View source for Henry Guerlac

{{short description|American historian}}
'''Henry Edward Guerlac''' (June 14, 1910 – May 29, 1985) was an American [[historian of science]].  He was a professor at [[Cornell University]], where he was the Goldwin Smith Professor of History and a member of the [[Cornell University Department of History|Department of History]].

==Biography==
Guerlac earned his PhD in European history from [[Harvard]] in 1941.<ref name = "amchemsoc2006">[http://www.scs.uiuc.edu/~mainzv/HIST/awards/Dexter%20Papers/GuerlacDexterBioJJB.pdf Henry Edward Guerlac (1910–1982)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100612194543/http://www.scs.uiuc.edu/~mainzv/HIST/awards/Dexter%20Papers/GuerlacDexterBioJJB.pdf |date=2010-06-12 }} (2006) Division of History of Chemistry of the American Chemical Society</ref>

During [[World War II]], he worked in the [[MIT Radiation Laboratory]] with [[Marie Boas Hall]] in writing "the history of the laboratory and of the operational use of [[radar]] during the war."<ref name = "times2009">[http://www.bbk.ac.uk/boyle/boyle_whatsnew/whatsnew.htm#obituary Marie Boas Hall (1919-2009)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131127091823/http://www.bbk.ac.uk/boyle/boyle_whatsnew/whatsnew.htm#obituary |date=2013-11-27 }}, ''The Times'', 20 March 2009</ref> Boas Hall later joined him as a PhD student at Cornell, completing her studies with him in 1952.<ref name = "times2009"/>

He was awarded the [[Pfizer Award]] in 1959 by the History of Science Society for his book ''Lavoisier: The Crucial Year'', and was given the [[Dexter Award for Outstanding Achievement in the History of Chemistry]] from the [[American Chemical Society]] in 1972.<ref name="ACSDexter">{{cite web|url=http://www.scs.illinois.edu/~mainzv/HIST/awards/dexter.php|title=Dexter Award for Outstanding Achievement in the History of Chemistry|website=Division of the History of Chemistry|publisher=American Chemical Society|accessdate=30 April 2015}}</ref>   He won the [[George Sarton Medal]], the highest award given by the [[History of Science Society]], in 1973. He served as president of the society from 1957 to 1960.<ref>The History of Science Society [http://www.hssonline.org/about/society_presidents.html "The Society: Past Presidents of the History of Science Society"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131212134009/http://www.hssonline.org/about/society_presidents.html |date=2013-12-12 }}, accessed 4 December 2013</ref> He was a [[Guggenheim Fellow]] in 1978, and in 1982 was awarded the [[Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur]] by France.<ref name = "amchemsoc2006"/>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/EAD/htmldocs/RMA02354.html Guide to the Henry Guerlac Papers, 1922-1981], Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library

{{Presidents of the History of Science Society}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Guerlac, Henry}}
[[Category:1910 births]]
[[Category:1985 deaths]]
[[Category:Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni]]
[[Category:Cornell University alumni]]
[[Category:Cornell University Department of History faculty]]
[[Category:20th-century American historians]]
[[Category:American male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:American historians of science]]
[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]


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