History of Science and Technology Program Essay Prizes

There are three History of Science and Technology essay prizes:

• Essay Prize in Science Fiction Film
• The Sir John William Dawson Essay Prize in Science and Religion
• Dr. Rowland Marshall History of Science and Technology Prize in Ecology and Environment

The student with the top essay in Science Fiction in Film receives the King’s College History of Science and Technology Program Essay Prize in Science Fiction Film.

Essay prize winners

2023-2024

Claire Blackmer: Major in History with a minor in Contemporary Studies and a certificate in Heritage Studies

“How can we know what we are?’ Boundaries of Difference in Blade Runner (1982)”

2022-2023

Eleanor Friddell: Major in Mathematics and Classics with a Minor in HOST

“A new religion for a new millennium: the spirituality of science in Contact”

2021-2022

Emma Martel: Combined Honours in Early Modern Studies and Religious Studies

“Outsourcing Morality: 1960s Science Fiction and Machine Warfare as a Cold War Concern”

2020-2021

Emma Brouwer: Mechanical Engineering

“Science fiction and the validity of the Turing Test”

2019-2020

Sabina Willmott: English and Creative Writing

“Vital subjectivity and the metanarrative of linear time: the postmodern scientific process of Arrival and how it challenges Enlightenment values”

2018-2019

Elzbieta Wawer: Mechanical Engineering

“Portrayal of technology as Pandora’s Box in the film Gattaca”

2017-2018

Alex Long: History

“Alien superpowers: a critical evaluation of the technological levels implied for the extraterrestrial civilizations in the films Contact (1997) and Interstellar (2014)”

2016-2017

Alex Stover: Political Science and History

“All too human: understanding human transcendence in 2001: A Space Odyssey”

The student with the best research essay among the combined pool of essays submitted in Science and Religion: Historical Perspectives and Science and Religion: Contemporary Perspectives each year the courses are offered, will receive a prize of not less than $500. The runner-up will receive a $50 gift certificate from the King’s Co-op Bookstore. The two science and religion courses are generally offered together every other academic year.

Essay prize winners and runners-up

2022-2023

1. Sadie Quinn (Winter Term): History of Science and Technology and Theatre Studies “Science-religion dialogue in the Gaia Hypothesis”
2. Emily Frank (Winter Term): History and Contemporary Studies “Contraception, Catholicism and Canada: the context and content of the 1968 ‘Winnipeg Statement'”

2020-2021

1. Cole De Jager (Winter Term): Contemporary Studies and History, BA(Hons)’21
   “William James and the will to believe: the pragmatic foundation of rational belief”
2. Cole De Jager (Fall Term): Contemporary Studies and History, BA(Hons)’21
   “David Hume and the limits of reason: natural theology, philosophical scepticism and moderate secularism”
3. Shantelle March (Winter Term): Biology and History of Science and Technology
   “Curious Georges and the expansion of the universe” (paper on George Lemaître)

Note: beginning with the introduction of the monetary prize in 2017–2018, the third-placed student is awarded runner-up status in cases where one student places first and second

2019–2020

1. Brendan Kay (Winter Term): Classics
   “E pluribus unum: religious ritual and virtual reality: immersion, transcendence and group minds in cyberspace”
2. Jeannine Brandt (Winter Term): Religious Studies with Minors in History and English, BA’20
   “Mennonite agricultural practices and their relationship to the environment”

2018–2019

1. Thalia Katsademas (Fall Term): Microbiology and Immunology, BSc’19
   “Incubation in religious healing: from Asclepius to the physician saint”
2. Faye Hiscock (Winter Term): History of Science and Technology and Classics with a Minor in Early Modern Studies, BA(Hons)’21
   “Fractals and the Mandelbrote set: the natural and biblical history”

2017–2018

1. Heather Gerrie (Winter Term): Neuroscience and Religious Studies, BSc(Hons)’18 (Dalhousie)
   “Neuroscience and neuroreligion: the relationship between the brain and religion”
2. Thalia Katsademas (Winter Term): Microbiology and Immunology, BSc’19 (Dalhousie)
   “Playing God? An exploration of Christian responses to gene editing as CRISPR reignites the debate”

2016–2017

1. Jacob Green (Winter Term): Contemporary Studies and Philosophy, BA(Hons)’21
   “The AI Apocalypse and the question of Dasein: the demarcation of meaning in a mechanical future”
2. Samuel Landry (Fall Term): Religious Studies and Classics, BA(Hons)’20
   “Societal and epistemic holism in the Roman Catholic and Protestant Christendoms of the Scientific Revolution”

2015–2016

1. Tora Oliphant (Fall Term): Sociology and Microbiology & Immunology, BA(Hons)’18
   “Looking beyond the radical: Paracelsus’s application of microcosm-macrocosm interactions”
1. Olivia Tucker (Fall Term): Classics with a Minor in History, BA(Hons)’17
   “The concept of the miraculous in post-Reformation rhetoric”

Note: this year there was a tie for the top prize (student names are listed alphabetically)

Note: Science and Religion: Contemporary Perspectives was not offered in 2015–2016

2014–2015

1. Caitlin Anderson (Fall Term): Classics with a Minor in History of Science and Technology, BA(Hons)’15
   Paper on the unity of Isaac Newton’s religion and his natural philosophy
2. Henry Howe (Fall Term): History and German, BA’15 (King’s)
   Paper on the Galileo Affair

Note: Science and Religion: Contemporary Perspectives was not offered in 2014–2015

