Victor Seow of Harvard University, an author in the Studies of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute series, has been awarded the Sarton Prize for the History of Science from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
The Sarton Prize recognizes Seow’s “exceptional promise and distinguished achievements in the field,” most notably his book in the Studies series, Carbon Technocracy: Energy Regimes in Modern East Asia, published by the University of Chicago Press in 2022. A history of what was at one time East Asia’s largest coal mine, this book traces the parallel rise of the fossil-fuel economy and the modern technocratic state in China and Japan. Carbon Technocracy has won a number of prizes, including the Association for Asian Studies' John Whitney Hall Book Prize, the Chinese Historians in the United States’ Academic Excellence Award, and the Society of Historians of American Foreign Relations’ Michael H. Prize for International History.
To learn more about Carbon Technocracy, read our 2022 interview with Seow here.
In the official announcement of this year’s Sarton Prize, Academy President Laurie L. Patton said, “Victor Seow’s exploration of energy, industry, and politics in modern East Asia bridges disciplines and fosters a deeper understanding of the historical forces that shape science, technology, and society.”
Seow is John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences in the Department of the History of Science at Harvard University. In addition to his research, teaching, and other responsibilities at Harvard, Seow convenes the Science and Technology in Asia online seminar series, which he started and has been running since 2018.
“To me, this prize is not just a personal honor—for which I am tremendously grateful—but also a recognition of the remarkable momentum the study of East Asia has gained within the history of science and technology in recent years,” Seow said, “I am thankful for opportunities I have had to contribute to this scholarship and for friends and colleagues who have taught me things and supported me along the way.”
The Weatherhead East Asian Institute congratulates Victor Seow on his latest honor.
