Alfred Rupert Hall (1920–2009) was a prominent British
historian of science
The history of science covers the development of science from ancient times to the present. It encompasses all three major branches of science: natural, social, and formal.
Science's earliest roots can be traced to Ancient Egypt and Mesopo ...
, known as editor of a collection of
Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27) was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author (described in his time as a " natural philosopher"), widely recognised as one of the grea ...
's unpublished scientific papers (1962), and Newton's correspondence, in 1977.
Life
Hall was born near
Stoke-on-Trent on 26 July 1920. He went to
Christ's College, Cambridge, in 1938 to study history, but his studies were interrupted by war service. He completed his degree in 1946 and began postgraduate research. As a boy he had delighted in the history of inventions and devices, and the army had given him hands-on experience; his doctoral thesis which was on 17th-century
ballistics was published as a book in 1952. In 1949 he was elected a fellow of Christ's College.
Hall was unusual in coming to the discipline from history, not science, and his background would yield fresh and different perspectives in this new emerging field.
Charles Singer
Charles Joseph Singer (2 November 1876 – 10 June 1960) was a British historian of science, technology, and medicine. He served as medical officer in the British Army.
Biography
Early years
Singer was born in Camberwell in London, where hi ...
, the first president of the
British Society for the History of Science
The British Society for the History of Science (BSHS) was founded in 1947 by Francis Butler, Joan Eyles and Victor Eyles.
Overview
It is Britain's largest learned society devoted to the history of science, technology, and medicine. The society's ...
, was not alone in having suspicions about someone without a scientific education teaching the history of science. Hall won him round, and they were to co-operate in editing the five-volume ''History of Technology'' published by
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
in 1954–1958.
In 1948 Hall was appointed as the first curator of the
Whipple Museum of the History of Science
Whipple may refer to:
People
* Whipple (surname) (including a list of people with the surname)
* Whip Jones (1909–2001), American ski industry pioneer, founder, developer and original operator of the Aspen Highlands ski area in Aspen, Colorado
* ...
, in Cambridge, and in 1950 began lecturing in the subject. Soon, the discipline was formally accepted into the tripos structure of degrees, and the department of history and philosophy of science was established, now the largest university department of its kind in the UK.
Meanwhile,
Marie Boas had come from the US to work on
Robert Boyle
Robert Boyle (; 25 January 1627 – 31 December 1691) was an Anglo-Irish natural philosopher, chemist, physicist, alchemist and inventor. Boyle is largely regarded today as the first modern chemist, and therefore one of the founders of ...
's papers, and met Hall, who was working on Isaac Newton's. In 1959 Hall, whose first marriage had ended in divorce, joined her in the US and they were married. In 1963 they were invited back to
Imperial College in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, where Hall became the first professor of the history of science. From 1966 to 1968 he was the president of the
British Society for the History of Science
The British Society for the History of Science (BSHS) was founded in 1947 by Francis Butler, Joan Eyles and Victor Eyles.
Overview
It is Britain's largest learned society devoted to the history of science, technology, and medicine. The society's ...
. His 1973
Wilkins Lecture is entitled ''Newton and his editors''.
Between 1962 and 1986 the Halls edited, translated and published in 13 volumes the correspondence of
Henry Oldenburg
Henry Oldenburg (also Henry Oldenbourg) FRS (c. 1618 as Heinrich Oldenburg – 5 September 1677), was a German theologian, diplomat, and natural philosopher, known as one of the creators of modern scientific peer review. He was one of the fo ...
, the secretary of the
Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
in its early days, and founding editor of its journal, ''
Philosophical Transactions'', which grew out of his extensive international letter-writing. They also edited a valuable collection of Newton's unpublished scientific papers (1962). In 1980 he published ''Philosophers at War'', an account of Newton's disreputable quarrel with
Leibniz
Gottfried Wilhelm (von) Leibniz . ( – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat. He is one of the most prominent figures in both the history of philosophy and the history of ma ...
.
