{"id":6482,"date":"2016-09-19T19:48:04","date_gmt":"2016-09-19T13:48:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/brian-cox-announces-winner-of-the-25000-booker-prize-of-science-writing\/"},"modified":"2016-09-20T08:08:42","modified_gmt":"2016-09-20T02:08:42","slug":"brian-cox-announces-winner-of-the-25000-booker-prize-of-science-writing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/brian-cox-announces-winner-of-the-25000-booker-prize-of-science-writing\/","title":{"rendered":"Brian Cox announces winner of the \u00a325,000 ‘Booker Prize of science writing’"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

Professor Brian Cox has announced that a literary award described as \u201cthe Booker Prize of science writing\u201d has gone to Andrea Wulf\u2019s biography of little-known scientist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt.<\/p>\n

Professor Cox announced The Invention Of Nature as winner of the \u00c2\u00a325,000 Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize 2016.<\/p>\n

The shortlisted books for The Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize 2016 (The Royal Society)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Past winners include Bill Bryson, Stephen Hawking and Jared Diamond.<\/p>\n

Wulf is only the second woman to win the prize as sole author, after Gaia Vince took the prize in 2015. <\/p>\n

The annual prize is now in its 29th year and celebrates popular science books from around the world which are aimed at a non-specialist readership.<\/p>\n

Andrea Wulf (Antonina Gern\/Royal Society)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Cox, who is The Royal Society\u2019s Professor for Public Engagement in Science, said readers could learn a lot from the Prussian scientist who was born in 1769.<\/p>\n

\u201cHumboldt may not be well known today but he remains very much of our time: his work tackled many of today\u2019s big issues like climate change and biodiversity loss and the interconnectedness of nature,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cMoreover, he was a polymath who was curious about everything and was a superb communicator. His interdisciplinary approach puts paid to the ridiculous notion that science and the arts are separate entities.<\/p>\n

Professor Brian Cox (Anthony Devlin\/PA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should be taking our cues from Humboldt \u00e2\u0080\u0093 be curious and be informed by science on the big issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Humboldt was an explorer, naturalist and member of the Royal Society. With his holistic idea of the universe as one interacting entity, he inspired others including Charles Darwin, William Wordsworth and Jules Verne. <\/p>\n

A statue of Alexander von Humboldt in Berlin (Markus Schreiber\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Bryson, who won in 2004 for A Short History Of Nearly Everything and chaired this year\u2019s judging panel, praised the \u201cadventure story\u201d which was unanimously chosen as the winner. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe decisive factor for the winning book was that it excited and gripped us as judges the most,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Invention Of Nature by Andrea Wulf is a thrilling adventure story as much as a science book about a polymath who had an extraordinary impact on our contemporary understanding of nature.<\/p>\n

Bill Bryson chaired the judging panel (Sam Bryson)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a book you will find yourself talking endlessly about with friends in the pub.\u201d<\/p>\n

Previously called The Royal Society Winton Prize For Science Books, the award has gained a reputation as \u201cthe Booker Prize of science writing\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Invention Of Nature beat short-listed books including University of Sheffield professor Tim Birkhead\u2019s book about birds\u2019 eggs, The Most Perfect Thing, and Pulitzer Prize-winner Siddhartha Mukherjee\u2019s best-seller The Gene.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Professor Brian Cox has announced that a literary award described as \u201cthe Booker Prize of science writing\u201d has gone to Andrea Wulf\u2019s biography of little-known scientist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt. Professor Cox announced The Invention Of Nature as winner of the \u00c2\u00a325,000 Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize 2016. The shortlisted books for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6483,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6482"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}