Edward Grant
American historian of science (1926–2020)
title: "Edward Grant" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["american-historians-of-science", "indiana-university-faculty", "university-of-maine-faculty", "harvard-university-faculty", "2020-deaths", "american-philosophers-of-science", "1926-births", "historians-from-indiana"] description: "American historian of science (1926–2020)" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Grant" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary American historian of science (1926–2020) ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox academic"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Edward Grant |
| image | File:Edwardgrantacademic.jpg |
| birth_date | |
| death_date | |
| awards | George Sarton Medal (1992) |
| alma_mater | |
| influences | Marshall Clagett |
| discipline | Medieval studies |
| sub_discipline | |
| workplaces | |
| doctoral_students | |
| influenced | |
| occupation | Historian |
| :: |
| name = Edward Grant | image = File:Edwardgrantacademic.jpg | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | nationality = | spouse = | partner = | awards = George Sarton Medal (1992) | alma_mater = | thesis_title = | thesis_year = | school_tradition = | doctoral_advisor = | academic_advisors = | influences = Marshall Clagett | era = | discipline = Medieval studies | sub_discipline = | workplaces = | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | main_interests = | notable_works = | notable_ideas = | influenced = | signature = | signature_alt = | occupation = Historian Edward Grant (April 6, 1926 – June 21, 2020) was an American historian of medieval science. He was named a distinguished professor in 1983. Other honors include the 1992 George Sarton Medal, for "a lifetime scholarly achievement" as a historian of science.
Biography
Edward Grant was born in 1926. He initially attended trade school and joined the U.S. Navy, serving as a radarman on the USS San Jacinto in the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II. After this military service, he attended City College in New York where he graduated in 1951. He continued to the University of Wisconsin where he received a master's degree and a PhD in the history of science and medieval history in 1957. During this time, Grant spent a year at the University of Utrecht as a Fulbright Scholar from 1955 to 1956.
Grant began his teaching career while a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin. He was an assistant to a well-known scholar in the field, Marshall Clagett, whom he would continue to respect and correspond with throughout his career. Grant taught at the University of Maine and in the history of science program at Harvard University.
In 1959, Grant came to Indiana University as an assistant professor of history. His teaching career spanned over thirty years at IU. He was instrumental in starting the department later to be known as history and philosophy of science. Grant was named distinguished professor of both that department and the history department. A distinguished medievalist, Grant wrote prolifically throughout his professorship at IU. Professor Grant was twice chair of his department (1973–1979; 1987–1990) where he taught courses on medieval science, natural philosophy and science and religion. Grant was given the title Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Department of History and Philosophy of Science, Indiana University.
Grant was also a prominent member of several organizations, such as the Medieval Academy of America, the International Academy of the History of Science, and the History of Science Society. He served as vice-president of the History of Science Society from 1983 to 1984 and as president from 1985 to 1986. Grant was also a frequent lecturer for organizations, such as the Phi Beta Kappa Associates Panel of Distinguished Speakers from 1990 to 1998.
Grant received many honors and awards, including the George Sarton Medal in 1992, the most prestigious award given by the History of Science Society that "recognizes those whose entire careers have been devoted to the field and whose scholarship is exceptional."
Work
Grant's edited volume A Source Book of Medieval Science (1974) was praised as an "admirable anthology" and a "milestone" for the field of study of medieval science by historian of medieval technology Lynn White Jr.
In his book The Foundations of Modern Science in the Middle Ages: Their Religious, Institutional and Intellectual Contexts (1996), Grant discussed the developments and discoveries that culminated in the Scientific Revolution of the 17th century. He emphasized how the roots of modern science were planted in the ancient and medieval worlds long before the modern period, and that the Christian Latin civilization of Western Europe began the last stage of its intellectual development. One basic factor was how Christianity developed in the West with the establishment of the medieval universities around 1200.
In God and Reason in the Middle Ages (2001) he argued that the Middle Ages had acquired an undeserved reputation as an age of superstition, barbarism, and unreason.
Selected publications
Edward Grant published more than ninety articles and twelve books, including:
- Physical Science in the Middle Ages (1971), originally John Wiley. Reprinted for the series Cambridge Studies in the History of Science, Cambridge University Press. (1978 paperback edition)
- A Source Book of Medieval Science (1974), edited, Harvard University Press.
- Much Ado About Nothing: Theories of Space and Vacuum from the Middle Ages to the Scientific Revolution (1981), Cambridge University Press. (2011 online edition)
- Planets, Stars, & Orbs: The Medieval Cosmos, 1200–1687 (1994), Cambridge University Press.
- The Foundations of Modern Science in the Middle Ages (1996), Cambridge Studies in the History of Science, Cambridge University Press.
- God and Reason in the Middle Ages (2001), Cambridge University Press. (2009 online edition)
- Science and Religion, 400 B.C. to A.D. 1550: From Aristotle to Copernicus (2004), Johns Hopkins University Press.
- A History of Natural Philosophy from the Ancient World to the Nineteenth Century (2007), Cambridge University Press. (2012 online edition)
References
References
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20200701095959/https://hpsc.indiana.edu/news-events/news/grant.html Death notice from Indiana University]
- (August 1, 2020). "Life Story: Edward Grant, 94".
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20131104201029/http://www.indiana.edu/~alldrp/members/grant.html Academic page in Indiana University] (archived 4 November 2013)
- "The Society: The George Sarton Medal".
- "Edward Grant papers, 1950-2001". Archives Online at Indiana University.
- The History of Science Society [http://hssonline.org/about/governance/officers-and-committees/past-presidents "The Society: Past Presidents of the History of Science Society"], accessed 15 December 2015
- White, Lynn. (1975). "The Study of Medieval Technology, 1924-1974: Personal Reflections". Technology and Culture.
- (1996-10-28). "The Foundations of Modern Science in the Middle Ages: Their Religious, Institutional and Intellectual Contexts". Cambridge University Press.
- (30 July 2001). "God and Reason in the Middle Ages". Cambridge University Press.
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