George Sarton

Belgian-American science historian known for his idealist view of science, who wrote three volumes of the "Introduction to the History of Science," called "an inspired dictionary." He authored 15 books, over 300 articles, and 79 critical biographies.

Sarton’s father was a director-engineer of the Belgian railroads, and his mother died a few months after his birth. Sarton was an only child. He attended the University of Ghent, where he began in the Department of Philosophy. He was interested in the natural sciences, and as early as 1907, obtained a gold medal in chemistry from the four Belgian universities and a "silver laurel branch" from the city of Ghent for a scientific memoir. He obtained his doctoral degree in mathematics in 1911, his thesis having been devoted to the history and philosophy of science, entitled, "Les Principes de la Meanique de Newton."

In 1912, he began the publication of his journal, "Isis." The same year he also began the accumulation of notes for his "Introduction to the History of Science." World War I interrupted his work and his house was invaded by the German Army and served as headquarters for German officers. Sarton and his family left at once for England, followed by a move to the United States. He arrived in New York in April 1915, and was given a lecture position at the summer school of the University of Illinois. He later worked at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

In 1918, he was appointed research associate by the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Sarton moved to Cambridge, Mass., to have access to the Harvard University Library for his work and lectured at Harvard, Radcliff and Brown University during the ‘30s. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1924.

The "Introduction to the History of Science" was published in 1927.