John L. Heilbron

John Lewis Heilbron (March 17, 1934 – November 5, 2023) was an American historian of science best known for his work in the history of physics and the history of astronomy. He was Professor of History and Vice-Chancellor Emeritus (Vice-Chancellor 1990–1994) at the University of California, Berkeley, senior research fellow at Worcester College, Oxford, and visiting professor at Yale University and the California Institute of Technology. He edited the academic journal Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences for twenty-five years.

Biography Born in San Francisco on March 17, 1934, Heilbron attended Lowell High School in San Francisco, California, and was a member of the Lowell Forensic Society. He received his A.B. (1955) and M.A. (1958) degrees in physics and his Ph.D. (1964) in history from the University of California, Berkeley. He died on November 5, 2023, at the age of 89. His approach saw him investigating the influence of politics, personalities and institutions on the emergence of new scientific ideas.

Awards and honors 1988: member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences 1988: Honorary degree, University of Bologna. 1990: member, American Philosophical Society 1993: awarded the George Sarton Medal by the History of Science Society.

Main books 2024: Quantum Drama: From the Bohr-Einstein Debate to the Riddle of Entanglement with Jim Baggott Oxford University Press. 2022: The Incomparable Monsignor: Francesco Bianchini's World of Science, History, and Court Intrigue. Oxford University Press. 2021: The Ghost of Galileo in a Forgotten Painting from the English Civil War. Oxford University Press. 2020: Niels Bohr: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press. 2018: The History of Physics: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press. 2013: Love, Literature, and the Quantum Atom, with Finn Aaserud, Oxford University Press. 2010: Galileo, Oxford University Press. . (See Galileo Galilei.) 2003: The Oxford Companion to the History of Modern Science (ed.), Oxford University Press. . 2003: Ernest Rutherford and the Explosion of Atoms, Oxford Portraits in Science, Oxford University Press. . 1999: The Sun in the Church: Cathedrals as Solar Observatories. Harvard University Press. . 2001 paperback: . 1999: Electricity in the 17th and 18th Centuries: A Study of Early Modern Physics. Dover Publications. . 1997: Geometry Civilized: History, Culture, Technique. Oxford University Press. . 2000 paperback: . 1989: Lawrence and His Laboratory: A History of the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, with Robert W. Seidel. University of California Press. . 1986: The Dilemmas of an Upright Man: Max Planck and the Fortunes of German Science, University of California Press. 1979: Electricity in the 17th and 18th Centuries: A Study of Early Modern Physics, University of California Press. . 1974: H. G. J. Moseley: The Life and Letters of an English Physicist, 1887-1915, University of California Press. .