The Francis Bacon Award in the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology
Offered biennially in the amount of $20,000, the Francis Bacon Award is bestowed on an outstanding scholar whose work continues to have a substantial impact in the history of science, the history of technology, or historically-engaged philosophy of science. The winner of the Bacon Award is invited to spend one term (10 weeks) as a Visiting Professor at Caltech to teach and lead a biennial conference that brings together the best younger and established scholars in the area of the Bacon Visiting Professor's specific interests.
HSS selected John Krige as the 2020 Francis Bacon Award recipient. Krige, the Kranzberg Professor in the School of History and Sociology at the Georgia Institute of Technology, studies the intersection between science, technology, and foreign policy. The main focus of his research has been on the development of civilian nuclear and space programs in Western Europe and the United States during the Cold War. Krige has written several books, including How Knowledge Moves--Writing the Transnational History of Science and Technology, (University of Chicago Press, 2019).
While in residence at Caltech for the 2019 fall term, Krige taught a course titled Forbidden Knowledge that explored the strategies developed by the U.S. research community to protect the international circulation of knowledge after World War II, when scientific freedom and the export of technical data had to be balanced with the needs of national security. Krige returned in the winter to co-host the 2020 Francis Bacon Conference with Doris and Henry Dreyfuss Professor of History Jed Buchwald.
Please direct questions about the Francis Bacon Award to baconadmin@caltech.edu.
PREVIOUS AWARDEES
Niccolò Guicciardini (2018), Associate Professor, Department of Human and Social Sciences, Università degli studi di Bergamo, Italy
Jürgen Renn (2016), Director, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
Lisa Jardine (2014), Centre for Editing Lives and Letters, University College London, Renaissance Studies
Myles Jackson (2011), Gallatin School, New York University, History of Science
Naomi Oreskes (2010), Professor of History and Science Studies, Department of History, UC San Diego
Alexander Jones (2007), Professor of the History of the Exact Sciences in Antiquity, NYU Institute for the Study of the Ancient World
Lawrence
Principe (2005), Drew Professor of the Humanities, Director of the
Charles Singleton Center for the Study of Pre-Modern Europe, Department
of the History of Science and Technology, Johns Hopkins University
PREVIOUS CONFERENCES
Transnational Transactions: Negotiating the Movement of Knowledge Across Borders [February 20-21, 2020]
- Conference Program
- John Krige // Bacon Award Keynote Lecture [poster]
Anachronism(s) in the History of Mathematics [April 13-14, 2018]
- Conference Program
- Niccolò Guicciardini // Bacon Award Keynote Lecture [poster]
General Relativity at One Hundred [March 10-12, 2016]
- Conference Program
- Jürgen Renn // Bacon Award Public Lecture [video]
- Kip Thorne // GR 100 Public Lecture [video]
Testimonies: States of Mind and States of the Body in the Early Modern Period [May 9-10, 2014]
Molecular Biology and Intellectual Property in the Age of Biocapitalism [May 6-7, 2011]
How the Cold War Transformed Science [May 7-9, 2010]
Ptolemy in Perspective: Use and Criticism of His Work from Antiquity to the Present [May 31-June 2, 2007]
Workshop on 18th Century Chemistry [April 21-June 2, 2005]