The British Society for the History of Science has announced Lea Beiermann as joint winner of the Singer Prize 2020, for her essay “‘A method for safe transmission’: the microscope slides of the American Postal Microscopical Club.”
The £500 prize is awarded every two years to recent entrants in the field and writers of essays outstanding in research, novelty and expression, based on original research into any aspect of the history of science, technology or medicine.
The jury described her piece as “a fascinating case study of the centrality of a particular material culture to the practice of microscopy in late nineteenth-century America, where craft skills in slide-preparation were shared by means of samples distributed via chain letter.”
The award is simultaneously awarded to Alex Aylward (University of Leeds). On the evidence of the submitted essays, the panel concludes that the pursuit of history of science, technology and medicine is in good hands for years to come.