Harry Woolf (historian)

Harry Woolf ( born August 12, 1923 in New York City; † January 6, 2003 in Princeton ) was an American historian of science, and from 1976 to 1987 director of the Institute for Advanced Study.

Woolf studied mathematics, physics and history at the University of Chicago with a bachelor 's degree in 1948 and a master's degree in 1949. 1955 he received his doctorate from Cornell University in history of science. He then worked at Boston University, Brandeis University and the University of Washington before 1961 Professor of the History of Science at Johns Hopkins University was ( Willis K. Shepard Professor ). He was there from 1961 to 1972 its Board of Directors Faculty and Provost from 1972 to 1976. After that, he was until 1987 Director of the Institute for Advanced Study. He was during his time as director of the funds of the institution more than tripled and significantly expand the institute. In 1994 he became Emeritus.

He was a visiting professor in India and several countries in West Africa and wrote a book about the history of Venus transit and was co-editor of the Dictionary of Scientific Biography. 1958 to 1961 he was editor of ISIS. In 1990 he received a Humboldt Research Award. He was a Fellow of the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Woolf was married and had three daughters and two sons.

Writings

• Transits of Venus. A study of eighteenth -century science. In 1959. ( Reprint, Arno Press, New York 1981. )
• As Hg: Quantification. A History of the Meaning of Measurement in the Natural and Social Sciences. Indianapolis 1961.
• As Hg: Some strangeness in proportion. A centennial symposium to celebrate the achievements of Albert Einstein. Addison-Wesley 1980.