John Lewis Heilbron (born 17 March 1934,

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

) is an American historian of science best known for his work in the

history of physics Physics is a branch of science whose primary objects of study are matter and energy. Discoveries of physics find applications throughout the natural sciences and in technology. Physics today may be divided loosely into classical physics and mode ...

and the

history of astronomy Astronomy is the oldest of the natural sciences, dating back to antiquity, with its origins in the religious, mythological, cosmological, calendrical, and astrological beliefs and practices of prehistory: vestiges of these are still found in ...

. He is Professor of History and Vice-Chancellor Emeritus (Vice-Chancellor 1990–1994) at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant un ...

, senior research fellow at

Worcester College, Oxford Worcester College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms ...

, and visiting professor at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...

and the

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

. He edited the academic journal '' Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences'' for twenty-five years.

Biography

Heilbron attended Lowell High School in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

, and was a member of the

Lowell Forensic Society Lowell High School is a co-educational, public high school in San Francisco, California. History 1853-1893 In 1853, Colonel Thomas J. Nevins, San Francisco's first superintendent of schools, broached the idea of a free high school for boys ...

. He received his A.B. (1955) and M.A. (1958) degrees in physics and his Ph.D. (1964) in history from the

. He was

Thomas Kuhn Thomas Samuel Kuhn (; July 18, 1922 – June 17, 1996) was an American philosopher of science whose 1962 book '' The Structure of Scientific Revolutions'' was influential in both academic and popular circles, introducing the term ''paradig ...

's graduate student in the 1960s when Kuhn was writing ''

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions ''The Structure of Scientific Revolutions'' (1962; second edition 1970; third edition 1996; fourth edition 2012) is a book about the history of science by philosopher Thomas S. Kuhn. Its publication was a landmark event in the history, philoso ...

.'' Heilbron is a member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences ( sv, Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien) is one of the royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for prom ...

Awards and honors

* 1988: member,

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

* 1990: member,

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

* 2000: Honorary degree,

University of Pavia The University of Pavia ( it, Università degli Studi di Pavia, UNIPV or ''Università di Pavia''; la, Alma Ticinensis Universitas) is a university located in Pavia, Lombardy, Italy. There was evidence of teaching as early as 1361, making it one ...

. * 2006:

Abraham Pais Prize for History of Physics The Abraham Pais Prize for History of Physics is an award given each year since 2005 jointly by the American Physical Society and the American Institute of Physics for "''outstanding scholarly achievements in the history of physics''". The prize ...

, a joint award of the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of k ...

and the

American Institute of Physics The American Institute of Physics (AIP) promotes science and the profession of physics, publishes physics journals, and produces publications for scientific and engineering societies. The AIP is made up of various member societies. Its corpora ...

. * 1993: awarded the George Sarton Medal by the

History of Science Society The History of Science Society (HSS) is the primary professional society for the academic study of the history of science. It was founded in 1924 by George Sarton, David Eugene Smith, and Lawrence Joseph Henderson, primarily to support the publi ...

. * 1988: Honorary degree,

University of Bologna The University of Bologna ( it, Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna, UNIBO) is a public research university in Bologna, Italy. Founded in 1088 by an organised guild of students (''studiorum''), it is the oldest university in contin ...

Main books

* 2022: 'The Incomparable Monsignor: Francesco Bianchini's World of Science, History, and Court Intrigue.' Oxford University Press) * 2021: 'The Ghoist of Galileo in a Forgotten Painting from the English Civil War.' Oxford University Press) * 2020: ' Niels Bohr: A Very Short Introduction', Oxford University Press) * 2018: ''The History of Physics: A Very Short Introduction'',

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 book ...

. * 2013: ''Love, Literature, and the Quantum Atom'', with Finn Aaserud

. * 2010: ''Galileo'',

. . (See

David Wootton Sir David Hugh Wootton (born 21 July 1950) is an English lawyer and politician. He was the 684th Lord Mayor of London, from 2011 to 2012, and is the Alderman of the Ward of Langbourn. Early life Wootton was educated at Bradford Grammar Schoo ...

.) (See

Galileo Galilei Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. Commonly referred to as Galileo, his name was pronounced (, ). He ...

.) * 2003: ''

The Oxford Companion to the History of Modern Science ''The Oxford Companion to the History of Modern Science'' is an encyclopedia on the history of science from around the middle of the 16th century (the early modern period) to the beginning of the 21st century. The book includes 609 articles by ...

'' (ed.),

. . * 2003: ''

Ernest Rutherford Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson, (30 August 1871 – 19 October 1937) was a New Zealand physicist who came to be known as the father of nuclear physics. ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' considers him to be the greatest ...

and the Explosion of Atoms'', Oxford Portraits in Science, Oxford University Press. . * 1999: ''The Sun in the Church: Cathedrals as Solar Observatories.'' Harvard University Press. . 2001 paperback: . * 1999: ''Electricity in the 17th and 18th Centuries: A Study of Early Modern Physics.''

Dover Publications Dover Publications, also known as Dover Books, is an American book publisher founded in 1941 by Hayward and Blanche Cirker. It primarily reissues books that are out of print from their original publishers. These are often, but not always, books ...

. . * 1997: ''Geometry Civilized: History, Culture, Technique.'' Oxford University Press. . 2000 paperback: . * 1989: '' Lawrence and His Laboratory: A History of the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory'', with Robert W. Seidel.

University of California Press The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by facul ...

. . * 1986: ''The Dilemmas of an Upright Man:

Max Planck Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck (, ; 23 April 1858 – 4 October 1947) was a German theoretical physicist whose discovery of energy quanta won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918. Planck made many substantial contributions to theoretical p ...

and the Fortunes of German Science'', California University Press. * 1979: ''Electricity in the 17th and 18th Centuries: A Study of Early Modern Physics'', University of California Press. . * 1974: '' H. G. J. Moseley: The Life and Letters of an English Physicist, 1887-1915'', University of California Press. .

Notes

References

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

External links

*
/span> D. Graham Burnett book review of ''The Sun in the Church: Cathedrals as Solar Observatories'',

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

, October 24, 1999. **Quote from Burnett's review: ''"How ironic…the church's seemingly backward attitude toward heliocentrism actually nurtured a powerful and emergent scientific method."''
Video of a talk by Heilbron titled "Remarks on the Writing of Biography."
Living people 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers American historians of science Fellows of Worcester College, Oxford University of California, Berkeley alumni University of California, Berkeley College of Letters and Science faculty Yale University faculty Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences 1934 births American encyclopedists Historians from California American male non-fiction writers Members of the American Philosophical Society {{US-sci-historian-stub