Charles Coulston Gillispie (; August 6, 1918 – October 6, 2015) was an American historian of science. He was the Dayton-Stockton Professor of History of Science, Emeritus at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

. He was succeeded by

Arno J. Mayer Arno Joseph Mayer (born June 19, 1926), is an American historian who specializes in modern Europe, diplomatic history, and the Holocaust, and is currently the Dayton-Stockton Professor of History, Emeritus, at Princeton University. Early life ...

Life

The son of Raymond Livingston Gillispie and Virginia Coulston, Gillispie grew up in

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Bethlehem is a city in Northampton and Lehigh Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, Bethlehem had a total population of 75,781. Of this, 55,639 were in Northampton County and 1 ...

. He attended

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a private liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church and with the support of prominent residents of Middletown, the col ...

, graduating in 1940 with a major in Chemistry and gained his PhD from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

in 1949. He also served in the U.S. Army during World War II. Gillispie joined the Department of History at Princeton University, establishing the Princeton Program in History of Science in the 1960s. He was elected a member of the

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 ...

in 1963. He was president of 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 ...

in 1965–66. In 1972, he was elected to the

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 ...

. He headed the editorial board of the ''

Dictionary of Scientific Biography The ''Dictionary of Scientific Biography'' is a scholarly reference work that was published from 1970 through 1980 by publisher Charles Scribner's Sons, with main editor the science historian Charles Gillispie, from Princeton University. It consi ...

'', for which he received the

Dartmouth Medal The Dartmouth Medal of the American Library Association is awarded annually to a reference work of outstanding quality and significance, published during the previous calendar year. History Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a priv ...

in 1981. Gillispie also received the

Pfizer Award The Pfizer Award is awarded annually by the History of Science Society "in recognition of an outstanding book dealing with the history of science" Recipients * 1959 Marie Boas Hall, ''Robert Boyle and Seventeenth-Century Chemistry'' (New Yor ...

in 1981. He was awarded the

George Sarton Medal The George Sarton Medal is the most prestigious award given by the History of Science Society. It has been awarded annually since 1955. It is awarded to an historian of science from the international community who became distinguished for "a lifet ...

by the History of Science Society in 1984 and the

Balzan Prize The International Balzan Prize Foundation awards four annual monetary prizes to people or organizations who have made outstanding achievements in the fields of humanities, natural sciences, culture, as well as for endeavours for peace and the br ...

in 1997 for "the extraordinary contribution he has made to the history and philosophy of science by his intellectually vigorous, precise works, as well as his editing of a great reference work". He died on October 6, 2015 at the age of 97.

Works

*''Genesis and geology: a study in the relations of scientific thought, natural theology, and social opinion in Britain, 1790-1850'', 1951
''The edge of objectivity: an essay in the history of scientific ideas''
1960 *''Lazare Carnot, savant'', 1971 *''Science and polity in France at the end of the old regime'', 1980. Winner of the 1981

.
''Science and Polity in France: The Revolutionary and Napoleonic Years''
(2004) *''The Montgolfier brothers and the invention of aviation, 1783-1784'', 1983 ** *''Pierre-Simon Laplace, 1749-1827: a life in exact science'', 1997 ** *''Essays and reviews in history and history of science'', 2006

References

External links

Web page at Princeton University
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gillispie, Charles Coulston American historians of science Princeton University faculty South Kent School alumni Wesleyan University alumni Harvard University alumni 1918 births 2015 deaths United States Army personnel of World War II Historians from Connecticut Members of the American Philosophical Society

Life

Works

References

Further reading

External links