Robert Fox

Dr. Robert Fox (born 7 October 1938) MA, DPhil, FSA FRHistS is a leading British authority on the history of science. He is interested in the history of sciences and technology in Europe from the 18th century onwards. He has published extensively. His book The Savant and the State examines science, culture and politics in France between 1814 and 1914, while Science without Frontiers examines developments from the late nineteenth-century until the Second World War. In 2015, Fox received the George Sarton Medal, the premier award of the international History of Science Society (HSS).

Career Robert Fox taught at the University of Lancaster between 1966 and 1988, first as a lecturer and later as professor of the History of Science.

In 1988, Fox became a professor of history of science at the University of Oxford; retiring from that position in 2006. Fox is now an Emeritus Professor of the history of science at the University of Oxford, England, an Emeritus Fellow of Linacre College and an Honorary Fellow of Oriel College.

Fox was the first organizer of the annual Thomas Harriot Lectures at Oriel College, Oxford. He has edited two volumes based on the lecture series: Thomas Harriot. An Elizabethan Man of Science (2000) and Thomas Harriot and His World. Mathematics, Exploration, and Natural Philosophy in Early Modern England (2012).

Since 2006, Fox has been a visiting professor at Johns Hopkins University, East Carolina University, the Czech Technical University in Prague, the Horning Visiting Scholar at Oregon State University (2013), and the Gordon Cain Distinguished Fellow at the Chemical Heritage Foundation in Philadelphia (2013).

Fox was the founding president of the European Society for the History of Science, which was founded on 12 October 2003, and served through 2006. Fox has also served as president of the British Society for the History of Science and the International Union of History and Philosophy of Science.

Awards and honors 2018, Gustav Neuenschwander Prize, the lifetime award of the European Society for the History of Science 2017, Alexandre Koyré Medal, the lifetime career award of the International Academy of the History of Science 2015, George Sarton Medal, the premier award of the international History of Science Society (HSS) 2006, Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, French Ministry of Culture 2004, Oskar von Miller Gold Medal, Deutsches Museum, Munich 1998, Dickinson Medal of the Newcomen Society for the History of Technology 1988, Chevalier in the Ordre des Palmes Académiques 1986, Full Member of the International Academy of the History of Science (Académie Internationale d'Histoire des Sciences) 1981, Corresponding member of the Académie Internationale d'Histoire des Sciences