John Lewis Heilbron (March 17, 1934 – November 5, 2023) was an American historian of science best known for his work in the history of physics and the history of astronomy. He was Professor of History and Vice-Chancellor Emeritus (Vice-Chancellor 1990–1994) at the University of California, Berkeley, senior research fellow at Worcester College, Oxford, and visiting professor at Yale University and the California Institute of Technology. He edited the academic journal Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences for twenty-five years.

Biography

Born in San Francisco on March 17, 1934,[1] Heilbron attended Lowell High School in San Francisco, California, and was a member of the Lowell Forensic Society. He received his A.B. (1955) and M.A. (1958) degrees in physics and his Ph.D. (1964) in history from the University of California, Berkeley. He was Thomas Kuhn's graduate student in the 1960s when Kuhn was writing The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.

Heilbron was a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.[2] He died on November 5, 2023, at the age of 89.[1]

Awards and honors

Main books

  • 2022: The Incomparable Monsignor: Francesco Bianchini's World of Science, History, and Court Intrigue. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780192856654
  • 2021: The Ghost of Galileo in a Forgotten Painting from the English Civil War. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198861300
  • 2020: Niels Bohr: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198819264
  • 2018: The History of Physics: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0199684120
  • 2013: Love, Literature, and the Quantum Atom, with Finn Aaserud, Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199680283
  • 2010: Galileo, Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-958352-8.[5] (See Galileo Galilei.)
  • 2003: The Oxford Companion to the History of Modern Science (ed.), Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-511229-6.
  • 2003: Ernest Rutherford and the Explosion of Atoms, Oxford Portraits in Science, Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-512378-6.
  • 1999: The Sun in the Church: Cathedrals as Solar Observatories. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-85433-0. 2001 paperback: ISBN 0-674-00536-8.
  • 1999: Electricity in the 17th and 18th Centuries: A Study of Early Modern Physics. Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-40688-1.
  • 1997: Geometry Civilized: History, Culture, Technique. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-850078-5. 2000 paperback: ISBN 0-19-850690-2.
  • 1989: Lawrence and His Laboratory: A History of the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, with Robert W. Seidel. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-06426-7.
  • 1986: The Dilemmas of an Upright Man: Max Planck and the Fortunes of German Science, University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-05710-4
  • 1979: Electricity in the 17th and 18th Centuries: A Study of Early Modern Physics, University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-03478-3.
  • 1974: H. G. J. Moseley: The Life and Letters of an English Physicist, 1887-1915, University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-02375-7.

Notes

  1. 1 2 J. L. Heilbron (in Italian)
  2. ↑ "The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences: John L. Heilbron". Archived from the original on March 28, 2012. Retrieved September 8, 2011.
  3. ↑ "John L. Heilbron". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Retrieved April 19, 2022.
  4. ↑ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved April 19, 2022.
  5. ↑ Gingerich, Owen (December 24, 2010). "Starry Messenger (joint review of Galileo by J. L. Heilbron and Galileo: Watcher of the Skies by David Wootton)". NY Times. (See David Wootton.)

References

  • Brief biography in AIP Center for History of Physics Newsletter, Volume XXXVIII, No. 1, Spring 2006.


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