Worcester College is saddened to learn of the death of Honorary Fellow Professor John Heilbron who has died at the age of 89.

Professor Heilbron was a leading scholar of the history of science and was responsible for its establishment as a professional discipline. His publications include a celebrated biography of Galileo, an OUP Very Short Introduction to Niels Bohr, and, most recently, The Incomparable Monsignor: Francesco Bianchini’s World of Science, History, and Court Intrigue published by OUP in 2022. He edited the journal Historical Studies in the Physical Sciences for 25 years and served as editor-in-chief of the Oxford Companion to the History of Science and the Oxford Guide to the History of Physics. He was a Senior Research Fellow at Worcester between 1997-2004, after which he was elected to an Honorary Fellowship.

After growing up in San Francisco, Professor Heilbron studied under Thomas Kuhn at the University of California, Berkeley where he would serve as Vice-Chancellor from 1990-1994. From 2001-2005 he was President of the Académie internationale d’Histoire des Sciences. A member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, he was awarded the prestigious Sarton Medal in 1993 and the 2001 Pfizer Prize for the book The Sun in the Church: Cathedrals as Solar Observatories (1999). He also received the Koyré Medal (1999) from the Académie internationale d’Histoire des Sciences, the Wilkins Prize Lectureship (2006) from the Royal Society, the Abraham Pais Prize for History of Physics (2006) from the American Physical Society and the American Institute of Physics, as well as honorary degrees from the University of Bologna (1988) and the University of Pavia (2000). In 2006 he was awarded the Galileo Galilei International Prize for his contribution to the profound methodological renewal and growth of the historiography of science.

In September, John travelled to a conference in Padua to speak on Galileo. While there he was diagnosed with leukaemia and died on 5 November. We extend our deepest condolences to John’s wife Alison.