IEEE William and Joyce Middleton Electrical Engineering History Award
The IEEE William and Joyce Middleton Electrical Engineering History Award is awarded to the author of a book in the history of an IEEE-related technology that both exemplifies exceptional scholarship and reaches beyond academic communities toward a broad public audience.
Initially, the William and Joyce Middleton Electrical Engineering History Award will be for a book published in English. Books that have been translated from another language will be eligible for three years after publication date of the translation. Books will be considered that have been published in the previous three years (e.g., books eligible for the 2014 award will have been published in 2011–2013).
Publishers can nominate published books for the award by emailing ieee-history [at] ieee.org with the book’s title and publication information. Nominations must be received by 1 December in order to be considered for the following calendar year’s award. The IEEE History Committee expects to make its decision each year by 1 September.
Sponsored by: The estates of William W. & Joyce F. Middleton
Publishers may nominate books for this award by emailing ieee-history [at] ieee.org with the title and publication information. Nominations must be received by December 1 to be considered for the following year’s award. The IEEE History Committee will announce its decision by September 1 each year.
Eligibility Requirements:
Only published books will be considered (no bound galleys or manuscripts)
For ebooks, submit a digital PDF that includes publication date information
Publishers must obtain consent from all authors before submitting their book
Books that don’t win remain eligible for consideration in subsequent years, up to three years from their publication date
Edited collections are not eligible
Additional editions (2nd, 3rd, etc.) of previously published books are not eligible
Award Details
There is no entry fee
The award includes a certificate and US$2,000 honorarium
If no suitable candidate is identified, the award may not be given that year
A senior representative from IEEE and/or the IEEE History Committee/Center will aim to present the certificate in person at an appropriate public venue (travel costs will not be deducted from award funds)
Current Recipient
2024, Chris Miller, Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology, (Simon & Schuster, 2022)
Previous Recipients
2023, Kathy Kleiman, Proving Ground: The Untold Story of the Six Women Who Programmed the World’s First Modern Computer (2022, Grand Central Publishing, New York)
2022, David A. Price, Geniuses At War: Bletchley Park, Colossus, and the Dawn of the Digital Age (2021, Alfred A. Knopf, New York
2021, Martin Collins, A Telephone for the World: Iridium, Motorola, and the Making of a Global Age (Johns Hopkins University Press)
2020, Lillian Hoddeson and Peter K. Garrett, The Man Who Saw Tomorrow: The Life and Inventions of Stanford R. Ovshinsky (MIT Press)
2019, Jimmy Soni & Rob Goodman, A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age (Simon & Schuster)
2018, Marc Raboy, Marconi: The Man who Networked the World (Oxford University Press)
2017, Megan Prelinger, Inside the Machine: Art and Invention in the Electronic Age (Norton & Co.)
2016, Walter Isaacson, The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution (Simon & Schuster)
2015, W. Bernard Carlson, Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age (Princeton University Press)