Bolton, Henry Carrington (28 January 1843–19 November 1903), chemist and historian, was born in New York City, the only child of Jackson Bolton, a physician, and Anna Hinman North. Bolton graduated from Columbia College in 1862 after showing aptitude in mathematics and chemistry. Over the next four years he studied chemistry with some of the best minds in Europe: Jean-Baptiste-André Dumas at the Sorbonne and Charles-Adolphe Wurtz of the École de Médicine in Paris; Robert Wilhelm Bunsen, Hermann Franz Moritz Kopp, and Gustav Robert Kirchhoff at the University of Heidelberg; Friedrich Wöhler at Göttingen; and August Wilhelm von Hofmann of the University of Berlin. In 1866, the year his father died, he was awarded a Ph.D. at the University of Göttingen for his work “On the Fluorine Compounds of Uranium.” Throughout his stay in Europe, Bolton traveled the whole of the Continent, particularly in Switzerland, where he became an expert alpine climber....
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Bolton, Henry Carrington (1843-1903), chemist and historian
Herbert T. Pratt
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Bronowski, Jacob (1908-1974), mathematician and historian and philosopher of science
David Topper
Bronowski, Jacob (18 January 1908–22 August 1974), mathematician and historian and philosopher of science, was born in Łódź (in what is now Poland), the son of Abram Bronowski and Celia Flatto, occupations unknown. During his childhood his family moved first to Germany (1912) and then to England (1920). In 1927 he entered the University of Cambridge to study mathematics, receiving his Ph.D. in 1933. He also helped found and edit a literary magazine, ...
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Burkhardt, Fredrick Henry (13 Sept. 1912–23 Sept. 2007), educational administrator and historian of science
Steven C. Wheatley
Burkhardt, Fredrick Henry (13 Sept. 1912–23 Sept. 2007), educational administrator and historian of science, was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Louis Burkhardt, a butcher and shopkeeper who had deserted from the German Navy, and Marie Neumeier. Burkhardt attended public schools in Queens, suffering anti-German prejudice during World War I. The family relocated to Staten Island after the war, but when his father’s grocery shop became a speakeasy during Prohibition, it was decided that Burkhardt should return to Queens to live with his grandparents. Against the advice of his family, who had secured him an appointment to the New York City Fire Department, Burkhardt began undergraduate study at Columbia University. Upon graduating with a B.A. in ...
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Chardón, Carlos E. (28 Sept. 1897–7 March 1965), mycologist, university chancellor, government administrator, and historian of science
Darryl E. Brock
Chardón, Carlos E. (28 Sept. 1897–7 March 1965), mycologist, university chancellor, government administrator, and historian of science, was born Carlos Eugenio Chardón Palacios in Ponce, Puerto Rico, one of two sons to Carlos Félix Chardón, a notary and successful planter, and Isabel Palacios Pelletier. Chard...
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Cushing, Harvey Williams (1869-1939), neurosurgeon, medical historian, and bibliophile
Jeremiah A. Barondess
Cushing, Harvey Williams (08 April 1869–07 October 1939), neurosurgeon, medical historian, and bibliophile, was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in the Western Reserve of Connecticut, the son of Henry Kirke Cushing, a physician, and Betsey Maria Williams. In addition to his father, Cushing’s paternal grandfather, great grandfather, and great-great grandfather were all physicians in general practice. Cushing’s childhood was a happy and full one with strong parental role models. He found opportunities at home to consort, through books, with the world of ideas, and to explore history. His early education was in the public schools of Cleveland and from his mother, who taught him French and introduced him to general literature and poetry. In 1887 Cushing entered Yale University, where he spent four happy years, achieving election to Scroll and Key (a matter of considerable importance to him) and securing the short-stop position on the Yale freshman baseball team and, later, membership on the varsity nine....
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Edelstein, Ludwig (1902-1965), classical scholar and historian of medicine
William M. Calder
Edelstein, Ludwig (23 April 1902–16 August 1965), classical scholar and historian of medicine, was born in Berlin, Germany, the son of Isidor Edelstein, a wealthy Jewish businessman, and Mathilde Adler. Taught first by private tutors, Ludwig Edelstein later entered the Joachim Friedrich Humanistic Gymnasium in Berlin, where he received grounding in Greek and Latin. He studied from 1921 to 1924 at the Friedrich-Wilhelms University in his native city. From the start he concentrated in philosophy and classics and was especially influenced by the classicist ...
