Michiel Bron wins inaugural William Burr Prize in Nuclear History

Michiel Bron, who obtained his PhD at FASoS, has been awarded the inaugural William Burr Prize in Nuclear History, presented by the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR) and McGill-Queen's University Press (MQUP). Michiel completed his PhD under the supervision of Prof. Cyrus Mody and Dr. Vincent Lagendijk. The prize recognises outstanding scholarship in nuclear history and includes a contract to publish a book based on the winning dissertation with MQUP.

Michiel received the award for his PhD dissertation, The Petro-Atom: A Century of Ubiquitous Oil Involvement in Nuclear Energy, 1895–1993. His research explores the intertwined histories of the oil and nuclear industries throughout the twentieth century. Rather than viewing the rise of nuclear energy primarily as a state-driven project that began during the Second World War, Michiel demonstrates how oil companies, industrial actors and governments had already been shaping the development of nuclear energy decades earlier.

The reviewers praised the dissertation for its originality, ambitious scope and innovative use of a broad range of historical sources. They highlighted Michiel’s concept of 'oil-atom spillovers', which offers a new perspective on the historical relationship between the oil and nuclear sectors and their role in shaping the development of nuclear energy.

Michiel shares the prize with Siegfried Evens (KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm). His PhD dissertation titled “Streams, Steams, and Steels: A Transnational History of Risk Regulation in Nuclear Power Plants” argues that modern nuclear risk regulation evolved from nineteenth-century steam technology regulations, revealing how the governance of "non-nuclear" infrastructure such as pipes, valves, and water systems shaped the safety standards of the nuclear age across national and international contexts.

About the award

The William Burr Prize honours the legacy of historian William Burr and recognises exceptional scholarship in nuclear history. In addition to the award itself, the prize includes a publishing contract with McGill-Queen's University Press, providing an important opportunity to bring Michiel’s research to a wider academic audience.