2024 Senior Kirkaldy Prize winner announced

Credit: Esmé Bailey

Joseph Foster, DPhil student in the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology, has been awarded the 2024 Jane Willis Kirkaldy Senior Prize. The annual prize recognises outstanding essays in the fields of the history of science, medicine, and technology at the University of Oxford.

Joe’s prize-winning essay, ‘An Abnormal Monopoly: Dentures, Dental Mechanics and Dental Consciousness in Peace and War, 1929-1952’, shows how the concern about the poor state of dental health amongst British Army recruits led to a vigorous campaign to encourage soldiers to take better care of their teeth, which in turn placed even greater pressure on the newly established National Health Service after the end of the war.

Joe’s doctoral research concerns the history of fluoridation in Great Britain from 1963-2000, particularly focusing on why the pro-fluoridation campaign was so unsuccessful during this period.

Joe is delighted to have been awarded the prize, and he is grateful to the Oxford Centre for the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology for selecting his essay for the Prize.