John Lewis Heilbron (born 17 March 1934, San Francisco) is an American historian of science best known for his work in the history of physics and the history of astronomy. He is Professor of History and Vice-Chancellor Emeritus (Vice-Chancellor 1990–1994) at the University of California, Berkeley, senior research fellow at Worcester College, Oxford, and visiting professor at Yale University and the California Institute of Technology. He edited the academic journal ''Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences'' for twenty-five years.

Biography

Heilbron attended Lowell High School (San Francisco), Lowell High School in San Francisco, California, and was a member of the Lowell Forensic Society. He received his Bachelor of Arts, A.B. (1955) and Master of Arts, M.A. (1958) degrees in physics and his Doctor of Philosophy, Ph.D. (1964) in history from the University of California, Berkeley. He was Thomas Kuhn's graduate student in the 1960s when Kuhn was writing ''The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.'' Heilbron is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Awards and honors

* 1988: member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences * 1990: member, American Philosophical Society * 2000: Honorary degree, University of Pavia. * 2006: Abraham Pais Prize for History of Physics, a joint award of the American Physical Society and the American Institute of Physics. * 1993: awarded the George Sarton Medal by the History of Science Society. * 1988: Honorary degree, University of Bologna.

Main books

* 2022: 'The Incomparable Monsignor: Francesco Bianchini's World of Science, History, and Court Intrigue.' [(Oxford University Press)]. * 2021: 'The Ghoist of Galileo in a Forgotten Painting from the English Civil War.' [(Oxford University Press)]. * 2020: ' Niels Bohr: A Very Short Introduction', [(Oxford University Press)]. * 2018: ''The History of Physics: A Very Short Introduction'', Oxford University Press. * 2013: ''Love, Literature, and the Quantum Atom'', with Finn Aaserud Oxford University Press. * 2010: ''Galileo'', Oxford University Press. . (See David Wootton (historian), David Wootton.) (See Galileo Galilei.) * 2003: ''The Oxford Companion to the History of Modern Science'' (ed.), Oxford University Press. . * 2003: ''Ernest Rutherford and the Explosion of Atoms'', Oxford Portraits in Science, Oxford University Press. . * 1999: ''The Sun in the Church: Cathedrals as Solar Observatories.'' Harvard University Press. . 2001 paperback: . * 1999: ''Electricity in the 17th and 18th Centuries: A Study of Early Modern Physics.'' Dover Publications. . * 1997: ''Geometry Civilized: History, Culture, Technique.'' Oxford University Press. . 2000 paperback: . * 1989: ''Ernest Lawrence, Lawrence and His Laboratory: A History of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory'', with Robert W. Seidel. University of California Press. . * 1986: ''The Dilemmas of an Upright Man: Max Planck and the Fortunes of German Science'', California University Press. * 1979: ''Electricity in the 17th and 18th Centuries: A Study of Early Modern Physics'', University of California Press. . * 1974: ''Henry Moseley, H. G. J. Moseley: The Life and Letters of an English Physicist, 1887-1915'', University of California Press. .

Notes

References

Brief biography
in AIP Center for History of Physics Newsletter, Volume XXXVIII, No. 1, Spring 2006.

External links

*
/span> D. Graham Burnett book review of ''The Sun in the Church: Cathedrals as Solar Observatories'', The New York Times, October 24, 1999. **Quote from Burnett's review: ''"How ironic…the church's seemingly backward attitude toward heliocentrism actually nurtured a powerful and emergent scientific method."''
Video of a talk by Heilbron titled "Remarks on the Writing of Biography."
Living people 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers American historians of science Fellows of Worcester College, Oxford University of California, Berkeley alumni University of California, Berkeley College of Letters and Science faculty Yale University faculty Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences 1934 births American encyclopedists Historians from California American male non-fiction writers Members of the American Philosophical Society {{US-sci-historian-stub