Roy G. Neville Prize in Bibliography or Biography
Michael Hunter (photo: Jon Wilson)
2011 Winner: Michael Hunter
For his 2010 biography of Robert Boyle
The Chemical Heritage Foundation is pleased to honor Michael Hunter’s book Boyle: Between God and Science with the fourth Roy G. Neville Prize in Bibliography or Biography. The prize wwill be awarded on Thursday, October 13, 2011, during the Chemical Heritage Foundation’s Board Dinner.
About Michael Hunter
Educated at Jesus College, Cambridge, and Worcester College, Oxford, Michael Hunter has spent virtually his entire career at Birkbeck College, University of London. His research has focused on the intellectual history of 17th- and early 18th-century England. His first monograph was on the biographer and virtuoso John Aubrey, and he has also written extensively on the early history of the Royal Society; but his main scholarly effort has been devoted to the aristocrat and natural philosopher Robert Boyle. After cataloguing Boyle’s vast archive Hunter was chiefly responsible for the definitive editions of Boyle’s Works, Correspondence, and work diaries. He has also published various books and articles reinterpreting Boyle, reaching a climax with his biography Boyle: Between God and Science (Yale University Press, 2009), which has been awarded the 2011 Roy G. Neville Prize.
About the Neville Prize
The Roy G. Neville Prize in Bibliography or Biography, established in 2006, is presented annually by the Chemical Heritage Foundation to recognize an outstanding monograph in the areas of the chemical and molecular sciences. The objective of this prize is to encourage emulation, inspire achievement, and promote public understanding of modern sciences, industries, and economies.
The Neville Prize recognizes either:
- A monograph that contributes to our bibliographical knowledge of the chemical and molecular sciences, in the tradition inaugurated by Henry Carrington Bolton and exemplified in the lifetime achievement of Roy G. Neville; or
- A major work of biography in the chemical and molecular sciences.
In order to be considered for nomination, the work must have been published during a period of five calendar years immediately preceding the year of competition. The Neville Prize may not be received in absentia, except under extraordinary conditions as approved by the president of CHF. The recipient is expected to deliver an address at the award ceremony. The author of the winning monograph receives a cash prize, a certificate, and travel expenses to accept the award.
About Roy G. Neville (1926–2007)
A consulting chemist by profession, Roy G. Neville founded in 1973 Engineering and Technical Consultants in Redwood City, California, of which he was president until his death in 2007. He was also a passionate bibliophile by avocation. Neville began collecting books as a teenager in Bournemouth, United Kingdom, and amassed one of the largest private collections of rare books in the fields of science and technology, and chemistry in particular. The Roy G. Neville Historical Chemical Library was acquired by CHF in 2004 and is available for research in CHF’s Othmer Library.
About Henry Carrington Bolton
Henry Carrington Bolton (1843–1903) was a chemist, historian, academic, bibliophile, and renowned bibliographer of chemistry. Bolton documented the period 1492 to 1902 in his Select Bibliography of Chemistry, creating the definitive list of chemical books published during these 500 years. This massive reference work, listing more than 15,000 titles in chemistry, was published by the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., in 1893, with supplements in 1899, 1901, and 1904.
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