Six College Provost Wins Caltech’s Bacon Prize

August 17, 2009

Naomi Oreskes was awarded the Francis Bacon Prize.

Naomi Oreskes, professor of history and science studies and provost of the Sixth College at UC San Diego, has been awarded the Francis Bacon Prize in recognition of outstanding scholarship in the history of science and technology. This prize was established by the Francis Bacon Foundation at Caltech in 2003 and is awarded biennially. Oreskes is a distinguished historian of Earth science and a well-known consultant on issues concerning the environment.

She is also the author or editor of three important books on topics including the history of plate tectonics and the origins of American oceanographic research. Oreskes has received grants from the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Philosophical Society. She will formally receive the Bacon Medal, with the accompanying cash prize of $20,000, at the annual meeting of the History of Science Society, which will be held in Phoenix, Ariz., this November.

Oreskes will be in residence at Caltech during the spring of 2010 and will teach a course on the history of Cold War science. She also plans to organize a conference on that subject, to be held at Caltech during her residence. The proceedings of the conference will be published in book form by Archimedes, which is considered one of the most important publishers of research in the history of science and technology.