John Ulric Nef, Jr. (1899–1988) was an American economic historian, and the co-founder of the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

Committee on Social Thought The John U. Nef Committee on Social Thought is one of several PhD-granting committees at the University of Chicago. It was started in 1941 by historian John Ulric Nef along with economist Frank Knight, anthropologist Robert Redfield, and Univers ...

. He was associated with the University of Chicago for over half a century, and co-founded the Committee there in 1941.

Early life

Nef was born in 1899, the son of chemist John Ulric Nef. He was a native Chicagoan. He graduated from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in 1920.Samuels (2005), p. 59 He finished a PhD degree at the Robert Brookings Graduate School in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

(a precursor of the

Brookings Institution The Brookings Institution, often stylized as simply Brookings, is an American research group founded in 1916. Located on Think Tank Row in Washington, D.C., the organization conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in ec ...

) in 1927. He served at

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the earliest coeduca ...

's faculty for a year. He joined the

's faculty in 1929 as an assistant professor of economics.

Career in academia

After joining the faculty at Chicago in 1929, he was associated with the university for over half a century. He became professor of

economic history Economic history is the academic learning of economies or economic events of the past. Research is conducted using a combination of historical methods, statistical methods and the application of economic theory to historical situations and ins ...

there in 1936. He also served as a visiting professor at French universities, Institut d'études politiques and the Collège de France, and also lectured at the universities of Belfast and Houston.

Committee on Social Thought

In 1941 Nef co-founded the

at Chicago along with Frank Knight, Robert Redfield, and

Robert M. Hutchins Robert Maynard Hutchins (January 17, 1899 – May 14, 1977) was an American educational philosopher. He was president (1929–1945) and chancellor (1945–1951) of the University of Chicago, and earlier dean of Yale Law School (1927–1929). His& ...

(who was then president of the University of Chicago). It is an elite interdisciplinary graduate department at Chicago. He served as executive secretary and also as chairman (1945–1964) of the Committee. He brought a number of distinguished people he had encountered in his travels abroad such as

Marc Chagall Marc Chagall; russian: link=no, Марк Заха́рович Шага́л ; be, Марк Захаравіч Шагал . (born Moishe Shagal; 28 March 1985) was a Russian-French artist. An early modernism, modernist, he was associated with se ...

T. S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biogr ...

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the ...

, and

Jacques Maritain Jacques Maritain (; 18 November 1882 – 28 April 1973) was a French Catholic philosopher. Raised Protestant, he was agnostic before converting to Catholicism in 1906. An author of more than 60 books, he helped to revive Thomas Aquinas fo ...

to the Committee.

Work as an economic historian

Nef went on to become a foremost economic historian. His largest domain of interest was the

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...

's economic, cultural, and military history since the end of the 15th century. He was involved in the study of the comparative economic histories of Britain and France; his most intense being the French economic history. His early work on the coal industry of Britain and the early

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

in Britain during the 16th and 17th century is particularly important. His work indicated that the Industrial Revolution was a long-time evolutionary process. He was also one of the first economic historians who paid serious attention to technology.Samuels (2005), p. 60

Publication

He was an author of a number of books which include ''Industry and Government In France and England 1540-1640'' (1940), ''The United States and Civilization'' (1967), ''The Rise of the British Coal Industry'' (1932), ''The Conquest of the Material World'' (1964), and ''Search for Meaning: Autobiography of a Non-Conformist'' (1973).

Later life

Apart from being an economic historian, Nef was also an officer of the French Legion of Honor, a philanthropist, and patron of the arts. In 1979 the Society for the History of Technology awarded him the Leonardo da Vinci Medal, and in 1980 he received the University of Chicago Medal. He died at his home in Washington, D.C. at the age of 89, after a long illness, in 1988.

Notes

References

External links

Guide to the John Ulric Nef, Jr. Papers 1840-2008
at th
University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nef, John Ulric 1899 births 1988 deaths American economic historians Harvard University alumni University of Chicago faculty Swarthmore College faculty Leonardo da Vinci Medal recipients 20th-century American philanthropists