The Aventis Prizes for Science Books
Encyclopedia
The Royal Society Prizes for Science Books is an annual award for the previous year's best general science writing and best science writing for children. The nominees and winners are decided by the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...

, the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 national academy of science. It is generally considered to be the most prestigious science writing award.

The prizes were established in 1988 and were known as the Science Book Prizes until 1990 when they were sponsored by Rhône-Poulenc
Rhône-Poulenc
-History of the company:The Company was founded in 1928 through the merger of Société des Usines Chimiques du Rhône from Lyon and Établissements Poulenc Frères from Paris founded by Étienne Poulenc, a 19th century Parisian apothecary and brought to prominence by his second and third sons Emile...

 and became known as the Rhône-Poulenc Prizes for Science Books. Between 2000 and 2006, following the merger of Rhône-Poulenc with Hoechst AG
Hoechst AG
Hoechst AG was a German chemicals then life-sciences company that became Aventis Deutschland after its merger with France's Rhône-Poulenc S.A. in 1999...

 to form Aventis
Aventis
Aventis was a pharmaceutical and lab assay testing company. It was formed in 1999 when Rhône-Poulenc S.A. merged with Hoechst AG. The merged company was based in Strasbourg, France. With its headquarters in Strasbourg, Aventis was the product of the first transnational merger to combine large...

, the prizes were renamed the Aventis Prizes for Science Books. From 2007 to 2010 the prizes were managed and sponsored by the Royal Society. In February 2011 it was announced that Winton Capital Management
Winton Capital Management
Winton Capital Management is a British investment management firm, founded by David Harding. It is a UK-authorised investment manager trading as a commodity trading advisor . The company's trading decisions are guided by models developed from scientific research and mathematical analysis. It...

 agreed to a sponsorship deal for the following 5 years and the prizes were renamed as Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books and Royal Society Young People's Book Prize.

Judging Process

Entries are open to any book published in English in the preceding calendar year, that can be purchased in the UK. Two judging panels, one for the General Prize (for best general science writing) and one for the Junior Prize (for best science writing for young people up to the age of 14) assess the entries and select a long list of around 12 books and then a shortlist of six books. The General Prize panel then select the winner. The winner of the Junior Prize is selected by panels of school-age children (a total of 800 in 75 groups for the 2005 Prizes). The winner in each category receives £10,000. £1000 per book is awarded to the authors of the remaining shortlisted books.

Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books

This category is awarded to the best science writing for a non-specialist audience.

2011 Winner

  • The Wavewatcher’s Companion, Gavin Pretor-Pinney
    Gavin Pretor-Pinney
    Gavin Edmund Pretor-Pinney is a British designer and author of the best-selling The Cloudspotter's Guide .Pretor-Pinney attended Westminster School, the University of Oxford, and Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design...



Other nominees:
  • Alex’s Adventures in Numberland, Alex Bellos
  • Through the Language Glass: How Words Colour Your World, Guy Deutscher
  • The Disappearing Spoon, Sam Kean
  • Massive: The Missing Particle That Sparked the Greatest Hunt in Science, Ian Sample
  • The Rough Guide to The Future, Jon Turney

2010 Winner

  • Life Ascending , Nick Lane
    Nick Lane
    Nick Lane is a British biochemist. He holds the post of honorary reader and is the first Provost's Venture Research Fellow at University College London and was formerly strategic director at Adelphi MediCine, a medical multimedia company. He is the author of three popular science books and many...



Other nominees:
  • A World Without Ice , Henry Pollack
  • Everyday Practice of Science: Where Intuition and Passion Meet Objectivity and Logic, Frederick Grinnell
    Frederick Grinnell (biologist)
    Frederick Grinnell is an American cell biologist, also known for his work in bioethics. Currently, he is professor of cell biology at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. He took his undergraduate degree in chemistry at Clark University and Ph.D. in biochemistry at Tufts University...

  • God’s Philosophers: How the medieval world laid the foundations of modern science, James Hannam
  • We Need To Talk About Kelvin, Marcus Chown
    Marcus Chown
    Marcus Chown is an award-winning writer, journalist and broadcaster, currently cosmology consultant for New Scientist magazine. He graduated from the University of London in 1980, gaining a first class degree in physics, and later gained a Master of Science in astrophysics from the California...

  • Why Does E=mc2?, Brian Cox
    Brian Cox (physicist)
    Brian Edward Cox, OBE , is a British particle physicist, a Royal Society University Research Fellow and a professor at the University of Manchester. He is a member of the High Energy Physics group at the University of Manchester, and works on the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at...

     and Jeff Forshaw

2009 Winner

  • The Age of Wonder
    The Age of Wonder (book)
    The Age of Wonder: How the romantic generation discovered the beauty and terror of Science is a 2008 popular science book about the history of science written by Richard Holmes. In it, the author describes the scientific discoveries of the polymaths of the late eighteenth century, and describes...

    by Richard Holmes
    Richard Holmes (biographer)
    Richard Holmes, OBE, FRSL, FBA is a British author and academic best known for his biographical studies of major figures of British and French Romanticism.-Biography:...



