Kenneth L. Taylor

Kenneth L. Taylor (born May 16, 1941) is an American historian of geology.

Education and career At Harvard University, Taylor graduated in the specialty "History and Science" with three degrees: A.B. in 1962, A.M. in 1965, and Ph.D. in 1968. His doctoral advisors were I. Bernard Cohen and Everett Mendelsohn. In the department of the history of science at the University of Oklahoma, Taylor was an assistant professor from 1967 to 1972, an associate professor from 1972 to 1986, and a full professor from 1986 to 2006, from 1979 to 1992, and acted as interim chair in autumn 1978 and spring 1999. Taylor's essay The Beginnings of a French Geological Identity (1980) presents evidence that, in the years from 1750 to 1800, naturalists tended to reject large syntheses or theoretical systems of natural history and geology and to strongly favor field observations. His essay Before volcanoes became ordinary (2016) points out that ancient Greek and Latin literature had no generic terms for volcanoes and gives an overview of how perceptions about volcanoes have changed over the past two millennia.

Taylor has served in various capacities in several organizations. From 1990 to 1993 he chaired the U.S. National Committee on the History of Geology From 2005 to 2007 he was a consulting editor for the New Dictionary of Scientific Biography. From 2012 to 2016 he was the president of the International Commission on the History of Geological Sciences (INHIGEO).

He was elected in 1997 a Fellow of the Geological Society of America. He received in 1998 the Sue Tyler Friedman Medal from the Geological Society of London, in 2007 the Mary C. Rabbitt History of Geology Award from the Geological Society of America, and in 2018 the Prix Wegmann from the Société Géologique de France.

Selected publications Articles

(Le développement de la géologie de langue française dans ses relations internationales des origines à la mort de Cuvier (1832), Actes, Symposium in history of geology, 26th International Geological Congress, held 7 to 17 July 1980 in Paris)

(online publication July 2016)

Books book description at routledge.com