David L. Hull Prize

The David L. Hull Prize is a biennial prize established in 2011 by the ISHPSSB to honor the life and legacy of David L. Hull (1935–2010).

The David L. Hull Prize honors an extraordinary contribution to scholarship and service that promotes interdisciplinary connections between history, philosophy, social studies, and biology.

In the spirit of David Hull’s own service to the profession and his support for the contributions and the advancement of people at early stages of their careers, the Prize is not restricted to recognition of a lifetime of achievement, but may be awarded to individuals at any stage of their career to acknowledge and promote significant efforts they have made that combine scholarship and service. It is appropriate to name this prize in honor of David Hull, a former president of our society who set a very high standard of interdisciplinary scholarship in his scholarly work, but also did important work to help found the philosophy of biology and worked tirelessly to build bridges among our disciplines. He served as President of three very different societies (ISHPSSB (1991–1992), the Philosophy of Science Association (1985–1986), and the Society of Systematic Zoologists (1984–1985)). He performed a great deal of service for these and a number of other societies and did a great deal of work to foster the publication of insightful work in all of our disciplines. Among other things, David served for 21 years as General Editor of the University of Chicago Press Series in the Conceptual Foundations of Science and as a member of about 15 editorial boards of journals and encyclopedias.

David was a staunch and proud advocate of gay rights who brought the virtues of advocacy to his professional life. He always sought to help those to whom doors were closed and was especially noteworthy for the many ways in which he assisted people at the beginning their careers, helping them, inter alia, to overcome any barriers put in their way and to improve their publications even when their viewpoints were strongly contrary to his own.

Winners of the David L. Hull Prize receive a medal in honor of their contributions to scholarship and service.

Nominations

A candidate must be a member of ISHPSSB at the time of the award. A complete nomination package will consist of a pdf portfolio that includes:

• minimum of two and a maximum of four letters of nomination, each signed by at least one member of ISHPSSB, and
• a current curriculum vitae of the candidate.

Those who previously submitted nominations are encouraged to resubmit the nominees, if still appropriate.

Nominations should be sent as attachments to an email with “Hull Prize” in the subject heading, and addressed to the Chair of the David Hull Prize Committee.

Recipients

For the available prize citations click on the name of the recipient.