Other nominees:
  • Decoding the Heavens
    Decoding the Heavens
    Decoding the Heavens: A 2,000-Year-old Computer and the Century Long Search to Discover Its Secrets by Jo Marchant is an exploration of the history and significance of the Antikythera Mechanism, , an ancient mechanical calculator designed to calculate astronomical positions...

    by Jo Marchant
    Jo Marchant
    Jo Marchant is a freelance journalist specializing in science and history. After gaining a BSc in genetics and a PhD in microbiology she became a science writer, and is the author of Decoding the Heavens, an exploration of the history and significance of the Antikythera mechanism...

  • What the Nose Knows by Avery Gilbert
    Avery Gilbert
    Avery Gilbert describes himself as a "smell scientist" and "sensory psychologist" , and is a respected science author....

  • Bad Science
    Bad Science (book)
    Bad Science is a book by Ben Goldacre, criticising mainstream media reporting on health and science issues. Published by Fourth Estate in September 2008, the book contains extended and revised versions of many of his Guardian columns...

    by Ben Goldacre
    Ben Goldacre
    Ben Michael Goldacre born 1974 is a British science writer, doctor and psychiatrist. He is the author of The Guardian newspaper's weekly Bad Science column and a book of the same title, published by Fourth Estate in September 2008....

  • Your Inner Fish - A Journey Into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body by Neil Shubin
    Neil Shubin
    Neil Shubin is an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist and popular science writer. He is the Robert R. Bensley Professor of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, Associate Dean of Organismal Biology and Anatomy and Professor on the Committee of Evolutionary Biology at the University of...

  • The Drunkard's Walk - How Randomness Rules Our Lives by Leonard Mlodinow
    Leonard Mlodinow
    Leonard Mlodinow is a physicist and author.Mlodinow was born in Chicago, Illinois, of parents who were both Holocaust survivors. His father, who spent more than a year in the Buchenwald concentration camp, had been a leader in the Jewish resistance under Nazi rule in his hometown of Częstochowa,...


2008 Winner

  • Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet
    Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet
    Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet , ISBN 9780007209057 is a 2007 non-fiction book by author Mark Lynas about global warming.- Themes :The book is a meta-analysis that details the science of climate change...

    by Mark Lynas
    Mark Lynas
    Mark Lynas is a British author, journalist and environmental activist who focuses on climate change. He is a contributor to New Statesman, Ecologist, Granta and Geographical magazines, and The Guardian and The Observer newspapers in the UK; he also worked on the film The Age of Stupid...



Other nominees:
  • Coral - A Pessimist in Paradise by Steve Jones
    Steve Jones (biologist)
    John Stephen Jones is a Welsh geneticist and from 1995 to 1999 and 2008 to June 2010 was Head of the Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment at University College London. His studies are conducted in the Galton Laboratory. He is also a television presenter and a prize-winning author on...

  • Reckoning with Risk by Gerd Gigerenzer
    Gerd Gigerenzer
    Gerd Gigerenzer is a German psychologist who has studied the use of bounded rationality and heuristics in decision making, especially in medicine...

  • A Life Decoded - My Genome: My Life by J. Craig Venter
  • The Sun Kings - The Unexpected Tragedy of Richard Carrington and the Tale of How Modern Astronomy Began by Stuart Clark
  • Why Beauty is Truth - A History of Symmetry
    Why Beauty Is Truth: A History of Symmetry
    Why Beauty Is Truth: A History of Symmetry is a 2007 book by Ian Stewart.Following the life and work of famous mathematicians from antiquity to the present, Stewart traces Mathematics' developing handling of the concept of Symmetry...

    by Ian Stewart
    Ian Stewart (mathematician)
    Ian Nicholas Stewart FRS is a professor of mathematics at the University of Warwick, England, and a widely known popular-science and science-fiction writer. He is the first recipient of the , awarded jointly by the LMS and the IMA for his work on promoting mathematics.-Biography:Stewart was born...


2007 Winner

  • Stumbling on Happiness
    Stumbling on Happiness
    Stumbling on Happiness is a non-fiction book by Daniel Gilbert. It was published in the United States and Canada in 2006 by Knopf, and has been translated into 20 languages. It is a New York Times bestseller.-Summary:...

    by Daniel Gilbert


Other nominees:
  • Homo Britannicus by Chris Stringer
    Chris Stringer
    Christopher Brian Stringer FRS, better known as Chris Stringer, is a British anthropologist.He is one of the leading proponents of the recent single-origin hypothesis or "Out of Africa" theory, which hypothesizes that modern humans originated in Africa over 100,000 years ago and replaced the...

  • In Search of Memory by Eric R. Kandel
    Eric R. Kandel
    Eric Richard Kandel is an American neuropsychiatrist who was a recipient of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his research on the physiological basis of memory storage in neurons...

  • Lonesome George by Henry Nicholls
    Henry Nicholls
    Henry Nicholls may refer to:* H. R. Nicholls Society, a right-wing Australian think tank on industrial relations* Henry Nicholls, explorer and member of the African Association...

