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Lecturer Dr Chris Pak has been awarded the prize from the British Science Association
A Swansea University lecturer has won the prestigious Jacob Bronowski Award for Science and the Arts from the British Science Association.
Dr Chris Pak, who lectures in the Department of English Literature and Creative Writing, has been recognised for his public engagement events and research on science fiction, science and literature.
The award is only one of seven awards presented to humanities scholars. The rest go to scholars in various sciences. The Jacob Bronowski award is for sciences and the arts, but others are for social sciences; engineering, technology and industry and environmental sciences.
His book, Terraforming, examines the scientific, social and political aspects of the adaptation of planetary environments and how this science fictional motif can help us to think about climate change on Earth.
Dr Pak has continued to write about the intersections between science and literature, and has extended this examination of terraforming in 21st century science fiction. He has also written about the relationship between humans and animals in science fiction.
He will present his award lecture at British Science Festival 2021, which has now been postponed to September.
Dr Pak said:
“I'm thrilled to receive this award for my work on science fiction, science and literature, and am looking forward to the 2021 award lecture where I'll delve into the relationship between all three in more detail.”
The award lectures aim to promote open and informed discussion on issues involving science and actively encourage humanities scholars to explore the social aspects of science.
The British Science Association has been rewarding promising early career scientists for more than 20 years, and previous winners include Brian Cox, Richard Wiseman and Maggie Aderin-Pocock.