Richard S. Westfall

Richard Samuel "Sam" Westfall ( born April 22, 1924 in Fort Collins, Colorado; † August 21, 1996 in Bloomington, Indiana) was an American historian of science, known for his biography of Isaac Newton.

Life and work

Westfall was the son of a professor of English literature and studied from 1942 at Yale University, interrupted by two years of military service in World War II. In 1948, he earned his bachelor 's degree. He received his Ph.D. in 1955 at Yale ( "Christianity and the Virtuosi ", the work flowed in his book " Science and Religion in 17th Century England" by 1958 ). 1952/53, he taught at Caltech, from 1953 to 1957 at Iowa State University and then to 1963 from Grinnell College in Iowa. From 1963 he was at Indiana University as professor of history and history of science. In 1989 he retired. He died of a heart attack.

Westfall dealt with the history of science of the 16th and 17th centuries. He is the author of today (2008) Newton authoritative biography. On the biography he had worked 20 years. He puts it even partially neurotic traits of Newton's personality out, but focused his presentation on the scientist Newton, whom he considers the most important figure of Western European civilization.

As part of a research project on the social connections of scientists in the 16th and 17th centuries in Europe, he put together a collection of biographies of 600 scientists that are accessible on the Galileo Project on the World Wide Web.

In 1985, he received the George Sarton Medal. He was a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Royal Society of Literature. 1977/78 he was president of the History of Science Society.

He was married, had a son and two daughters.

Writings

• The Life of Isaac Newton, 1993 ( shortened version of "Never at Rest " )
• The Construction of Modern Science: Mechanism and Mechanics, John Wiley, 1971, Cambridge University Press 1978
• Force in Newton 's Physics: the Science of Dynamics in the Seventeenth Century, 1971 ( won the 1972 Pfizer Price )
• Science and religion in 17th Century England, 1958, 1973
• Essays on the Trial of Galileo, 1989
• Science and Patronage: Galileo and the Telescope, Isis, Volume 76, 1985, p.11 -30 ( won the Derek Price Award 1987 )