Rupert directed the
Wellcome Trust
The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation focused on health research based in London, in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1936 with legacies from the pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome (founder of one of the predecessors of Glaxo ...
programme on the history of medicine for four years, a programme which funds courses in various universities and gives bursaries to individuals.
Hall died on 5 February 2009.
As David Knight ends the obituary to Rupert Hall published in ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' in 2009: "Rupert and Marie were inseparable and devoted; she died 18 days after him. They not only filled gaps in our knowledge of 17th-century science, but were exemplary in being genial, encouraging and helpful to younger scholars."
Works
* ''Ballistics in the seventeenth century; a study in the relations of science and war with reference principally to England.'' Cambridge
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Ng, ng, or NG may refer to:
* Ng (name) (黄 伍 吳), a surname of Chinese origin
Arts and entertainment
* N-Gage (disambiguation), a handheld gaming system
* Naked Giants, Seattle rock band
* '' Spirit Hunter: NG'', a video game
Businesses ...
Cambridge University Press, 1952.
* ''The scientific revolution, 1500-1800; the formation of the modern scientific attitude.'' London: Longmans, Green, 1954.
* ''Isaac Newton. Unpublished scientific papers of Isaac Newton: a selection from the Portsmouth collection in the University Library, Cambridge.'' (Edited by A. Hall and Marie Boas Hall.) Cambridge
ng.
Ng, ng, or NG may refer to:
* Ng (name) (黄 伍 吳), a surname of Chinese origin
Arts and entertainment
* N-Gage (disambiguation), a handheld gaming system
* Naked Giants, Seattle rock band
* '' Spirit Hunter: NG'', a video game
Businesses ...
Cambridge University Press, 1962.
* ''Correspondence of Henry Oldenburg.'' (Edited by A. Rupert Hall and Marie Boas Hall.) Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1965, Volume I. (Of the 13 volumes, Volume VIII contains the 1st appearance of correspondence with Isaac Newton.)
* ''The Cambridge Philosophical Society: a history, 1819-1969''. Cambridge
ng.
Ng, ng, or NG may refer to:
* Ng (name) (黄 伍 吳), a surname of Chinese origin
Arts and entertainment
* N-Gage (disambiguation), a handheld gaming system
* Naked Giants, Seattle rock band
* '' Spirit Hunter: NG'', a video game
Businesses ...
Scientific Periodical Library, 1969.
* ''Philosophers at war: the quarrel between Newton and Leibniz.'' Cambridge
ng.
Ng, ng, or NG may refer to:
* Ng (name) (黄 伍 吳), a surname of Chinese origin
Arts and entertainment
* N-Gage (disambiguation), a handheld gaming system
* Naked Giants, Seattle rock band
* '' Spirit Hunter: NG'', a video game
Businesses ...
Cambridge University Press, 1980.
* ''From Galileo to Newton.'' New York: Dover Publications, 1981. 1st edition published in 1963 by Harper & Row
2012 reprint* ''The revolution in science, 1500-1750.'' 3rd ed. London: Longman, 1983.
* ''Henry More: magic, religion, and experiment.'' Blackwell science biographies. Oxford
ng.
Ng, ng, or NG may refer to:
* Ng (name) (黄 伍 吳), a surname of Chinese origin
Arts and entertainment
* N-Gage (disambiguation), a handheld gaming system
* Naked Giants, Seattle rock band
* '' Spirit Hunter: NG'', a video game
Businesses ...
Blackwell, 1990.
* ''Isaac Newton, adventurer in thought. Blackwell science biographies.'' Oxford
ng.
Ng, ng, or NG may refer to:
* Ng (name) (黄 伍 吳), a surname of Chinese origin
Arts and entertainment
* N-Gage (disambiguation), a handheld gaming system
* Naked Giants, Seattle rock band
* '' Spirit Hunter: NG'', a video game
Businesses ...
Blackwell, 1992.
* ''History of technology.'' London: Mansell. (with Norman Alfred Fisher Smith)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, A. Rupert
Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge
Historians of science
1920 births
2009 deaths
Newton scholars
20th-century British historians
Fellows of the British Academy