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Flick, Lawrence Francis (1856-1938), physician, historian, and early leader in the campaign against tuberculosis
Barbara Bates
Flick, Lawrence Francis (10 August 1856–07 July 1938), physician, historian, and early leader in the campaign against tuberculosis, was born in Carroll Township, Cambria County, Pennsylvania, the son of John Flick, a mill owner and farmer, and Elizabeth Schabacher (changed to Sharbaugh). Flick grew up on the family farm, but poor health excused him from the usual chores. A bookish boy and a devout Roman Catholic, he first attended local schools. For most of his teenage years, he studied at St. Vincent’s, a Benedictine college in Beatty (now Latrobe), Pennsylvania, but symptoms suggesting tuberculosis cut short his classwork, and he returned home. After a period of indecision and various jobs, he entered Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia and graduated in 1879. He then completed an internship at Philadelphia Hospital and opened an office for the practice of medicine. His persisting illness, however, was finally diagnosed as tuberculosis and, following his physicians’ advice, he traveled to the West for his health. By 1883, improvement allowed him to resume his practice, which soon included increasing numbers of patients with tuberculosis. “When I recovered from tuberculosis as a young man,” he wrote, “I consecrated my life to the welfare of those afflicted with the disease and to the protection of those who had not yet contracted it” ( ...
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Garrison, Fielding Hudson (1870-1935), medical librarian, bibliographer, and historian
Nancy Whitten Zinn
Garrison, Fielding Hudson (05 November 1870–18 April 1935), medical librarian, bibliographer, and historian, was born in Washington, D.C., the son of John Rowzee Garrison II, a comptroller for the federal government, and Jennie Davis. Garrison graduated from Washington Central High School in 1886. After a year’s concentration at home on music and college preparation, he matriculated at Johns Hopkins University in 1887. There he focused on classical and modern languages, with some physics and mathematics, graduating in 1890. Garrison’s facility in languages and literature was apparent throughout his career and in his correspondence....
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Kessen, William (1925-1999), psychologist, educator, and historian
Josephine J. Fueser
Kessen, William (18 January 1925–13 February 1999), psychologist, educator, and historian, was born in Key West, Florida, the only child of Maria Lord Kessen, a third generation Key Wester, and Herman Kessen of Georgia, a ship's engineer with the Peninsular and Occidental Steamship line. The family moved to Fort Lauderdale when Kessen was ten; he graduated from high school at the precocious age of sixteen. The first in his family to attend college, Kessen pursued a variety of interests at the University of Florida, including history, acting, and radio announcing, but his undergraduate studies were interrupted by the outbreak of World War II....
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Kuhn, Thomas S. (18 July 1922–17 June 1996), historian and philosopher of science
David B. Boersema
Kuhn, Thomas S. (18 July 1922–17 June 1996), historian and philosopher of science, was born Thomas Samuel Kuhn in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of Samuel Lewis Kuhn, an industrial engineer, and Minette Stroock Kuhn. He attended Harvard University, receiving his bachelor of science degree in physics in 1943. Following two years of civilian service for the Office of Scientific Research and Development, he returned to Harvard to complete an M.A. in 1946 and a Ph.D. in 1949, both in physics. While completing his Ph.D., he taught general education as a junior fellow of the Harvard Society of Fellows. Kuhn married Kathryn Louise Muhs in 1948; they had three children and divorced in 1978. He remarried in 1982, to Jehane Robin Burns. In 1958 Kuhn went to the University of California at Berkeley, where he stayed until 1964, when he left to teach at Princeton University. He ended his professional career at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he taught from 1979 to 1992....
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Rosen, George (1910-1977), medical historian and public health educator
Edward T. Morman
Rosen, George (23 June 1910–27 July 1977), medical historian and public health educator, was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Morris Rosen, a garment worker, and Rose Handleman. Rosen’s parents were immigrant Jews who spoke Yiddish at home, and it was not until he entered the New York City public schools that Rosen learned English. He graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1926, and the College of the City of New York in 1930. A victim of the policy that restricted enrollment of Jewish students at American medical schools, Rosen then undertook medical studies at the University of Berlin where he joined several dozen young Americans (all Jews except one African American) who had been denied a high quality medical education at home. Rosen witnessed the Nazi seizure of power and lived in Nazi Germany while completing his medical education. In Berlin, Rosen met Beate Caspari, a German-Jewish medical student, whom he married in 1933; they had two children....
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Smith, David Eugene (1860-1944), teacher and historian of mathematics
Albert C. Lewis
Smith, David Eugene (21 January 1860–29 July 1944), teacher and historian of mathematics, was born in Cortland, New York, the son of Abram P. Smith, a lawyer and county judge, and Mary Elizabeth Bronson. Smith’s scholarly learning began with lessons in Greek and Latin from his mother, who died when he was twelve. After attending the State Normal School in Cortland, he studied art and classical languages, including Hebrew, at Syracuse University, where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in 1881 and a master’s degree in 1884....
