Henry Guerlac

Henry Edward Guerlac (born June 14, 1910 in Ithaca , New York , † May 29, 1985 in Ithaca) was an American historian of science .

Life

Guerlac's father, Othon Guerlac, was a linguist and professor at Cornell University in New York . Henry Guerlac learned French as a second language and followed his father to Cornell University, where he graduated with a BA in chemistry in 1932 . In 1934 he went to Harvard University , where he received a Ph.D. in European history . During this time he became interested in the history of science. He had taken various courses with George Sarton , who developed his understanding of the history of science.

He then stayed in Europe. In Paris he looked through an unpublished manuscript by Antoine Laurent de Lavoisier , who is considered to be one of the fathers of modern chemistry. He published the manuscript and other material under the title Lavoisier: The Crucial Year . After working at the University of Wisconsin and the Radiation Laboratory at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) , he returned to Cornell University. Here he received the title Goldwin Smith Professor of History of Science at Cornell in 1964 , which he held until his retirement in 1975. He was also a member of the Cornell University Department of History .

Awards

Antoine Lavoisier ; for his work on Lavoisier, Guerlac received the 1958 Pfizer Award from the History of Science Society.

Among the numerous honors and prizes Guerlac received were: 1958 for his publication on Lavoisier, the Pfizer Award from the History of Science Society (HSS) founded by George Sarton and Lawrence Joseph Henderson ; 1973 the George Sarton Medal , the highly prestigious prize for the history of science of the HSS; In 1972 he received the Dexter Award ; In 1978 he received the honorary title of Guggenheim Fellow . He was also awarded a medal of the French Legion of Honor (Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur) in 1982.

In 1958, Guerlac was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .

Fonts

• Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier, in Dictionary of Scientific Biography, supplemented in the supplementary volumes by Marco Beretta, Scribner's 2008
• Lavoisier — The Crucial Year. The Background and Origin of His First Experiments on Combustion in 1772, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1961
• Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier: Chemist and Revolutionary, New York: Scribner, 1975.

Web links

• Division of History of Chemistry of the American Chemical Society, Biography (PDF file; 214 kB)
• Cornell University Library, overview of Guerlac's works