Donald Routledge Hill (6 August 1922 – 30 May 1994)
[D. A. King, “In Memoriam: Donald Routledge Hill (1922-1994)”, ''Arabic Sciences and Philosophy,'' Volume 5 / Issue 02 / September 1995, pp 297-302] was a British
engineer
Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considerin ...
and
historian of science and technology best known for his translation of ''The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices'' of the Muslim engineer
Ismail al-Jazari.
[Hill Donald(1993)]
Life and work
Born in London, after secondary school Hill served in the British army, in the
Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is head ...
from 1941 to 1946. Two years he served in the
Eighth Army in North Africa until he was wounded in action in Italy. Back in England he studied Engineering at the London University, obtaining his engineering degree in 1949. In 1964 he obtained his M.Litt in Islamic History at the University of Durham, and in 1970 his PhD from the University of London.
Late 1940s Hill started his career working for the
Iraq Petroleum Company in Lebanon, Syria and Qatar. Back in England he worked for several petrochemical companies until his retirement in 1984.
Alongside more general works on the
history of technology
The history of technology is the history of the invention of tools and techniques and is one of the categories of world history. Technology can refer to methods ranging from as simple as stone tools to the complex genetic engineering and inf ...
, Hill wrote works on the history of
science
Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence ...
and
technology in the medieval Islamic world and translated ''The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices'' of Ismail al-Jazari.
Selected publications
;Books
* Hill, Donald Routledge (1984). ''A History of Engineering in Classical and Medieval Times'', London: Croom Helm & La Salle, Illinois: Open Court, 1984. .
*
al-Hassan, Ahmad Y., & Hill, Donald R. (1986). ''Islamic technology: An illustrated history'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press/UNESCO. .
*
* Hill, Donald Routledge (1976). ''On The Construction of Water-Clocks — Kitab Arshimidas Fi'amal Al-Binkamat'', London: Turner & Devereux Occasional Paper No. 4.
* Ibn Ismail Ibn al-Razzaz Al-Jazari & Hill, Donald Routledge (ed. & transl.) (1988), ''The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices: Kitáb fí ma'rifat al-hiyal al-handasiyya'', Islamabad: Pakistan Hijara Council. .
*
Banū Mūsā
The Banū Mūsā brothers ("Sons of Moses"), namely Abū Jaʿfar, Muḥammad ibn Mūsā ibn Shākir (before 803 – February 873); Abū al‐Qāsim, Aḥmad ibn Mūsā ibn Shākir (d. 9th century); and Al-Ḥasan ibn Mūsā ibn Shākir (d. 9th ce ...
& Hill, Donald Routledge (ed. & transl.) (1989), ''The Book of Ingenious Devices '', Islamabad: Pakistan Hijara Council.
;Articles, a selection:
* Hill, Donald R (1993). ''Science and Technology in Ninth Century Baghdad'', in ''Science in Western and Eastern Civilization in Carolongian Times'', ed. P. L. Bouzer and D. Lohrmann; Birkhäuser; Boston.
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hill, David Routledge
1922 births
1994 deaths
20th-century English historians
Historians of science
Historians of technology
Alumni of the University of London
Engineers from London
Alumni of St Cuthbert's Society, Durham
British Army personnel of World War II
British expatriates in Lebanon
British expatriates in Syria
British expatriates in Qatar