Lynn Thorndike (24 July 1882, in

Lynn, Massachusetts Lynn is the eighth-largest List of municipalities in Massachusetts, municipality in Massachusetts, United States, and the largest city in Essex County, Massachusetts, Essex County. Situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Boston city line ...

, US – 28 December 1965, New York City) was an American historian of medieval science and

alchemy Alchemy (from the Arabic word , ) is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practised in China, India, the Muslim world, and Europe. In its Western form, alchemy is first ...

. He was the son of a clergyman, Edward R. Thorndike, and the younger brother of Ashley Horace Thorndike, an American educator and expert on William Shakespeare, and Edward Lee Thorndike, known for being the father of modern educational psychology. In ''A Short History of Civilization'' (1926), Thorndike was the first historian to propose the term "early modern" to describe what is today recognized as the

early modern period The early modern period is a Periodization, historical period that is defined either as part of or as immediately preceding the modern period, with divisions based primarily on the history of Europe and the broader concept of modernity. There i ...

, about 1500–1800.

Education and teaching career

Thorndike studied at

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...

, Middletown, Connecticut (Bachelor of Arts, 1902), and then medieval history at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

(Master of Arts 1903, Doctorate 1905). Thorndike's doctoral dissertation (1905) was about "The Place of Magic in the Intellectual History of Europe", which he went on to link with the historical development of experimental science. He began teaching medieval history at

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

in 1907. He moved to Western Reserve University in 1909 and stayed there until 1924. Columbia University lured him away in fall 1924 and he taught there until he retired from teaching in 1950.

Writing career

After retiring from teaching, Thorndike continued to publish for an additional ten years and in 1957 received the Sarton Medal from the

History of Science Society The History of Science Society (HSS), founded in 1924, is the primary professional society for the academic study of the history of science. The society has over 3,000 members worldwide. It publishes the quarterly journal ''Isis'' and the yearly ...

. He served as the president there in 1929 and also served as president of the

American Historical Association The American Historical Association (AHA) is the oldest professional association of historians in the United States and the largest such organization in the world, claiming over 10,000 members. Founded in 1884, AHA works to protect academic free ...

. He was elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

in 1939. Counter to Swiss historian

Jacob Burckhardt Carl Jacob Christoph Burckhardt (; ; 25 May 1818 – 8 August 1897) was a Swiss historian of art and culture and an influential figure in the historiography of both fields. His best known work is '' The Civilization of the Renaissance in ...

who argued that the

Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance ( ) was a period in History of Italy, Italian history between the 14th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Western Europe and marked t ...

was a separate phase, Thorndike believed that most of the political, social, moral and religious phenomena which are commonly defined as Renaissance seemed to be almost equally characteristic of Italy at any time from the twelfth to the eighteenth centuries. Among his books on magic and science are: ''A History of Magic and Experimental Science'' (8 vol., 1923–1958), spanning the period from early Christianity through early modern Europe to the end of the 17th century. In that book, he commented about the best way to find historical truth:Lynn Thorndike (1934). ''A History of Magic and Experimental Science: Fourteenth and fifteenth centuries'', pp. 253–254. Columbia University Press.

Some investigators of manuscripts, like certain anthropologists and archeologists, seem to think that they attain a higher degree of scholarship, if they propound some novel and improbable theory and adduce a certain amount of evidence for it. This is hardly the direct or rapid method of attaining historical truth.

Another book by Thorndike about magic and science is ''Science and Thought in the Fifteenth Century'' (1929). Thorndike also wrote ''The History of Medieval Europe'' (1917, 3d ed. 1949) and translated the medieval astronomical textbook '' De sphaera mundi'' of Johannes de Sacrobosco.

Works

Place of Magic in the Intellectual History of Europe,''
The Columbia University Press, 1905. * ''The True Roger Bacon,'' 1916.
''The History of Medieval Europe,''
Houghton Mifflin Company, 1917.
''Medieval Europe, its Development & Civilization,''
George G. Harrap & Company Ltd., 1920.
the man and his times''
1922. * ''Peter of Abano: A Medieval Scientist'', 1923. * ''History of Magic and Experimental Science,'' 1923–1958, in 8 volumes (e.g
Volume I

Volume II
. * ''A Short History of Civilization'', 1926. * ''Outline of Medieval and Modern History'', 1929. * ''Check-list of Rotographs in the History of Natural and Occult Science,'' 1934. * ''University Records and Life in the Middle Ages,'' New York: Columbia University Press, 1944. * ''Dates in Intellectual History: the Fourteenth Century,'' 1945. * ''Traditional Medieval Tracts Concerning Engraved Astrological Images,'' 1947.
''The Sphere of Sacrobosco and its Commentators,''
University of Chicago Press, 1949.
''Latin Treatises on Comets Between 1238 and 1368 A. D.,''
University of Chicago Press, 1950. * ''The Sixteenth Century,'' Columbia University Press, 1959. * ''Science and Thought in the Fifteenth Century; Studies in the History of Medicine and Surgery, Natural and Mathematical Science, Philosophy, and Politics,'' 1963 * ''Michael Scot,'' Nelson, 1965.

Miscellany

''"Measuring Euripides"''
Issued by The College for Women Section, Chapter Alpha of Ohio,

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

, 1916.
''"Whatever Was, Was Right"''
Presidential Address Read at the Annual Dinner of the American Historical Association, Mayflower Hotel, Washington, D. C., December 29, 1955

References

External links