British Academy: The UK's National Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences
Fellows share $1m prize
Peter Brown and Romila Thapar, both Fellows of the Academy, have shared the $1 million Kluge Prize for Study of Humanity awarded by the US Library of Congress. In the citation, both scholars were commended on bringing 'dramatically new perspectives to understanding vast sweeps of geographical territory and a millennium or more of time in, respectively, Europe and the Middle East, and in the Indian subcontinent. Brown brought conceptual coherence to the field of late antiquity, looking anew at the end of the Roman Empire, the emergence of Christianity, and the rise of Islam within and beyond the Mediterranean world. Thapar created a new and more pluralistic view of Indian civilization, which had seemed more unitary and unchanging, by scrutinizing its evolution over two millennia and searching out its historical consciousness.'
The full citation and more information on the prize is available from the Library of Congress
NOTES TO EDITORS
Published:
05 January 2009
The British Academy is the UK’s national academy for the humanities and social sciences. Its purpose is to inspire, recognise and support excellence in these disciplines throughout the UK and internationally, and to champion their role and value. More information about the Academy’s work is available at www.britac.ac.uk.