Dr Henry Gee won the 2022 Royal Society Science Book Prize for his book 'A (Very) Short History of Life on Earth: 4.6 Billion Years in 12 Chapters'. Dr. Gee-- who is a paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and Nature editor-- was announced as the winner at an award ceremony at the Royal Society, London on November 29, 2022.
Founded in 1988, the Royal Society Science Book Prize is given to an "outstanding popular science writing" every year.
While the winner received £25,000, each shortlisted author for the award received £2,500. CLICK HERE to know the other five books shortlisted for this year's Royal Society Science Book Prize.
The Royal Society Science Book Prize 2022 was judged by: Professor Maria Fitzgerald, neuroscientist and chair of judges; writer-broadcaster-technology consultant Rory Cellan-Jones; novelist Mike Gayle; TV presenter-author Kate Humble; and experimental physicist Dr Josh McFayden.
Praising Dr Gee and his award-winning book, Professor Fitzgerald- Chair of the judges, said in a statement, "This is history like you have never read before. Henry Gee takes us on a whirlwind journey through 4.6 billion years through the birth of the planet Earth, the emergence of life and the evolution of man, a species that is not only aware of itself but also of what will happen next. As Gee races through millennia, momentous physical and biological changes are described with immense skill and dynamism combined with almost poetic imagery... The last chapter, ‘The Past of the Future’, reminds us of our relative insignificance and that each species facing extinction does so in its own way. But ‘do not despair’, he urges us: ‘The Earth abides, and life is living yet.’”