  • One in Three by Adam Wishart
    Adam Wishart
    Adam Wishart is an award-winning documentary filmmaker. His professional background includes writing, directing, and appearing in various productions for BBC television projects.- Writing :...

  • The Rough Guide to Climate Change by Robert Henson
    Robert Henson
    Robert Henson is an award winning author and journalist on topics primarily concerned with the weather and climate change.-Biography:Robert Henson grew up in Oklahoma City, surrounded by the wild weather of the US Great Plains. It was a tornado warning that got him interested in atmospheric science...



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

2006 Winner

  • Electric Universe: How Electricity Switched on the Modern World by David Bodanis
    David Bodanis
    David Bodanis is a popular science writer. Originally from Chicago, he lived in France for ten years. He is now based in London.His first commercial success The Secret House: 24 hours in the strange & wonderful world in which we spend our nights and days established him with the literary style of...


Other nominees:
  • Power, Sex, Suicide: Mitochondria and the Meaning of Life by Nick Lane
    Nick Lane
    Nick Lane is a British biochemist. He holds the post of honorary reader and is the first Provost's Venture Research Fellow at University College London and was formerly strategic director at Adelphi MediCine, a medical multimedia company. He is the author of three popular science books and many...

  • Empire of the Stars: Friendship, Obsession and Betrayal in the Quest for Black Holes, by Arthur I Miller
  • Parallel Worlds: The Science of Alternative Universes and our Future in the Cosmos, by Michio Kaku
    Michio Kaku
    is an American theoretical physicist, the Henry Semat Professor of Theoretical Physics in the City College of New York of City University of New York, the co-founder of string field theory, and a "communicator" and "popularizer" of science...

  • Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
    Collapse (book)
    Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed is a 2005 book by Jared M. Diamond, professor of geography and physiology at University of California, Los Angeles...

    , by Jared Diamond
    Jared Diamond
    Jared Mason Diamond is an American scientist and author whose work draws from a variety of fields. He is currently Professor of Geography and Physiology at UCLA...

  • The Truth About Hormones: What's Going on when We're Tetchy, Spotty, Fearful, Tearful or Just Plain Awful, by Vivienne Parry
    Vivienne Parry
    Vivienne Mary Hunt Parry, OBE is a science journalist.-Early life:She was educated at St Swithun's School, Winchester, an independent girls' school...



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 Winner

  • Critical Mass: How One Thing Leads to Another
    Critical Mass (book)
    Critical Mass: How One Thing Leads to Another is a non-fiction book by English chemist and physicist Philip Ball, originally published in 2004 by William Heinemann of Great Britain, which outlines a “physics of society”, both in an historical sense, namely those thinkers of the past, such as Thomas...

    by Philip Ball
    Philip Ball
    Philip Ball is an English science writer. He holds a degree in chemistry from Oxford and a doctorate in physics from Bristol University. He was an editor for the journal Nature for over 10 years. He now writes a regular column in Chemistry World...

     ISBN 0-374-28125-4

Other nominees:
  • The Ancestor's Tale
    The Ancestor's Tale
    The Ancestor's Tale is a 2004 popular science book by Richard Dawkins, with contributions from Dawkins' research assistant Yan Wong. It follows the path of humans backwards through evolutionary history, meeting humanity's cousins as they converge on common ancestors...

    by Richard Dawkins
    Richard Dawkins
    Clinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL , known as Richard Dawkins, is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author...

  • Why Life Speeds Up As You Get Older by Douwe Draaisma
  • Matters Of Substance: Drugs - And Why Everyone's A User by Griffith Edwards
    Griffith Edwards
    Griffith Edwards, CBE was born in India and received his M.D. from Oxford University, since which time he has focused on the study and treatment of alcohol and other drug dependence and related aspects of addictions...

  • The Earth: An Intimate History by Richard Fortey
    Richard Fortey
    Richard A. Fortey FRS is a British palaeontologist and writer.-Career:Richard Fortey studied geology at the University of Cambridge and had a long career as a palaeontologist at the Natural History Museum in London. Prof. Fortey’s research interests include, above all, trilobites...

  • The Human Mind by Robert Winston
    Robert Winston
    Robert Maurice Lipson Winston, Baron Winston is a British professor, medical doctor, scientist, television presenter and politician.-Early life and education :...


2004 Winner

  • A Short History of Nearly Everything
    A Short History of Nearly Everything
    A Short History of Nearly Everything is a popular science book by American author Bill Bryson that explains some areas of science, using a style of language which aims to be more accessible to the general public than many other books dedicated to the subject...

    by Bill Bryson
    Bill Bryson
    William McGuire "Bill" Bryson, OBE, is a best-selling American author of humorous books on travel, as well as books on the English language and on science. Born an American, he was a resident of Britain for most of his adult life before moving back to the US in 1995...


Other nominees:
  • In The Beginning Was the Worm by Andrew Brown
  • Magic Universe by Nigel Calder
    Nigel Calder
    Nigel Calder is a British science writer.Between 1956 and 1966, Calder wrote for the magazine New Scientist, serving as editor from 1962 until 1966...

