Edgar Zilsel

Edgar Zilsel (; August 11, 1891, Vienna, Austria-Hungary – March 11, 1944, Oakland, California) was an Austrian-American historian and philosopher of science.

He is best known for the Zilsel Thesis, a scientific proposal which traces the origins of western science to the interactions between scholars and skilled artisans. The proposal melded practical experimentation with analytical thought. As part of the left wing of the Vienna Circle (a group of early twentieth-century philosophers) he endorsed historical materialism, and sought to establish empirical laws in history and in society.

Zilsel was Jewish, and followed a Marxist political view, both of which rendered him unable to pursue an academic career in Austria. Fleeing persecution, he escaped to the United States where he received a Rockefeller Fellowship Membership. During this time, he published many papers, such as the "Sociological Roots of Modern Science".

In 1943, he was invited to teach physics at Mills College in California.

Edgar Zilsel died on March 11, 1944, from suicide.

Life Edgar Zilsel was the youngest child of Jacob Zilsel, a lawyer, and Ina Kollmer. He had two older sisters, Wallie Zilsel and Irma Zilsel. He attended high school at the Franz-Joseph-Gymnasium between 1902 and 1910 and afterwards attended the University of Vienna where he studied philosophy, physics, and mathematics. In 1914, he also served in the military for four months and in 1915, he received his PhD while under the supervision of Heinrich Gomperz. His dissertation was entitled "A Philosophical Investigation of the Law of Large Numbers and Related Laws". After working as a mathematician at an insurance company for a few months, he found a position as a teacher on February 16, 1917. He passed his teacher's examination on November 18, 1918 in mathematics, physics, and natural history.

Although linked to the Vienna Circle, Zilsel critiqued the views of Circle members. He participated actively in working people's education, teaching philosophy and physics at the Vienna People's University. and later contributed to their magazine Der Kampf. Following the defeat of the Social Democrats in the Austrian Civil War in 1934, Zilsel was arrested. for having been the first to stress the role of artisans and craftsmen in the development of modern science. According to Conner, In 2000 Social Studies of Science referred to him as "one of the pioneers of our field".