Before Sutton, the history of science itself had a long history of development, but it was not universally accepted as an independent professional discipline. Through his lifelong efforts, Sutton laid the foundation of the discipline of history of science with his own achievements: he founded an important journal of history of science; He established the independence of this academic field; He established a society based on discipline; He provided necessary reference materials, general remarks, advanced monographs and teaching manuals for the field of the history of science, and established the teaching system of the history of science. In a word, people often regard Sutton as one of the important founders of the contemporary history of science.
But as a historian of science, Sutton's humanism is quite strong. Early education made Sutton interested in literature, art and philosophy. This background is not only reflected in his later research work and activities on the history of science, but also in his influence on his daughter.
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George Sarton's full name is George Alfred Leon Sarton. He was born on August 3rd1884, and George Sarton was born in Ghent, Flemish province. He comes from a wealthy family, his father is an engineer, and he is also the head of the Belgian national railway company. Only a few months after Sutton was born, his mother died.
Early education made Sutton interested in literature, art and philosophy. After graduating from high school, Sutton entered Ghent University to study. At first, his major was philosophy, but he soon became disgusted with it. After a period of self-study and thinking, Sutton returned to Ghent University, studied chemistry, crystallography and mathematics successively, and won the gold medal in chemistry from four universities including Ghent University. 19 1 1 completed the paper entitled "Newton's Mechanics Principles" in May, 2000, and obtained a doctorate. This doctoral thesis also shows that he was influenced by philosophers and historians of science such as Comte, Dion and Tannery.
1911May, Sutton married the British artist Eleanor Mabel Elvis after receiving her doctorate. In May of the following year, they had a daughter named "Mei". Sutton's father died as early as 1909. At this time, Sutton is faced with the heavy responsibility of bearing family expenses. This "unworthy" descendant auctioned a famous wine cellar of his father, bought a house near Ghent with the proceeds from the auction, and began to plan and implement the research work on the history of science. It was also in 19 12, the year when his daughter May Sutton was born, that Sutton took a very bold step: he wanted to start a magazine on the history of science and named it Isis, the goddess who specialized in fertility and medical care in ancient mythology. Therefore, Sutton later proudly called May Sutton and the Islamic State his "two daughters".
Personally, this publication also provides Sutton with the first institutionalized tool he urgently needs, or a position to record and spread his research and thoughts on the history of science. Since the publication of "Islamic State" 19 13. It has now become one of the most authoritative journals on the history of science in the world. 1924, in order to encourage and support Sutton's efforts, the American Historical Society established the science history Society. Two years later, "Islamic State" became the organ of the society. Until 195 1, Sutton had been the editor-in-chief of "Islamic State" for 40 years, and often used his and his wife's economic income to subsidize the magazine's losses. From 1936, Sutton presided over the publication of Osiris, Isis' sister publication (Osiris is also one of the legendary ancient Egyptian gods, Isis' husband, in charge of the dead, bringing everything back from the underworld).
19 14 In August, Germany invaded Belgium, which had a great influence on Sutton's later development. After the German invasion, in June 19 1438+0 1, the German army expropriated his house. Sutton had to abandon the book, only buried his notebook in the back garden, and left Belgium with his family in a hurry, first to the Netherlands and then to London, England. He first worked in the British War Department for a while, but he soon found that it was almost impossible to find a job that could realize his ideal in Britain. So at the beginning of 19 15, he temporarily left his family in Britain and went to the United States alone to seek development, pinning his hopes on the United States, which he thought was more inclusive, diverse and progressive.
When Sutton first arrived in the United States, the United States could not say that there was no history of science. At best, it was only an amateur activity of a few people, far from academic disciplines, let alone careers. Therefore, it was almost unthinkable at that time to get the position of professor of history of science in universities. Fortunately, at Harvard University, there was a teacher named Henderson. Although he majored in biochemistry, he is a learned man. He started to offer regular courses on the history of science at Harvard University from 19 1 1. After contacting Sutton, Henderson first realized the significance of Sutton Plan and became its enthusiastic supporter. Moreover, Henderson is also an influential figure in Harvard University. In May of 19 16, Henderson can finally tell Sutton good news: Harvard University will hire Sutton as a lecturer in the history of science for one year with a salary of $2,000. He gave a Lowell lecture at Harvard, entitled "Science and civilization in the era of Leonardo da Vinci, a scientist and artist".
However, the professional position did not last long. On the one hand, because of World War I, perhaps more importantly, because Sutton's courses did not attract many students, Harvard University did not extend Sutton's employment period after one year. Another sad thing is that Mrs. Sutton gave birth to a son on 19 17, but died only half a month later.
From July 19 18, Sutton was appointed as an associate researcher in the history of science by Carnegie Institution for an initial period of two years. But in fact, since then, Sutton has been inextricably linked with Carnegie College in his later career. Due to the termination of his tenure at Harvard University, Sutton may not be able to continue to use the Whitener Library which is most suitable for him to work there. Again, it is because of Woodward's intervention that he can continue to work in Whitener Library, one of the largest libraries in the world. Later, he suggested to the president of Harvard University that Harvard University could be given a course on the history of science for free, without salary, in exchange for a separate studio in the library. This suggestion was accepted. As a result, Sutton began to shuttle between Cambridge and Washington, relying mainly on the salary from Carnegie College and using the best library. Due to the end of World War I, in 19 19, Sutton returned to Belgium to retrieve his notebook originally buried in the back garden. 1920- 192 1 academic year, Sutton once again served as a lecturer in the history of science at Harvard University. Different from the last time, this time, except for two relatively long working hours abroad, he held this position until September 1940. At that time, he was finally appointed after coming to Harvard University for more than 20 years.
Although Aisis can sometimes get some funding from Carnegie Institute after its re-publication, and two years after the establishment of the science history Society, the science history Society will also use Aisis as its organ publication and subsidize it with part of the membership fee, on the whole, these funds are still far from enough. Therefore, for many years, Sutton took out about $800 from his salary every year to pay for the loss of running the publication. At that time, such a sum of money was not small. Thanks to Sutton's wife, she was an outstanding modern furniture designer before the war, and before she got married, she had already started her career as a miniature portrait painter. The first issue of "Islamic State" was packaged and mailed by herself, and her income from teaching and fashion design subsidized her family life and publication.
Next, for Sutton, it is relatively stable research, teaching and writing. Although Sutton once suggested to Harvard University that he didn't want to be a servant and two masters, and wanted to become a professor at Harvard and stop working for Carnegie College, for budgetary reasons, Harvard University still preferred Carnegie College to pay the main part of his salary. Because of the classics, on some occasions, he appeared as a researcher at Carnegie Institute. For example, on the title page of his most brilliant masterpiece "Introduction to the History of Science", the Lord only indicated his position at Carnegie College, but elsewhere. Of course, as a teacher, although Sutton's audience is still small, his enthusiasm for the history of science, personality charm and erudition have been fully demonstrated in his teaching. Giving speeches at many universities in the United States has also become an important activity of Sutton, and some speeches of these speeches have also been revised and officially published.
1950, Sutton's wife died, which was a great blow to Sutton. He felt that a part of his life was extinguished.
A few years later, on the morning of March 22nd, 1956, Sutton will fly to Montreal to give a speech. He fell ill on the way to Boston airport by taxi, was sent home, and left this world forever in the living room.