  • Mutants by Armand Marie Leroi
    Armand Marie Leroi
    Armand Marie Leroi is an evolutionary developmental biologist at Imperial College in London. A Dutch citizen, his youth was spent in New Zealand, South Africa and Canada. He was awarded a BSc. by Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada in 1989, and a Ph.D. by the University of California, Irvine in...

  • Nature Via Nurture by Matt Ridley
    Matt Ridley
    Matthew White Ridley, FRSL, FMedSci is an English journalist, writer, biologist, and businessman.-Career:...

  • Backroom Boys by Francis Spufford
    Francis Spufford
    -Early life:He studied English Literature at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, gaining a BA in 1985.-Career:He was Chief Publisher's Reader from 1987-90 for Chatto & Windus....

  • How to Clone the Perfect Blonde
    How to Clone the Perfect Blonde
    How to Clone the Perfect Blonde is the title of a book by BBC journalists Sue Nelson and Richard Hollingham. Ebury Press published the book in 2003 ....

    by Sue Nelson
    Sue Nelson
    Sue Nelson is a regular reporter and occasional presenter of The Material World on BBC Radio 4. Nelson has also presented a number of science series on Radio 4, including Britain's Modern Brunels and Citizen Scientist in 2006....

     and Richard Hollingham

2003 Winner

  • Right Hand, Left Hand by Chris McManus

Other nominees:
  • Small World by Mark Buchanan
    Mark Buchanan
    Mark Buchanan is an American physicist and author. He was formerly an editor with the international journal of science Nature , and the popular science magazine New Scientist...

  • Reckoning With Risk by Gerd Gigerenzer
    Gerd Gigerenzer
    Gerd Gigerenzer is a German psychologist who has studied the use of bounded rationality and heuristics in decision making, especially in medicine...

  • The Extravagant Universe by Robert P. Kirshner
  • The Blank Slate
    The Blank Slate
    The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature is a best-selling 2002 book by Steven Pinker arguing against tabula rasa models of the social sciences. Pinker argues that human behavior is substantially shaped by evolutionary psychological adaptations...

    by Steven Pinker
    Steven Pinker
    Steven Arthur Pinker is a Canadian-American experimental psychologist, cognitive scientist, linguist and popular science author...

  • Where Is Everybody? (book)|Where Is Everybody? by Stephen Webb
    Stephen Webb
    Stephen Webb may refer to:*Stephen H. Webb, American theologian*Stephen P. Webb , former mayor of Beverly Hills, California*Stephen Palfrey Webb , sixth mayor of San Francisco-See also:*Steven Webb, British actor...


2002 Winner

  • The Universe in a Nutshell
    The Universe in a Nutshell
    The Universe in a Nutshell is one of Stephen Hawking's books on theoretical physics. It explains to a general audience various matters relating to the Lucasian professor's work, such as Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem and P-branes . It tells the history and principles of modern physics...

    by Stephen Hawking
    Stephen Hawking
    Stephen William Hawking, CH, CBE, FRS, FRSA is an English theoretical physicist and cosmologist, whose scientific books and public appearances have made him an academic celebrity...


Other nominees:
  • Aeons - The Search for the Beginning of Time by Martin Gorst
  • The Secret Life of Dust by Hannah Holmes
    Hannah Holmes
    Hannah Holmes is an American writer, journalist, essayist, and science commentator for Science Live and radio shows such as Maine Things Considered. She has published four books, most recently Quirk: Brain Science Makes Sense of Your Peculiar Personality...

  • The Madness of Adam and Eve: Did Schizophrenia Shape Humanity? by David Horrobin
    David Horrobin
    David Frederick Horrobin was an entrepreneur, medical researcher, author and editor. He is best known as the founder of the biotechnology company Scotia Holdings and as a promoter of evening primrose oil as a medical treatment, Horrobin was founder and editor of the journals Medical Hypotheses and...

  • A Primate's Memoir
    A Primate's Memoir
    A Primate's Memoir is a book by the American biologist Robert M. Sapolsky. The book documents Sapolsky's years in Kenya studying baboons as a graduate student. The chapters alternate between describing observations of a troop of baboons and the wildly different culture in Africa that he is...

    by Robert M. Sapolsky
    Robert Sapolsky
    Robert Maurice Sapolsky is an American scientist and author. He is currently Professor of Biological Sciences, and Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences and, by courtesy, Neurosurgery, at Stanford University. In addition, he is a Research Associate at the National Museums of...

  • Rivals - Conflict as the Fuel of Science by Michael White
    Michael White (author)
    Michael White is a British writer based in Sydney, Australia. He has been a science editor of British GQ, a columnist for the Sunday Express in London and, 'in a previous incarnation', he was a member of the band the Thompson Twins and Colour me Pop...


2001 Winner

  • Mapping the Deep by Robert Kunzig
    Robert Kunzig
    Robert Kunzig is an award-winning scientific journalist, specializing in the topic of oceans. He works at the European division of Discover magazine and is a regular contributor to National Geographic...


