Thomas Harriot: An Elizabethan Man of Science

This volume assembles ten studies of the life and work of Thomas Harriot (1560-1621). These are based on lectures that have been given annually at Oriel College, Oxford since 1990, by such authorities as Hugh Trevor Roper, David Quinn and John D. North. An astronomer and mathematician whose activities embraced not only science but also philosophical debate and an engagement in the early exploration of America, Harriot occupied a prominent place in intellectual and public life. He was well read in the contemporary literature of science, and his writings on algebra, his correspondence, and his early observations with the telescope, undertaken at the same time as Galileo's, brought him to the attention of leading men of science both in Britain and abroad. Recent scholarship has enhanced historians' appreciation of Harriot's achievements and of the scientific context and social milieu in which he worked, a milieu distinguished by his friendship with Walter Ralegh and the Ninth Earl of Northumberland (the 'Wizard Earl' whose association with the Gunpowder Plot led to many years of imprisonment in the Tower). The contributions to Thomas Harriot. An Elizabethan man of science shed new light on all the main aspects of Harriot's life and stand as an important contribution to the re-evaluation of one of the most gifted and intriguing figures in early modern British science.

Gordon R. Batho is Emeritus Professor of Education, University of Durham, and Chairman of the Thomas Harriot seminar. His research interests are the household affairs and libraries of the Percies in the early modern period. J. A. Bennett is Keeper of the Museum of the History of Science, University of Oxford. His research interests include the history of instruments, practical mathematics, and astronomy. Stephen Clucas is lecturer in English and Humanities at Birkbeck College, University of London. He has written widely on topics in the intellectual history of the early modern period. Robert Fox is Professor of the History of Science at the University of Oxford. His main research interests are in the history of the physical sciences and technology, especially in France. Hilary Gatti is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy of 'La Sapienza' University of Rome, Italy. Her main interests are in Renaissance studies, particularly the works of Giordano Bruno. Scott Mandelbrote is Fellow and Director of Studies in History at Peterhouse, Cambridge, and a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. His main research interests are in the history of science and religion in the early modern period. John D. North is Professor Emeritus of the History of Philosophy and the Exact Sciences at the University of Groningen. He writes on the history of cosmology. David B. Quinn is Emeritus Professor of Modern History at the University of Liverpool. He has published widely on early modern Irish history and on the early history of North America. John J. Roche teaches courses in the history of science at Linacre College, Oxford. His chief research interest lies in using the history of science to clarify concepts in present-day physics. Muriel Seltman is Honorary Research Associate at the University of Greenwich, where she taught mathematics before retirement. Her main research interests are in the history of algebra, particularly in the development of notation. Hugh Trevor-Roper, formerly Regius Professor of Modern History at Oxford and Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge, has published a biography of Archbishop Laud and other books on early modern -- mainly intellectual and cultural -- history. Katherine D. Watson is Research Assistant on a biobibliographic database project funded by the Wellcome Trust and based at the Science Museum, London. Her main research interests include the history of chemistry and of forensic toxicology.