Glittering prizes

Joanna Bourke, professor of history at Birkbeck College, is joint winner of this year's Wolfson Prize for historical writing for her book An Intimate History of Killing: Face to Face Killing in 20th Century Warfare. Andrew Roberts, author of Salisbury: Victorian Titan, shares the prize. Lord Briggs receives the lifetime achievement award.

The Royal Academy of Engineering is to award Silver Medals in July to four engineers aged under 50 who have made an outstanding contribution to British engineering. The recipients are: Mike Bowe, business manager advanced process systems, AEA Technology plc, for combining fluid mechanics knowledge, innovative design and manufacturing; Andrew Nelson, chairman and chief executive officer, IQE plc, for pioneering IQE, the world's largest supplier of compound semiconductor epitaxial wafers; Albert Rodger, professor of civil engineering at the University of Aberdeen, for outstanding contributions to geotechnical engineering; and Robert Skidmore, managing director of SciMed Ltd, for developing innovative ultrasonic instruments for detecting vascular disease.