Other nominees:
  • Creation: Life and How to Make It by Steve Grand
    Steve Grand
    Steve Grand OBE is an English computer scientist and an internationally recognised roboticist. He was the creator and lead programmer of the Creatures artificial life simulation, which he discussed in his first book Creation: Life and how to make it, a finalist for the 2001 Aventis Prize for...

  • Strange Beauty by George Johnson
    George Johnson (writer)
    George Johnson is an American journalist and science writer. He is the author of a number of books, including The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments and Strange Beauty: Murray Gell-Mann and the Revolution in 20th-Century Physics , and writes for a number of publications, including The New York...

  • Mendel's Demon by Mark Ridley
    Mark Ridley (zoologist)
    Mark Ridley is a British zoologist and writer on evolution.He studied at both Oxford and Cambridge in the 1980s , was a professor at Emory University, Atlanta, U.S.A., and - as of 2005 - works at the Department of Zoology, Oxford University...

  • Mendeleyev's Dream by Paul Strathern
    Paul Strathern
    Paul Strathern is a British writer and academic. He was born in London, and studied at Trinity College, Dublin, after which he served in the Merchant Navy over a period of two years. He then lived on a Greek island. In 1966 he travelled overland to India and the Himalayas...

  • Malignant Sadness by Lewis Wolpert
    Lewis Wolpert
    Lewis Wolpert CBE FRS FRSL is a developmental biologist, author, and broadcaster.-Career:Wolpert was educated at the University of Witwatersrand , at Imperial College London, and at King's College London...


2000 Winner

  • The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene
    Brian Greene
    Brian Greene is an American theoretical physicist and string theorist. He has been a professor at Columbia University since 1996. Greene has worked on mirror symmetry, relating two different Calabi-Yau manifolds...


Other nominees:
  • The White Death by Thomas Dormandy
  • A Brief History of the Future
    A Brief History of the Future
    A Brief History of the Future is a prospective book about the next 50 years by Jacques Attali. The original edition was published by Fayard in 2006.- History :...

    by John Naughton
    John Naughton
    John Naughton is an Irish academic, journalist and writer based in the United Kingdom since 1968. He has worked at the Open University since 1972, and has held the title of Professor of the Public Understanding of Technology since 2006....

  • Genome
    Genome (book)
    Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters is a 1999 popular science book by Matt Ridley, published by Fourth Estate.The book devotes one chapter to each pair of human chromosomes. Since one chapter is required to discuss the sex chromosomes, the final chapter is number 22...

    by Matt Ridley
    Matt Ridley
    Matthew White Ridley, FRSL, FMedSci is an English journalist, writer, biologist, and businessman.-Career:...

  • Time, Love, Memory by Jonathan Weiner
    Jonathan Weiner
    Jonathan Weiner is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author of non-fiction books on his biology observations, in particular evolution in the Galápagos Islands, genetics, and the environment....

  • Children of Prometheus by Christopher Wills
    Christopher Wills
    Christopher J. Wills is Professor of Biology at UCSD.He received his Ph.D. from UC Berkeley. As a Guggenheim Fellow, he worked at the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, on protein chemistry and evolution....


Pre-2000 Winners

  • (1999) The Man Who Loved Only Numbers
    The Man Who Loved Only Numbers
    The Man Who Loved Only Numbers is a biography of the famous mathematician Paul Erdős written by Paul Hoffman. It was first published in 1998 as a hardcover edition. A paperback edition appeared in 1999. The book is, in the words of the author, "a work in oral history based on the recollections of...

    , Paul Hoffman
  • (1998) Guns, Germs and Steel, Jared Diamond
    Jared Diamond
    Jared Mason Diamond is an American scientist and author whose work draws from a variety of fields. He is currently Professor of Geography and Physiology at UCLA...

  • (1997) The Wisdom of Bones, Alan Walker
    Alan Walker (academic)
    Alan Walker , is Evan Pugh Professor of Biological Anthropology and Biology at the Pennsylvania State University. He received his B.A. from Cambridge University in 1962, and his Ph.D. from the University of London in 1967. He was also awarded a MacArthur Fellowship "genius grant" in 1988.Dr...

     and Pat Shipman
  • (1996) Plague’s Progress, Arno Karlen
  • (1995) The Consumer’s Good Chemical Guide, John Emsley
    John Emsley
    Dr John Emsley is a British writer, broadcaster and academic specialising in chemistry. He lectured at Cambridge University, England.-Newspaper column:For six years Emsley wrote a column on chemistry for the Independent called "Molecule of the Month"....

  • (1994) The Language of the Genes
    The Language of the Genes
    The Language of the Genes is a popular science book by Steve Jones about genetics and evolution. It followed a 1991 series of Reith Lectures by Jones with the same title...

    , Steve Jones
    Steve Jones (biologist)
    John Stephen Jones is a Welsh geneticist and from 1995 to 1999 and 2008 to June 2010 was Head of the Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment at University College London. His studies are conducted in the Galton Laboratory. He is also a television presenter and a prize-winning author on...

  • (1993) The Making of Memory, Steven Rose
    Steven Rose
    Steven P. Rose is a Professor of Biology and Neurobiology at the Open University and University of London.-Life:...

