Hitchcock LECTURE SERIES

Physics and History: Links Between Two Cultures

Fractured in Modernity

John Heilbron, Professor Emeritus, History, University of California, Berkeley

November 08, 2007
International House Auditorium, 2299 Piedmont Avenue, Berkeley

Experimental physical science and modern universal history came into the world about the same time, around 1550, and developed symbiotically for 250 years or more. The lectures discuss their parallel development and subsequent separation.

About John Heilbron

John Heilbron's work sets the history of the physical sciences within its wider culture contexts. His current research interests include relations between science and religion in the 17th and 18th centuries, physics and its institutions in the 20th century, and the use of history of science in the teaching of science. Over thirty years ago, as a professor of history at UC Berkeley, Heilbron created the Office for the History of Science and Technology, which he directed from 1973 until his retirement in 1994. He was named Class of 1936 Professor of History and History of Science in 1985 and served as The Vice Chancellor of the campus from 1990 to 1994. Since then, Heilbron has been a visiting professor at UC Berkeley, Oxford University, and Yale University. He is an Honorary Fellow of Worcester College, Oxford, and now lives in England.

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