Henry Edward Guerlac (June 14, 1910 – May 29, 1985) was an American

historian of science The history of science covers the development of science from ancient times to the present. It encompasses all three major branches of science: natural, social, and formal. Science's earliest roots can be traced to Ancient Egypt and Mesopo ...

. He taught at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

where he was the

Goldwin Smith Goldwin Smith (13 August 1823 – 7 June 1910) was a British historian and journalist, active in the United Kingdom and Canada. In the 1860s he also taught at Cornell University in the United States. Life and career Early life and education S ...

Professor of History and a member of the Department of History.

Biography

Guerlac earned his PhD in European history from

Harvard 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 higher le ...

in 1941.Henry Edward Guerlac (1910–1982)
(2006) Division of History of Chemistry of the American Chemical Society During World War II, he worked in the

MIT Radiation Laboratory The Radiation Laboratory, commonly called the Rad Lab, was a microwave and radar research laboratory located at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was first created in October 1940 and operated until 31 ...

with Marie Boas Hall in writing "the history of the laboratory and of the operational use of

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, Marine radar, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor v ...

during the war."Marie Boas Hall (1919-2009)
, ''The Times'', 20 March 2009 Boas Hall later joined him as a PhD student at Cornell, completing her studies with him in 1952. He was awarded 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 1959 by the History of Science Society for his book ''Lavoisier: The Crucial Year'', and was given the Dexter Award for Outstanding Achievement in the History of Chemistry from the

American Chemical Society The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all ...

in 1972. He won 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 ...

, the highest award given by 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 1973. He served as president of the society from 1957 to 1960.The History of Science Societ
"The Society: Past Presidents of the History of Science Society"
, accessed 4 December 2013 He was a

Guggenheim Fellow Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

in 1978, and in 1982 was awarded the

Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...

by France.

References

External links

Guide to the Henry Guerlac Papers, 1922-1981
Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library 1910 births 1985 deaths Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Cornell University alumni Cornell University Department of History faculty 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers American historians of science 20th-century American male writers {{US-sci-historian-stub