  • (1992) The Rise and Fall of the Third Chimpanzee, Jared Diamond
    Jared Diamond
    Jared Mason Diamond is an American scientist and author whose work draws from a variety of fields. He is currently Professor of Geography and Physiology at UCLA...

  • (1991) Wonderful Life
    Wonderful Life (book)
    Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History is a book on the evolution of Cambrian fauna by Harvard paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould...

    , Stephen Jay Gould
    Stephen Jay Gould
    Stephen Jay Gould was an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science. He was also one of the most influential and widely read writers of popular science of his generation....

  • (1990) The Emperor's New Mind
    The Emperor's New Mind
    The Emperor's New Mind: Concerning Computers, Minds and The Laws of Physics is a 1989 book by mathematical physicist Sir Roger Penrose.Penrose presents the argument that human consciousness is non-algorithmic, and thus is not capable of being modeled by a conventional Turing machine-type of digital...

    , Roger Penrose
    Roger Penrose
    Sir Roger Penrose OM FRS is an English mathematical physicist and Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics at the Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford and Emeritus Fellow of Wadham College...

  • (1989) Bones of Contention
    Bones of Contention
    Bones of Contention is a 1936 short story collection by Frank O'Connor featuring the following stories:*Michael's Wife*Orpheus and His Lute*Peasants*In the Train*The Majesty of the Law*Tears - Idle Tears*Lofty*The Man That Stopped...

    , Roger Lewin
    Roger Lewin
    Roger Lewin is a British anthropologist, scientist and author of 20 books.Lewin was a staff member of New Scientist in London for nine years. He went to Washington, D.C. to write for Science for ten years as News Editor. An example article was "Evolutionary Theory Under Fire", 21, November 1980, ...

  • (1988) Living with Risk, British Medical Association Board of Science
    British Medical Association
    The British Medical Association is the professional association and registered trade union for doctors in the United Kingdom. The association does not regulate or certify doctors, a responsibility which lies with the General Medical Council. The association’s headquarters are located in BMA House,...


Royal Society Young People's Book Prize

This category is awarded to the best science writing for children.

2011 winner

Other nominees:
  • The Icky Sticky Snot and Blood Book, Steve Alton and Nick Sharratt
    Nick Sharratt
    Nick Sharratt is a British illustrator and author of children's books, and was chosen to be the Official Illustrator for World Book Day 2006...

  • What's the Point of Being Green?, Jacqui Bailey
  • How the World Works, Christiane Dorion and illustrated by Beverly Young
  • What Mr Darwin Saw, Mick Manning
    Mick Manning
    Mick Manning is a British children's author and illustrator, who has written and illustrated some 65 books.-Biography:Born in 1959 and brought up in Haworth, near Bradford, Yorkshire, England, Manning went to school in Keighley and then studied at Bradford College...

     and Brita Granström
    Brita Granström
    Brita Granström is a Swedish painter and illustrator living and working in Great Britain.As a painter she is represented by The University Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne.-Works:...

  • The Story of Astronomy and Space
  • What Goes On In My Head, Robert Winston
    Robert Winston
    Robert Maurice Lipson Winston, Baron Winston is a British professor, medical doctor, scientist, television presenter and politician.-Early life and education :...


2008 winner

  • Big Book of Science Things to Make and Do by Rebecca Gilpin & Leonie Pratt


The other nominees were:
  • Why Is Snot Green?: Science Museum Question and Answer Book by Glenn Murphy
  • Ask Dr K. Fisher About Animals by Claire Llewellyn & Kate Sheppard
    Kate Sheppard
    Katherine Wilson Sheppard Some sources, eg give a birth year of 1847; others eg give a birth year of 1848. was the most prominent member of New Zealand's women's suffrage movement, and is the country's most famous suffragette...

  • How the Incredible Human Body Works by the Brainwaves Richard Walker
    Richard Walker
    Richard Walker may refer to:*Dick Walker , English footballer who played for West Ham United*Richard Walker , English angler and writer on angling*Richard Walker *Richard Walker...

    , Lisa Swerling
    Lisa Swerling
    Lisa Swerling is a writer, artist and illustrator. Partnering with her husband Ralph Lazar, they are best known for their cartoon characters Harold's Planet, Vimrod and The Brainwaves....

     & Ralph Lazar
    Ralph Lazar
    Ralph Lazar is a writer, artist and illustrator. Partnering with his wife Lisa Swerling, they are best known for their cartoon creations Harold's Planet, Vimrod and The Brainwaves....

  • It's Elementary!: Putting the Crackle into Chemistry by Robert Winston
    Robert Winston
    Robert Maurice Lipson Winston, Baron Winston is a British professor, medical doctor, scientist, television presenter and politician.-Early life and education :...

  • Serious Survival: How to Poo in the Arctic and Other Essential Tips by Marshall Corwin
    Marshall Corwin
    Marshall Corwin is a British television producer.He is currently the series producer of the BBC Children's Serious TV series which he created....

     & Bruce Parry
    Bruce Parry
    Bruce Parry is a Former Royal Marines Officer and Instructor who is now a TV presenter and adventurer, known particularly for the documentary programme series Tribe , co-produced by the BBC and the Discovery Channel...


