Simon Schaffer

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British academic (born 1955)

title: "Simon Schaffer" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["british-jews", "jewish-philosophers", "1955-births", "living-people", "harvard-university-alumni", "alumni-of-trinity-college,-cambridge", "fellows-of-darwin-college,-cambridge", "fellows-of-st-john's-college,-cambridge", "british-historians-of-science", "british-philosophers-of-science", "history-journal-editors", "british-academic-journal-editors", "recipient-of-the-caird-medal"] description: "British academic (born 1955)" topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Schaffer" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary British academic (born 1955) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox scientist"]

FieldValue
imageSimon Schaffer 2015.JPG
captionSchaffer at a pub in Cambridge, 2015
birth_date
birth_placeSouthampton
death_date
resting_place_coordinates
workplacesUniversity of Cambridge
Darwin College, Cambridge
Imperial College London
University of California, Los Angeles
educationVarndean Grammar School for Boys
alma_materUniversity of Cambridge (BA, PhD)
Harvard University
thesis_titleNewtonian cosmology and the steady state
thesis_urlhttp://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.281053
thesis_year1980
awards
signature
website
::

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Early life and education

Schaffer was born in Southampton in 1955. His family moved to Brisbane, Australia that same year, returning to the UK in 1965 to live in Brighton. His father, Bernard, was an academic social scientist who was a professorial fellow at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex from 1966 until his death in 1984. Simon's mother, Sheila, who died in 2010, was a university librarian and Labour councillor who was Mayor of Brighton in 1995.

Schaffer attended Varndean Grammar School for Boys in Brighton before studying Natural Sciences at Trinity College, Cambridge, specialising in the history and philosophy of science in his final year. while Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge.

Career

During the early 1980s, Schaffer taught at Imperial College London. Since 1985, he has been a Fellow of Darwin College, Cambridge. He has also taught at the University of California, Los Angeles. He has authored or co-authored numerous books, including Leviathan and the Air-Pump: Hobbes, Boyle, and the Experimental Life with Steven Shapin. In addition to his work at Cambridge, he has been a presenter on the BBC, in particular the series Light Fantastic broadcast on BBC Four in 2004. He has been a regular contributor and reviewer for the London Review of Books. Schaffer has made multiple appearances on the BBC radio discussion series In Our Time.

Awards and honours

In 2005, Schaffer shared the Erasmus Prize with Steven Shapin for Leviathan and the Air-Pump. In 2013, he received the George Sarton Medal, the most prestigious honour awarded by the History of Science Society, in recognition of his contribution to the "history of science, not only as an academic discipline, but also as a source of broader intellectual inspiration and understanding". In 2018 he received the Dan David Prize. Schaffer was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2012.

Selected bibliography

  • Schaffer, Simon (1995). 'Accurate Measurement is an English Science,' The Values of Precision. Princeton, New Jersey, U.S.: Princeton University Press. .

References

References

  1. "Schaffer, Simon, 1955–".
  2. (June 2017). "Past editors' favourite papers published during their time in office". The British Journal for the History of Science.
  3. Macfarlane, Alan. (17 November 2008). "Interview of Simon Schaffer". University of Cambridge.
  4. "Bernard Schaffer Collection". University of Bath.
  5. Avis, Peter. (18 March 2010). "Sheila Schaffer obituary". [[The Guardian]].
  6. Schaffer, Simon. (1980). "Newtonian cosmology and the steady state". University of Cambridge.
  7. "Simon Schaffer".
  8. (2012). "New Johnian Fellows of the British Academy".
  9. Gay, Hannah. (2007). "The History of Imperial College London, 1907–2007: Higher Education and Research in Science, Technology and Medicine". Imperial College Press.
  10. (2022). "Creative Lives and Works: Science and Culture". Routledge.
  11. (2011). "Leviathan and the Air-Pump: Hobbes, Boyle, and the Experimental Life (New in Paper)". Princeton University Press.
  12. "BBC Four – Mechanical Marvels: Clockwork Dreams".
  13. "BBC – Press Office – Light Fantastic Simon Schaffer interview".
  14. {{IMDb title. 0810664. Light Fantastic
  15. {{IMDb name
  16. "Simon Schaffer".
  17. "Our Time, Calculus".
  18. "In Our Time, The Scientific Method".
  19. "The Invention of Radio".
  20. "In Our Time, Automata".
  21. "In Our Time, Absolute Zero".
  22. "In Our Time, Longitude".
  23. "Erasmusprijswinnaars".
  24. (June 2014). "HSS 2013 Prize Citations". Isis.
  25. Thompson, David. (19 July 2017). "Sarton Medal awarded to Simon Schaffer".
  26. Thompson, David. (12 February 2018). "Simon Schaffer wins the 2018 Dan David Prize".
  27. "Professor Simon Schaffer FBA".
  28. Hankins, Thomas L.. (1986). "Review of ''Leviathan and the Air-Pump''". Science.

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british-jewsjewish-philosophers1955-birthsliving-peopleharvard-university-alumnialumni-of-trinity-college,-cambridgefellows-of-darwin-college,-cambridgefellows-of-st-john's-college,-cambridgebritish-historians-of-sciencebritish-philosophers-of-sciencehistory-journal-editorsbritish-academic-journal-editorsrecipient-of-the-caird-medal