2013–2014

1. Daniel Whitten (Fall Term): Early Modern Studies and Political Science with a Minor in Abrahamic Religions, BA(Hons)’18
   “Matters of Faith and Morals Ex Suppositione: Examining the 1616 Inquisition Proceedings Against Galileo”
2. Hannah Yaphe (Winter Term): Biochemistry & Molecular Biology with a Minor in History of Science and Technology, BSc(Hons)’16
   “Am I Jewish or Genetic?: An Exploration of the Interface between Population Genetics and Jewish Identity”

2012–2013

1. Megann Licskai (Winter Term): Contemporary Studies and History with a Minor in History of Science and Technology, BA(Hons)’15
   “Monism and secular spirituality: Ernst Haeckel and the Romantic scientific religion”
1. Alexander Scanlon (Winter Term): History, BA’13
   “The Catholic Church and German eugenics: the relationship between the Catholic Church in Germany and eugenics during the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich”

Note: this year there was a tie for the top prize (student names are listed alphabetically)

2011–2012

1. Alexander Desire-Tesar (Winter Term): Contemporary Studies and History, BA(Hons)’12
   “Natural necessity and moral responsibility: vindicating natural evil”
2. Gavin Keachie (Fall Term): Religious Studies and French, BA(Hons)’12
   “The fate of the body and the soul in The Divine Comedy”

2010–2011

1. Gavin Charles (Fall Term): Political Science and History, BA(Hons)’11
   “Infallible bureaucracy: evidence in the Galileo Affair”
2. Shannon Higgins (Fall Term): Early Modern Studies and Classics, BA(Hons)’12
   “The musical harmony of a divine astronomy: how Johannes Kepler united his religion and his science through a mathematical analysis of celestial music in The Harmony of the World”

2009–2010

1. Mark Rendell (Winter Term): Contemporary Studies and Philosophy, BA(Hons)’12
   “Reductionism and the religious structure of the mind”
2. Daniel Boos (Winter Term): Contemporary Studies and English, BA(Hons)’12
   “On science, metaphysics and the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence”

2008–2009

1. Matthew Morris (Winter Term): Marine Biology, BSc(Hons)’09
   “Deconstructing Dover: a critique of Judge Jones’ final opinion”
2. Matthew Morris (Fall Term): Marine Biology, BSc(Hons)’09
   “The complexity of a simple God: Aquinas’ response to Richard Dawkins”

2007–2008

1. Evan Brown (Fall Term): Early Modern Studies and English, BA(Hons)’09
   “Francis Bacon, and the religion behind his ‘Great Instauration’”
2. Michael Johnstone (Winter Term): English, BA’08
   “Unleashing Darwin’s Rottweiler, Richard Dawkins and scientific/religious incompatibility”

2006–2007

1. Lisa Crystal (Winter Term): Contemporary Studies and Physics, BA(Hons)’07
   “The collapse of probability: modern science and design”
2. Amy Teitel (Fall Term): History of Science and Technology and Classics, BA(Hons)’08
   “Newton’s Classical Scholia: the theology behind the physics”

2005–2006

1. Heather Keachie (Fall Term): Early Modern Studies and French, BA(Hons),’06
   “The evolution of evil, or, theodicy through the ages: the implications of the Intelligent Design Theory on the question of suffering in nature”
2. Hillary Connolly (Winter Term): Contemporary Studies and History, BA(Hons)’06
   “Facing the future: a critical look at the Gaia theory”

2004–2005

1. Deirdre Moore (Fall Term): History of Science and Technology and Classics, BA(Hons)’06
   “Do the Stoics come to any understanding of Paul’s speech at the Areopagus?”
2. Jennifer Robblee (Fall Term): Neuroscience, BSc(Hons)’06
   “Evolution from beginning to end: is the evidence conclusive?”

2003–2004

1. Josh Bleser (Winter Term): Philosophy and Contemporary Studies, BA(Hons)’05
   “The starry heavens above: science and religion among the Dogon”
2. Erik Vakil (Fall Term): Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, BSc’05
   “Epistles on Scripture and Copernicanism: Galileo, Foscarini and the hermeneutical crisis”

2002–2003

1. Ron Haflidson (Fall Term): Classics and Early Modern Studies, BA(Hons)’04
   “Of gardens and fences: Henry More’s relation to Descartes in his Platonic Christian apologetics”
2. Ernest Morrow (Winter Term): Biology and Philosophy, BSc(Hons)’03
   “Evolutionary morality and Christianity: complementarity and insight”

Dr. Rowland Marshall, friend of the University of King’s College, established the Dr. Rowland Marshall HOST Essay Prize to celebrate the best research essay written in ecology and environment. To qualify for consideration for the prize, the paper must be written for Engineering the Planet: the Anthropocene Era, from Prehistory to Today’s Global Crisis (HSTC2210.03), Ecology and Religion (HSTC3202.03/ RELS3211.03), or Environmentalism: origins, ideals and critique (CTMP2206.03/HSTC2209.03). This prize is awarded annually and its value is between $800 and $1,000.

Essay prize winners

2021-2022

2020-2021

Kyle Jordan (Bachelor of Journalism, ’24) – Engineering the Planet (HSTC 2210)
“A Small Price to Pay : Solar Radiation Management and Complex Systems Thinking in the Anthropocene”

2019-2020

Cameron Yetman, (HOST and Philosophy, ’20) – Ecology and Religion (HSTC 3202)
“Ecological and Cosmological Selves: Philosophy, Nature, and Islam in Ibn Tufayl’s Hayy ibn Yaqzān”

Read an interview with Cameron about his prize-winning essay and his wider interests in environmentalism and academics.