2007 winner

  • Can you feel the force? by Richard Hammond
    Richard Hammond
    Richard Mark Hammond is an English broadcaster, writer, and journalist most noted for co-hosting car programme Top Gear with Jeremy Clarkson and James May, as well as presenting Brainiac: Science Abuse on Sky 1.-Early life:...



The other nominees were:
  • How Nearly Everything Was Invented by The Brainwaves
    The Brainwaves
    The Brainwaves are cartoon characters that populate Dorling Kindersley's children's reference books.The first title in the series, "How Nearly Everything Was Invented...by The Brainwaves" was first published in September 2006. It was written by Jilly MacLeod and Illustrated by Lisa Swerling & Ralph...

    devised and illustrated by Lisa Swerling
    Lisa Swerling
    Lisa Swerling is a writer, artist and illustrator. Partnering with her husband Ralph Lazar, they are best known for their cartoon characters Harold's Planet, Vimrod and The Brainwaves....

     and Ralph Lazar
    Ralph Lazar
    Ralph Lazar is a writer, artist and illustrator. Partnering with his wife Lisa Swerling, they are best known for their cartoon creations Harold's Planet, Vimrod and The Brainwaves....

    , written by Jilly MacLeod
  • It's True! Space Turns You Into Spaghetti by Heather Catchpole and Vanessa Woods
  • KFK Natural Disasters by Andrew Langley
  • My Body Book by Mick Manning and Brita Granström
  • Science Investigations - Electricity by John Farndon

2006 Winner

  • The Global Garden by Kate Petty, Jennie Maizels, Corina Fletcher


The other nominees were:
  • 100 Science Experiments by Georgina Andrews and Kate Knighton
  • Think of a Number by Johnny Ball
    Johnny Ball
    Johnny Ball is a British television personality, a great populariser of mathematics and the father of BBC Radio 2 DJ Zoë Ball.-Early life:...

  • It's True! Squids Suck by Nicki Greenberg
  • Blame My Brain by Nicola Morgan
  • Kingfisher Knowledge: Forensics by Richard Platt

2005 Winner

  • What Makes Me, Me?, by Robert Winston
    Robert Winston
    Robert Maurice Lipson Winston, Baron Winston is a British professor, medical doctor, scientist, television presenter and politician.-Early life and education :...



Other nominees for the Junior Prize:
  • Kingfisher Knowledge: Endangered Planet, by David Burnie
  • Mysteries And Marvels Of Science, by Phillip Clarke, Laura Howell, and Sarah Khan
  • Leap Through Time: Earthquake, by Nicholas Harris
  • Night Sky Atlas, by Robin Scagell
  • Kingfisher Knowledge: Microscopic Life, by Richard Walker

2004 Winner

  • Horrible Science
    Horrible Science
    Horrible Science is a spin-off series of books of Horrible Histories written by Nick Arnold , illustrated by Tony de Saulles and published in the UK and India by Scholastic. They are designed to get children interested in science by concentrating on the trivial, unusual, gory, or unpleasant...

    : Really Rotten Experiments
    , Nick Arnold
    Nick Arnold
    Nick Arnold is the author of the award winning series, Horrible Science and Wild Lives. Arnold's first published works appeared as a result of a project he was working on at the University of North London, when he was trying to teach young children. A positive review was written about him, and he...

     and Tony de Saulles
    Tony De Saulles
    Tony De Saulles is a British author and illustrator currently residing at Gloucestershire, England with his family. He is a former book designer and then he became an illustrator for children's books. He illustrates the Award winning series Horrible Science by Nick Arnold.-Awards:* 2004 Aventis...



Other nominees:
  • The Beginning: Voyages Through Time, Peter Ackroyd
    Peter Ackroyd
    Peter Ackroyd CBE is an English biographer, novelist and critic with a particular interest in the history and culture of London. For his novels about English history and culture and his biographies of, among others, Charles Dickens, T. S. Eliot and Sir Thomas More he won the Somerset Maugham Award...

  • Riotous Robots, Mike Goldsmith
  • Start Science: Forces And Motion, Sally Hewitt
  • Tell Me: Who Lives in Space?, Clare Oliver
    Clare Oliver
    Clare Oliver was an Australian woman whose own health crisis prompted her to become an activist, garnering wide media coverage for her campaign to ban the use of tanning beds. She had wanted to become a journalist and wrote a story before her death that was published in newspapers all over the...

  • Survivors Science: In The Rainforest, Peter Riley

2003 Winner

  • DK Guide to the Oceans, Frances Dipper


Other nominees:
  • Horrible Science
    Horrible Science
    Horrible Science is a spin-off series of books of Horrible Histories written by Nick Arnold , illustrated by Tony de Saulles and published in the UK and India by Scholastic. They are designed to get children interested in science by concentrating on the trivial, unusual, gory, or unpleasant...

    : The Terrible Truth About Time
    , Nick Arnold
    Nick Arnold
    Nick Arnold is the author of the award winning series, Horrible Science and Wild Lives. Arnold's first published works appeared as a result of a project he was working on at the University of North London, when he was trying to teach young children. A positive review was written about him, and he...

