Harry Woolf (historian)

Harry Woolf (born August 12, 1923 in New York City , † January 6, 2003 in Princeton ) was an American historian of science and from 1976 to 1987 director of the Institute for Advanced Study .

Woolf studied mathematics, physics and history at the University of Chicago with a bachelor's degree in 1948 and a master's degree in 1949. In 1955 he received his doctorate from Cornell University in the history of science . He then worked at Boston University , Brandeis University and the University of Washington before becoming Professor of History of Science at Johns Hopkins University in 1961 ( Willis K. Shepard Professor ). He was there from 1961 to 1972 head of its faculty and 1972 to 1976 Provost. After that he was director of the Institute for Advanced Study until 1987 . During his time as director he was able to more than triple the funds of the institute and expand the institute considerably. In 1994 he retired.

He has been a visiting professor in India and several West African countries and wrote a book on the history of the Venus Transits and was co-editor of the Dictionary of Scientific Biography . 1958 to 1961 he was editor of the magazine ISIS. In 1990 he received a Humboldt Research Award . He was a fellow of the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .

Woolf was married and had three daughters and two sons.

Fonts

Transits of Venus. A study of eighteenth-century science . 1959. (New edition, Arno Press, New York 1981.)
as Ed .: Quantification. A History of the Meaning of Measurement in the Natural and Social Sciences . Indianapolis 1961.
as ed .: Some strangeness in proportion. A centennial symposium to celebrate the achievements of Albert Einstein . Addison-Wesley 1980.

personal data
SURNAME	Woolf, Harry
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American historian of science
DATE OF BIRTH	August 12, 1923
PLACE OF BIRTH	New York City
DATE OF DEATH	January 6, 2003
Place of death	Princeton