Dr Frank Sherwood Taylor, PhD (1897 – 5 January 1956) was a British historian of science

History of science

The history of science is the study of the historical development of human understandings of the natural world and the domains of the social sciences....

, museum curator, and chemist

Chemist

A chemist is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties such as density and acidity. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component atoms...

 who was Director of the Science Museum

Science Museum (London)

The Science Museum is one of the three major museums on Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is part of the National Museum of Science and Industry. The museum is a major London tourist attraction....

 in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

F. Sherwood Taylor was educated at Sherborne School

Sherborne School

Sherborne School is a British independent school for boys, located in the town of Sherborne in north-west Dorset, England. It is one of the original member schools of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference....

 in Dorset

Dorset

Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...

, southern England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 and Lincoln College, Oxford

Lincoln College, Oxford

Lincoln College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is situated on Turl Street in central Oxford, backing onto Brasenose College and adjacent to Exeter College...

. He then undertook a PhD at University College, London in the new Department of History and Method of Science.

He spent a period as a schoolmaster and then as a lecturer in chemistry

Chemistry

Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....

 at Queen Mary College, London

Queen Mary, University of London

Queen Mary, University of London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London...

.
He was a founder member of the Philosophy of Science Group. He was also the founder editor of the Ambix

Ambix

Ambix is a peer-reviewed journal on the history of chemistry and alchemy, first appearing in 1937. It was not published from 1939 to 1945. It was one of the first journals of the history of science in the English-speaking world, preceded by Isis and Annals of Science It is currently published...

journal, started in 1937.
In 1940, he succeeded Robert Gunther

Robert Gunther

Robert Theodore Gunther was a historian of science, zoologist, and founder of the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford....

 as Curator of the Museum of the History of Science in Oxford

Oxford

The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...

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Towards the end of his life, he was Director of the Science Museum from 1950 until his death in 1956. During this time, he delivered the 1952 Royal Institution Christmas Lectures

Royal Institution Christmas Lectures

The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures are a series of lectures on a single topic, which have been held at the Royal Institution in London each year since 1825. The lectures present scientific subjects to a general audience, including young people, in an informative and entertaining manner....

 in London on How Science has Grown.

Books

F. Sherwood Taylor wrote many books on the history of alchemy

Alchemy

Alchemy is an influential philosophical tradition whose early practitioners’ claims to profound powers were known from antiquity. The defining objectives of alchemy are varied; these include the creation of the fabled philosopher's stone possessing powers including the capability of turning base...

 and chemistry

Chemistry

Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....

 in particular, and also of science

Science

Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...

 in general:

• Galileo and the Freedom of Thought (1938)
• Alchemists, Founders of Modern Chemistry (1949)
• The Alchemists (1952)
• The Ideas of the Alchemists
• The First Alchemists
• The Earliest Alchemical Signs and Symbols
• An Introduction To Alchemy
• The Origin Of Alchemical Practice (Pamphlet)
• A Short History of Science and Scientific Thought, with readings from the great scientists from the Babylonians to Einstein
  Albert Einstein
  Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
  
  
• An Illustrated History of Science
• Science, Past and Present
• The Century of Science
• The Fourfold Vision: a study of the relations of science and religion
• A History of Industrial Chemistry (Technology and Society)
• The World of Science
• General Science for Schools (Part 1)
• The Conquest of Bacteria, from Salvarsan to Sulphapyridine
• The March of Mind: A short history of science
• A Short Organic Chemistry
• A Century of British Chemistry (Science in Britain)
• Organic Chemistry
• Inorganic and Theoretical Chemistry (1931)
• Man and Matter, Essays Scientific & Christian