Janet Browne
British historian of science (born 1950)
title: "Janet Browne" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1950-births", "british-historians-of-science", "harvard-university-faculty", "alumni-of-trinity-college-dublin", "alumni-of-imperial-college-london", "academics-of-university-college-london", "charles-darwin", "living-people", "james-tait-black-memorial-prize-recipients", "historians-of-biology", "members-of-the-american-philosophical-society", "members-of-the-royal-irish-academy", "corresponding-fellows-of-the-british-academy", "national-book-critics-circle-award-winners"] description: "British historian of science (born 1950)" topic_path: "science/biology" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_Browne" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary British historian of science (born 1950) ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox scientist"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Janet Browne |
| image | Janet Browne, HSS 2008.jpg |
| caption | English: Historian of science Janet Browne, introducing Steven Shapin before his Distinguished Lecture at the 2008 History of Science Society meeting |
| birth_date | |
| fields | Historian of Science |
| workplaces | Harvard |
| alma_mater | Trinity College, Dublin |
| Imperial College, London | |
| :: |
| name = Janet Browne | image = Janet Browne, HSS 2008.jpg | caption = English: Historian of science Janet Browne, introducing Steven Shapin before his Distinguished Lecture at the 2008 History of Science Society meeting | birth_date = | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | citizenship = | nationality = | ethnicity = | fields = Historian of Science | workplaces = Harvard | alma_mater = Trinity College, Dublin Imperial College, London | doctoral_advisor = | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | known_for = | author_abbrev_bot = | author_abbrev_zoo = | influences = | influenced = | awards = | signature = | footnotes =
Elizabeth Janet Browne (née Bell; born 30 March 1950) is a British historian of science, known especially for her work on the history of 19th-century biology. She taught at the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine, University College, London, before returning to Harvard. She is currently Aramont Professor of the History of Science at Harvard University.
Biography
Browne is the daughter of Douglas Bell CBE (1905–1993) and his wife Betty Bell. She married Nicholas Browne in 1972; they have two daughters.
Browne gained a BA degree from Trinity College, Dublin in 1972 and from Imperial College, London an MSc (1973) and PhD (1978) on the history of science. She was a research fellow at Harvard University. She received an honorary Doctor in Science (Sc. D) degree from Trinity College, Dublin in 2009 in recognition of her contribution to the biographical knowledge of Charles Darwin.
After working as an associate editor on the University of Cambridge Library project to collect, edit, and publish the correspondence of Charles Darwin, she wrote a two-volume biography of the naturalist: Charles Darwin: Voyaging (1995), on his youth and years on the Beagle, and Charles Darwin: The Power of Place (2002), covering the years after the publication of his theory of evolution. The latter book has received acclaim for its innovative interpretation of the role of Darwin's correspondence in the formation of his scientific theory and recruitment of scientific support. In 2004, this volume won the History of Science Society's Pfizer Award, the Society's highest honor awarded to individual works of scholarship. In 2003, it also won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Biography. In 2020 she was admitted as a member of the Royal Irish Academy.
Browne currently serves as the Aramont Professor in the History of Science at Harvard University. She specializes in life sciences, natural history, and evolutionary biology from the 17th to the 20th century.
Publications
The following is a selection of Browne's publications, chosen primarily by convenience from internet searches, but also to indicate the timespan over which she has published.
- Full article
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References
References
- Browne, Janet. (2010). "Making Darwin: Biography and the Changing Representations of Charles Darwin". Journal of Interdisciplinary History.
- . (2007-12-01). ["Who Was Who"](https://www.ukwhoswho.com/display/10.1093/ww/9780199540891.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-171083). *Oxford University Press*.
- Bradt, Steve. (June 1, 2006). "Janet Browne named professor of the history of science at Harvard". Harvard Gazette.
- Browne, Janet. (1996). "Voyaging". Princeton University Press (Alfred A. Knopf).
- (July 13, 2009). "Nobel Prize winner in Economics, Professor Amartya Sen and Artist Patrick Scott Among Recipients of Honorary Degrees". Press Release, Trinity College Dublin.
- [https://histsci.fas.harvard.edu/people/janet-browne Harvard] "Janet Browne, Aramont Professor of the History of Science", Department of the History of Science, Harvard University, Mass., USA, Retrieved October 23, 2018.
- (22 May 2020). "29 New Members Admitted". Royal Irish Academy.
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