender studies, technological controversies, technology transfer, rhetorical and literary analyses, and studies of specific technologies. Further, it includes works addressing science and technology for the public and for educational audiences. The main criterion is that the substantive content of the work be framed by a social science or humanities perspective of science and/or technology.
The Ludwik Fleck Prize is named after microbiologist Ludwik Fleck (1896-1961), author of The Genesis and Development of a Scientific Fact. Fleck's case history of the discovery of the Wassermann reaction to syphilis, was originally published in German in 1935, and republished in English in 1979 after having been cited by Thomas Kuhn as an important influence on his own conception of the history of science. Both Fleck's history of discovery, and the history of his book's re-discovery, exemplify a view of progress that continues to inform research in the science and technology studies fields.
Procedures
Committee: Membership on the book prize committees is completely ex-officio, consisting of council members and officers of the Society.
Nominations: Publishers, authors, and members of the Society may submit nominations (author, title, publisher) to the prize coordinator, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) by 1 February. In addition, publishers are contacted in late January and invited to submit eligible books from their catalog.
Eligibility: Each year the committee will review books with publication dates from the 3 prior years. For example, during the 2013 meeting, the committee will consider books with copyright dates of 2010 - 2012. Books may be re-nominated until their eligibility expires. Publishers or authors are responsible for sending review copies to each member of the committee by May 1 to be considered for that year's prize. Reprints, second editions, edited volumes, reference works and similar volumes are ineligible for consideration for the Fleck Prize. Multiple-authored books are eligible where they represent original work.
Short List: Through the procedure above, committees will designate a preliminary short list and meet during the 4S annual meeting to determine the winners. Awards are to be granted solely on the basis of merit as determined by the members of the committee, without reference to book reviews or recommendations by outside members. If a consensus winner does not emerge, a secret ballot will determine the winner, with honorable mentions as appropriate.
Award: The Fleck Prize Chair will inform the winner(s) after the decision of the committee to insure that the winner will be present at the award ceremony and available to participate in an Author-Meets-Critics session at the following annual meeting. The Chair of the prize committee organizes the Author-Meets-Critics session for the winning book.
Journal Review: In addition the prize committee is encouraged to identify book clusters (theoretical or thematic) to forward to ST&HV for the solicitation of review essay as part of their narrowing and selecting process.
Past Winners
2012. Hugh Raffles, Insectopedia
2011. Marion Fourcade, Economists and Societies: Discipline and Profession in the United States, Britain and France, 1890s to 1990s. (Princeton, 2009).
2010. Warwick Anderson. The Collectors of Lost Souls
2009. Steven Epstein. Inclusion: Politics of Difference in Medical Research
2008. Michelle Murphy. Sick Building Syndrome.
2007. Geoffrey Bowker. Memory Practices in the Sciences.
2006. Philip Mirowski. The Effortless Economy of Science?
2005. Peter Keating and Alberto Cambrosio. Biomedical Platforms
2004. Annemarie Mol. The Body Multiple
2003. Helen Verran. Science and an African Logic
2002. Randall Collins. The Sociology of Philosophies: A Global Theory of Intellectual Change
Lily E. Kay. Who Wrote the Book of Life? A History of the Genetic Code.
2001. Karin Knorr Cetina Epistemic Cultures: How the Sciences Make Knowledge
2000. Adele E. Clarke Disciplining Reproduction: Modernity, American Life Sciences, and 'the Problems of Sex'
1999. Donna J. Haraway. 1996. Modest Witness, Second-Millennium: Femaleman Meets Oncomouse: Feminism and Technoscience
1998. Peter Dear. Discipline and Experience: The Mathematical Way in the Scientific Revolution
1997 Theodore M. Porter, Trust in Numbers: The Pursuit of Objectivity in Science and Public Life
1996 Steven Shapin, A Social History of Truth: Civility and Science in 17th Century England
1995 Londa Schiebinger, Nature's Body: Gender in the Making of Modern Science
1994 Donald Mackenzie, Inventing Accuracy: A Historical Sociology of Nuclear Missile Guidance