Edward Grant
Edward Grant | |
---|---|
University of Utrecht | |
Influences | Marshall Clagett |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Medieval studies |
Institutions | Indiana University History of Science Society |
Edward Grant (April 6, 1926 – June 21, 2020)
Biography
Edward Grant was born in 1926. He attended
Grant began his successful teaching career while a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin. He was an assistant to a well-known scholar in the field Marshall Clagett, whom he would continue to respect and correspond with throughout his career.[4] Grant taught at the University of Maine and in the history of science program at Harvard University.[2]
In 1959, Grant came to
Grant was also a prominent member of several organizations, such as the Medieval Academy of America, the International Academy of the History of Science, and the History of Science Society.[4] He served as vice-president of the History of Science Society from 1983-1984 and as president from 1985–86.[4][5] Grant was also a frequent lecturer for organizations such as the Phi Beta Kappa Associates Panel of Distinguished Speakers from 1990-1998.[4]
Grant received many honors and awards, including the George Sarton Medal in 1992, the most prestigious award given by the History of Science Society that "recognizes those whose entire careers have been devoted to the field and whose scholarship is exceptional."[2]
Work
In his book The Foundations of Modern Science in the Middle Ages: Their Religious, Institutional and Intellectual Contexts, Grant discussed the developments and discoveries that culminated in the Scientific Revolution of the 17th century. He emphasized how the roots of modern science were planted in the ancient and medieval worlds long before the modern period, and that the Christian Latin civilization of Western Europe began the last stage of its intellectual development. One basic factor was how Christianity developed in the West with the establishment of the medieval universities around 1200.[6]
In God and Reason in the Middle Ages he argued that the Middle Ages had acquired an undeserved reputation as an age of superstition, barbarism, and unreason.[7]
Selected publications
Edward Grant published more than ninety articles and twelve books, including:
- Physical Science in the Middle Ages (1971)
- Much Ado About Nothing: Theories of Space and Vacuum from the Middle Ages to the Scientific Revolution (1981)
- Planets, Stars, & Orbs: The Medieval Cosmos, 1200–1687 (1994)
- The Foundations of Modern Science in the Middle Ages (1996)
- God and Reason in the Middle Ages (2001)
- Science and Religion, 400 B.C. to A.D. 1550: From Aristotle to Copernicus (2004)
- A History of Natural Philosophy from the Ancient World to the Nineteenth Century (2007)
References
- ^ Death notice from Indiana University
- ^ a b c d Academic page in Indiana University (archived 4 November 2013)
- ^ "The Society: The George Sarton Medal". Archived from the original on September 22, 2010. Retrieved January 29, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Edward Grant papers, 1950-2001". Archives Online at Indiana University.
- ^ The History of Science Society "The Society: Past Presidents of the History of Science Society", accessed 15 December 2015
- ISBN 0521567629.
- ISBN 9780521003377.
External links
- Harvard University Press Archived 2006-09-04 at the Wayback Machine
- Edward Grant papers, 1950-2001 at the Indiana University Archives.