Gerald Holton

Gerald James Holton (born May 23, 1922)^[1] is Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics and Professor of the History of Science, Emeritus, at Harvard University.^[2]

Born 1922 in Berlin, he grew up in Vienna before emigrating--thanks to the Kindertransport--in 1938. He received an electrical engineering certificate from the School of Technology, City of Oxford (now Oxford Brookes University) and then Wesleyan University, where he received B.A. (1941) and M.A. (1942) degrees.^[2][3]

As a student of Percy Williams Bridgman, he obtained his Ph.D. at Harvard in 1948. His chief interests are in the history and philosophy of science, in the physics of matter at high pressure, in education, and in the study of career paths of young scientists. Along with co-author Gerhard Sonnert he has studied and published works on the gender gap in science studies and careers. In 1952, he published Introduction to Concepts and Theories in Physical Sciences, a seminal work in the development of physics education, which led to Harvard Project Physics, the NSF sponsored national curriculum-development project that he co-directed. ^[3]

Gerald Holton is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the American Philosophical Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1956),^[4] as well as several European learned societies. He served as President of the History of Science Society from 1983-84^[5] and served on a number of U.S. National Commissions, including those on UNESCO and Excellence on Education. He also served on the board of trustees of Science Service, now known as Society for Science & the Public, from 1972-1978.

His book publications include Thematic Origins of Scientific Thought, The Scientific Imagination, Einstein, History and Other Passions, Science and Anti-Science, and Victory and Vexation in Science. He is also author, with Gerhard Sonnert, of What Happened to the Children Who Fled from Nazi Persecution and "Who Succeeds in Science--The Gender Dimension".

Holton is founding editor of the quarterly journal Daedalus, and founder in 1972 of the Newsletter on Science, Technology, and Human Values (from 1976 Science, Technology, and Human Values).^[2] He was also on the editorial committee of the Collected Papers of Albert Einstein. Professor Holton has received the Sarton Medal of the History of Science Society, the Andrew Gemant Award of the American Institute of Physics, the Abraham Pais Prize of the American Physical Society, and the Robert A. Millikan award of the American Association of Physics Teachers.

In 1981 the National Endowment for the Humanities selected Holton for the tenth Jefferson Lecture, the U.S. federal government's highest honor for achievement in the humanities. Holton was the first scientist selected for this honor, and his lecture was entitled "Where is Science Taking Us?"^[6] In his lecture, Holton argued that Jefferson's vision of science as a force for social improvement was still viable, opined that there had been a "relocation of the center of gravity" of scientific inquiry toward solving society's important problems,^[7] and cautioned that science education had to be improved dramatically or only a small "technological elite" would be equipped to take part in self-government.^[8]

A considerable collection of his papers have been collected, processed, and annotated by the archivists at Harvard University Archives, donated by Holton since 2007. It is accessible, free, by searching for "Gerald Holton, Personal Archive, Harvard". A more detailed CV is available by searching for "Gerald Holton curriculum vitae,Harvard".

Selected bibliography

• Holton, Gerald (author); Krush, Joe (illustrator) (1948). The story of sound. New York, New York: Harcourt, Brace. OCLC 1410146. 
• Holton, Gerald (1952). Introduction to concepts and theories in physical science. Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley Pub. Co. ISBN 9780201029703. 
• Holton, Gerald; Rutherford, F. James; Watson, Fletcher G. (1970). The project physics course. New York, New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. OCLC 342229. 
• Holton, Gerald (1978). The scientific imagination: case studies. Cambridge England New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521292375. 
• Holton, Gerald (1986). The advancement of science, and its burdens: the Jefferson lecture and other essays. Cambridge Cambridgeshire New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521272438. 
• Holton, Gerald (1988). Thematic origins of scientific thought: Kepler to Einstein. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674877481. 
• Holton, Gerald (1993). Science and anti-science. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674792982. 
• Gerhard Sonnert and Gerald Holton, Who Succeeds in Science? The Gender Dimension.Rutgers University Press,New Brunswick, New Jersey. 1995,isbn 0813522196.
• Holton, Gerald (1996). Einstein, history, and other passions: the rebellion against science at the end of the twentieth century. Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley Pub. Co. ISBN 9780201407167. 
• Gerald Holton, Victory and Vexation in Science: Einstein, Bohr, Heisenberg, and Others,Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2005. isbn 0674015193.
• Gerhard Sonnert and Gerald Holton, What Happened to the Children Who Fled Nazi Persecution, Pangrave Macmillan, New York New York,2006. isbn 9780230609075
• Holton, Gerald; Galison, Peter; Schweber, Silvan S. (2008). Einstein for the 21st century: his legacy in science, art, and modern culture. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691135205. 

See also

• American philosophy
• List of American philosophers

References

External links

• Gerald Holton at Harvard University Department of Physics official website