The Dan David Prize, a major international prize for lifetime intellectual achievement and innovation, is awarded annually in the three categories of 'Past', 'Present' and 'Future'.
This year the field for the past time dimension is the history of science, and the prize has been awarded to Professor Simon Schaffer of the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge. The prize of $1 million is shared with Professor Lorraine Daston (Max Planck Institute for the History of Science and University of Chicago), and Professor Evelyn Fox Keller (Massachusetts Institute of Technology).
Professor Schaffer has been awarded the prize 'for the way his work has transformed our understanding of science in history by consistently targeting key issues, and probing the limits of current debate. Spanning a remarkable chronological and geographical range, from the seventeenth to twentieth centuries, and from London and Beijing to Parramatta and Paris, Simon Schaffer's impressive body of work demonstrates how experiment can no longer be seen as the mere testing of theories, but is located in witnessing, trust and acquired skill. His work exposes how major junctures in the history of science are embedded in commercial exchange, political negotiation, and the activities of everyday life.'