Robert E. Kohler

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Robert E. Kohler (* 1937 ) is an American chemist and historian of science specializing in the life sciences . Since 2005 he has been Professor Emeritus at the Department of History and Sociology of Science at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn).

Life

Robert E. Kohler has been married to Frances Coulbourn Kohler since the 1960s, who has contributed to the success of the scientific history journals Isis , Osiris and most recently Chemical Heritage as editor and in a leading position .

Academic career

In 1959, Kohler earned a BA in chemistry from Yale University with summa cum laude . In 1965 he received his Ph.D. from Harvard. , also in chemistry. He remained as a Research Fellow at Harvard, first at the Medical School , Department of Microbiology from 1965 to 1968 , and then from 1968 to 1970 at the Department of History of Science . Between 1970 and 1973 he was deputy director of the Burndy Library , a library founded in 1941 by Bern Dibner for the history of technology and science in Norwalk (Connecticut) . In 1973 he went to the University of Pennsylvania, where he was appointed professor in 1988. Robert E. Kohler stayed at Penn until his retirement in 2005.

Research, teaching and awards

While Kohler had written his dissertation on terpenes , he then turned increasingly to topics of the history of science. In his work in 1971/72 he dealt with the background and reception of the discovery of cell-free fermentation by the German chemist and winner of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry (1907) Eduard Buchner . He later examined the historical foundations of science funding and the history of genetics . In the 1980s he incorporated sociological elements into his research and in 1982, in From Medical Chemistry to Biochemistry: The Making of a Biomedical Discipline , he showed that the discipline of biochemistry emerged from the conflicts over the control of medical schools, especially from the conflicts between clinical ones Practitioners and researchers. A similar sociological interest led him to investigate the mechanisms of promotion in the design of American science. He published the results in several influential articles and in 1991 in the work Partners in Science: Foundations and Natural Scientists, 1900-1945 . In the 2000s he worked on the culture and practice of biology and biodiversity, as well as the history of geographical and biological fieldwork.

His lectures dealt, among other things, with American history of science, the history of technology in war, landscape and environmental history, and science as a social practice. In 2004 Kohler received the George Sarton Medal , the highly prestigious prize for the history of science from the History of Science Society (HSS) founded by George Sarton and Lawrence Joseph Henderson .

Publications (selection)

Robert E. Kohler was co-editor of the scientific history journal Isis between 1987 and 1992 and co-editor of the Journal of the History of Biology from 1991 to 2001 . He has been co-editor of Social Studies of Science since 1984 and of Nature and Culture since 2005 . He has published over 30 professional articles and five books.

  • Robert E. Kohler: The background to Eduard Buchner 's discovery of cell-free fermentation . In: Journal of the History of Biology . 4, No. 1, 1971, pp. 35-61. doi : 10.1007 / BF00356976 .
  • Robert E. Kohler: The reception of Eduard Buchner's discovery of cell-free fermentation . In: Journal of the History of Biology . 5, No. 2, 1972, pp. 327-353. doi : 10.1007 / BF00346663 .
  • From Medical Chemistry to Biochemistry: The Making of a Biomedical Discipline . Cambridge University Press, 1982.
  • Partners in Science: Foundations and Natural Scientists, 1900-1945. University of Chicago Press, 1991.
  • Lords of the Fly: Drosophila Genetics and the Experimental Life. University of Chicago Press, 1994.
  • Landcapes and Labscapes: Exploring the Lab-Field Border in Biology. University of Chicago Press, 2002.
  • All Creatures: Naturalists, Collectors, and Biodiversity, 1850-1950. Princeton University Press, 2006.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c History of Science Society (HSS)  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Lynn K. Nyhart: Sarton Medal 2004, Robert Kohler. November 5, 2009.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / hsswebsite.org  
  2. ↑ a b University of Pennsylvania, Department of History and Sociology of Science ( Memento of the original from October 5, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ( MS Word ; 47 kB) Short biography in tabular form. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / hss.sas.upenn.edu
  3. ↑ American Scientist ( Memento of the original from May 2, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Robert Kohler, short biography. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.americanscientist.org
  4. ^ Sarton Medal - History of Science Society. In: hssonline.org. Retrieved February 12, 2016 .
  5. ^ University of Pennsylvania List with a selection of Kohler's publications.
personal data
SURNAME Kohler, Robert E.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American chemist and historian of science
DATE OF BIRTH 1937