Jim Bennett (historian)
Encyclopedia
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....
.
Jim Bennett is Director of the Museum of the History of Science
Museum of the History of Science, Oxford
The Museum of the History of Science, located in Broad Street, Oxford, is home to an unrivalled collection of scientific instruments from medieval times to the 17th century. Its collection of 18th and 19th-century instruments is also substantial...
at Oxford University. he was appointed on 1 October 1994, on the retirement of the previous director, Francis Maddison
Francis Maddison
Francis Romeril Maddison was an English historian and Arabist. He was Curator of the Museum of the History of Science in Oxford, England.Francis Maddison was born in Hounslow, London, England...
. He is also a member of the Faculty of History and Linacre College
Linacre College, Oxford
Linacre College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the UK, currently offering graduate entry only. It is located on St Cross Road at the corner of St Cross Road and South Parks Road, next to the University Parks and opposite the Tinbergen Building, which is shared by...
. Previously he was a fellow of Churchill College
Churchill College, Cambridge
Churchill College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.In 1958, a Trust was established with Sir Winston Churchill as its Chairman of Trustees, to build and endow a college for 60 fellows and 540 Students as a national and Commonwealth memorial to Winston Churchill; its...
and curator of the Whipple Museum of the History of Science
Whipple Museum of the History of Science
The Whipple Museum of the History of Science holds an extensive collection of scientific instruments, apparatus, models, pictures, prints, photographs, books and other material related to the history of science. It was founded in 1944, when Robert Whipple presented his collection of scientific...
, both part of Cambridge University
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
.
Bennett's interests lie in the history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
of practical mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
from the 16th century to the 18th century, scientific instrument
Measuring instrument
In the physical sciences, quality assurance, and engineering, measurement is the activity of obtaining and comparing physical quantities of real-world objects and events. Established standard objects and events are used as units, and the process of measurement gives a number relating the item...
s and astronomy
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
. His work in Cambridge included hands-on use of scientific and navigational instruments, using the Whipple collection to teach undergraduates how instruments worked, and gaining insight into the difficulties faced by the historical teachers of those instruments.
Jim Bennett has been President of the British Society for the History of Science.
Selected publications
- The Divided Circle: A History of Instruments for Astronomy, Navigation and Surveying, Jim Bennett. Oxford, 1987.
- Church, State and Astronomy in Ireland, 200 Years of Armagh Observatory, Jim Bennett. Belfast, 1990.
- The Garden, the Ark, the Tower, the Temple. Biblical Metaphors of Knowledge in Early Modern Europe, Jim Bennett and S. Mandelbrote. Oxford, 1998.
- Practical Geometry and Operative Knowledge, Jim Bennett. Configurations, 6, 1998.
- London's LeonardoLeonardo da VinciLeonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
: The Life and Work of Robert HookeRobert HookeRobert Hooke FRS was an English natural philosopher, architect and polymath.His adult life comprised three distinct periods: as a scientific inquirer lacking money; achieving great wealth and standing through his reputation for hard work and scrupulous honesty following the great fire of 1666, but...
, Jim Bennett, Michael Cooper, Michael Hunter and Lisa Jardine. Oxford University PressOxford University PressOxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
, 2003. ISBN 0-19-852579-6.
As editor
- The Oxford Companion to the History of Modern ScienceThe Oxford Companion to the History of Modern ScienceThe Oxford Companion to the History of Modern Science is an encyclopedia on the history of science from around the middle of the 16th century to the beginning of the 21st century. The book includes 609 articles by over two hundred authors.The editor-in-chief was J. L. Heilbron and the editors were...
, John L. Heilbron (ed-in-chief), Jim Bennett, Frederic L. Holmes, Rachel Laudan and Giuliano Pancaldi (eds). Oxford University PressOxford University PressOxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
, 2003. ISBN 0-19-511229-6.