  • Get in Gear, Sholly Fisch
  • Leap Through Time: Dinosaur, Nicholas Harris
  • Why Can't I..? Series, Sally Hewitt
  • The Way Science Works, Robin Kerrod & Sharon Ann Holgate

2002 Winner

  • DK Guide to the Human Body, Richard Walker


Other nominees:
  • Life Finds its Feet, Jacqui Bailey
  • The Kingfisher Illustrated Dinosaur Encyclopedia, David Burnie
  • Dead Famous: Albert Einstein and his Inflatable Universe, Mike Goldsmith
  • Mega Bites: Bugs, Christopher Maynard
  • The Usborne Internet-Linked Library of Science: Materials, Alastair Smith, Phillip Clarke & Corinne Henderson

2001 Winner

  • DK Guide to Weather, Michael Allaby


Other nominees:
  • Horrible Science
    Horrible Science
    Horrible Science is a spin-off series of books of Horrible Histories written by Nick Arnold , illustrated by Tony de Saulles and published in the UK and India by Scholastic. They are designed to get children interested in science by concentrating on the trivial, unusual, gory, or unpleasant...

     Series: Suffering Scientists
    , Nick Arnold
    Nick Arnold
    Nick Arnold is the author of the award winning series, Horrible Science and Wild Lives. Arnold's first published works appeared as a result of a project he was working on at the University of North London, when he was trying to teach young children. A positive review was written about him, and he...

  • The Complete Book of the Brain, John Farndon
  • DK Guide to Dinosaurs, David Lambert
  • The At Home with Science Series, Janice Lobb & Peter Utton
  • Eyewitness Guides: Epidemics, Brian Ward

2000 Winner

  • DK Guide to Space, Peter Bond


Other nominees:
  • Evolve or Die, Phil Gates
  • The History News, Michael Johnstone
  • The Kingfisher Book of Planet Earth, Martin Redfern
  • Brainwaves in the Bedroom, Richard Robinson
  • Usborne First Encyclopedia of our World, Felicity Brooks and Susannah Owen

Pre-2000 Winners

  • (1999) The Usborne Complete Book of the Microscope, Kirsteen Rogers
  • (1998) The Kingfisher Book of Oceans, David Lambert
  • (1997) Horrible Science
    Horrible Science
    Horrible Science is a spin-off series of books of Horrible Histories written by Nick Arnold , illustrated by Tony de Saulles and published in the UK and India by Scholastic. They are designed to get children interested in science by concentrating on the trivial, unusual, gory, or unpleasant...

     Series: Blood Bones and Body Bits and Ugly Bugs
    , Nick Arnold
    Nick Arnold
    Nick Arnold is the author of the award winning series, Horrible Science and Wild Lives. Arnold's first published works appeared as a result of a project he was working on at the University of North London, when he was trying to teach young children. A positive review was written about him, and he...

  • (1996) The World of Weather, Chris Maynard
  • (1995) The Most Amazing Pop-Up Science Book, Jay Young
  • (1994)
    • Eyewitness Guide: Evolution, Linda Gamlin
    • Science with Weather, Rebecca Heddle and Paul Shipton
      Paul Shipton
      Paul Shipton is an award-winning children's author.He was born in Manchester and attended Emmanuel College, Cambridge and Manchester University. After completing two Masters' degrees , he taught English in Istanbul for a year...

    • The Ultimate Dinosaur Book, David Lambert
  • (1993) Mighty Microbes, Thompson Yardley
  • (1992) The Amazing Voyage of the Cucumber Sandwich, Peter Rowan
  • (1991) Cells Are Us and Cell Wars, Fran Balkwill
    Fran Balkwill
    Fran Balkwill OBE is a scientist and English author of children's books about scientific topics.She was born in south-west London and was educated at Surbiton High School...

     and Mic Rolph
  • (1990)
    • (under-14) Starting Point Science Series: What Makes a Flower Grow?/What Makes it Rain?/What's Under the Ground?/Where Does Electricity Come From?, Susan Mayes
    • (under-8) The Giant Book of Space, Ian Ridpath
      Ian Ridpath
      Ian William Ridpath is an English science writer and broadcaster made famous for his investigation and explanation of the Rendlesham Forest Incident of December 1980....

  • (1989) The Way Things Work
    The Way Things Work
    The Way Things Work is a book by David Macaulay. It is intended to serve as an entertaining introduction to everyday machines. It covers machines as simple as levers and gears and as complicated as radio telescopes and automatic transmissions...

    , David Macaulay
    David Macaulay
    David Macaulay is an author and illustrator. Now a resident of Norwich, Vermont, United States, he is an alumnus and faculty member at the Rhode Island School of Design.- Biography :...

     and Neil Ardley
    Neil Ardley
    Neil Richard Ardley was a prominent English jazz pianist and composer, who also made a name as the author of more than 100 popular books on science and technology, and on music.-Brief biography:...

  • (1988) Science Alive – Living Things, Roger Kerrod

External links

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