Philip Joseph Pauly (September 3, 1950 – April 2, 2008) was an American historian of science known for his work on the

history of biology The history of biology traces the study of the living world from ancient to modern times. Although the concept of ''biology'' as a single coherent field arose in the 19th century, the biological sciences emerged from traditions of medicine a ...

in the United States. A professor at

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

, he published three books: ''Controlling Life: Jacques Loeb and the Engineering Ideal in Biology''; ''Biologists and the Promise of American Life: From Meriwether Lewis to Alfred Kinsey''; and ''Fruits and Plains: The Horticultural Transformation of America''. His final book was honored with the

Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries The Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries, Inc. (CBHL) is a professional organization in the field of botanical and horticultural information services. Its purpose is to initiate and improve communication and coordinate activities and pr ...

Annual Literature Award in 2009. A native of

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

, Ohio, Pauly graduated from St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati in 1968. He was an undergraduate at

Catholic University Catholic higher education includes universities, colleges, and other institutions of higher education privately run by the Catholic Church, typically by religious institutes. Those tied to the Holy See are specifically called pontifical univ ...

, graduating in 1971. He earned an M.A. in 1975 from the

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of Mary ...

and a Ph.D. in 1981 from

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

, where he studied with

Donna Haraway Donna J. Haraway is an American Professor Emerita in the History of Consciousness Department and Feminist Studies Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a prominent scholar in the field of science and technology studies. Sh ...

. He also held a predoctoral fellowship at the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

and a postdoctoral fellowship at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

. In 1981 he came to

where he spent the rest of his career, becoming a full professor in 2001. He was also an active member of professional organizations such as the History of Science Society and the International Society for History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology, serving on many committees and editorial boards. For his scholarship, historian Jane Maienschien praised Pauly for his "way of seeing the larger picture". His first book, ''Controlling Life: Jacques Loeb and the Engineering Ideal in Biology'' (1987), is a biography of Jacques Loeb that also explores Loeb's broader influence on biology. His second book, ''Biologists and the Promise of American Life: From Meriwether Lewis to Alfred Kinsey'' (2000), traces the impact of biologists on American culture. His third book, ''Fruits and Plains: The Horticultural Transformation of America'', which ties the history of biology to environmental history and American history more broadly. Pauly married Michele Helen Bogart on July 23, 1981, with whom he had one son, Nicholas. Pauly was diagnosed with cancer in 1993; after treatment and a period of remission, the cancer ( non-Hodgkin's lymphoma) returned in 2006, and despite treatment with stem cells from his sister, he died in 2008.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pauly, Philip Joseph 20th-century American historians 20th-century American male writers Historians of science Catholic University of America alumni Rutgers University faculty St. Xavier High School (Ohio) alumni University of Maryland, College Park alumni 1950 births 2008 deaths American male non-fiction writers