Allen G. Debus (born August 16, 1926 in Chicago) is an American historian of science, known primarily for his work in the history of chemistry and alchemy. He attended the Evanston public school system, then “one of the best in the nation”. He showed an early interest in history and used the extensive resources of the city of Chicago. A great aunt passed on her legacy of an epoch of music to him in the form of a 1908 Victrola and a record collection up to 1923. Due to the topical material and dialect songs, he writes “studying this music gave me an opportunity early on to place past events in their historical context”. Here we see the root of the extensive (as opposed to internalistic) approach to history: developments should be compared across fields, a feature of the school of Alexandre Koyre, I. Bernard Cohen, Walter Pagel, and William McNiell, the latter three being teachers of Debus. Evanston is the name of several places in the United States of America: Evanston, Illinois Evanston, Indiana Evanston, Ohio Evanston, Wyoming This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... History is the study of human behavior through time. ... Nickname: The Windy City, The Second City, Chi Town Motto: Urbs In Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Location in Chicagoland and Illinois Coordinates: Country United States State Illinois County Cook Incorporated March 4, 1837 Mayor Richard M. Daley (D) Area    - City 606. ... The Victor Talking Machine Company (1901 - 1929) was a United States corporation, the leading American producer of phonographs and phonograph records and one of the leading phonograph companies in the world at the time. ... Alexandre Koyré Alexandre Koyré (1882/1892, Taganrog - April 28, 1964, Paris) was a French philosopher of Russian origin who wrote on history and the philosophy of science. ... I. Bernard Cohen (1914-2003) was the Victor S. Thomas Professor of the history of science at Harvard University and the author of many books on the history of science and, in particular, Isaac Newton. ...

Higher education

Allen G. Debus studied chemical engineering and history, graduating in summer 1947 from Northwestern University. He pursued his master’s degree at Indiana University where he had followed John T. Murray. In June 1949 he presented his master’s thesis “Robert Boyle and Chemistry in England 1660-1700”. Subsequently he worked towards a master’s in chemistry at the same institution. He went to work for Abbott Laboratories, a company for which he filed five patents. He writes that slow reaction times for some of his work provided reading time for broader investigations in history of science and chemistry literature. In fall 1956 he began his Ph.D. studies at Harvard under I. Bernard Cohen. His teaching assistant work was supervised by Leonard K. Nash. In a seminar with Wilber K. Jordan he presented a paper on the English followers of Paracelsus. In September 1959 he went to London, England to delve more deeply into the topic. There he met regularly with Walter Pagel and attended University College of London courses given by Douglas McKie. Returning to Harvard, he completed the requirements for a Harvard Ph.D. in history of science. Northwestern University is a private, coeducational, non-sectarian research university, located in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, U.S.. Northwesterns main campus is a 240-acre (970,000 m²) parcel in Evanston, along the shore of Lake Michigan. ... Indiana University, founded in 1820, is a nine-campus university system in the state of Indiana. ... Robert Boyle Robert Boyle (January 25, 1627–December 30, 1691) was an Irish natural philosopher (chemist, physicist, and inventor) noted for his work in physics and chemistry. ... Abbott Laboratories NYSE: ABT is a diversified pharmaceuticals and health care company. ... A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a state to a person for a fixed period of time in exchange for the regulated, public disclosure of certain details of a device, method, process or composition of matter (substance) (known as an invention) which is new, inventive, and... Doctor of Philosophy (Ph. ... Harvard University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, and a member of the Ivy League. ... I. Bernard Cohen (1914-2003) was the Victor S. Thomas Professor of the history of science at Harvard University and the author of many books on the history of science and, in particular, Isaac Newton. ... Paracelsus Paracelsus (born 11 November or 17 December 1493 in Einsiedeln, Switzerland - 24 September 1541) was an alchemist, physician, astrologer, and general occultist. ... The Front Quad University College London, commonly known as UCL, is one of the colleges that make up the University of London. ...

Professor

In 1961 he took up a position at the University of Chicago under William McNiell, one-third time as graduate instructor in history of science, two-thirds in undergraduate physical science coursework. In 1965 he was raised to Associate Professor on the strength of his book The English Paracelsians. For the school-year 1966/7 he went on an overseas fellowship to Churchill College, Cambridge. Back at the University of Chicago, Debus describes attempts by the philosophy department to intrude on the history of science program in the history department. He stood strong in the period 1967-9 in this academic turf battle. Debus was instrumental in the development of the Morris Fishbein Center, served as director for two three-year terms. In 1978 he was elected to the academic chair at University of Chicago endowed by Morris Fishbein. Allen G. Debus developed a three-quarter sequence in history of science leading from ancient science to the beginning of the twentieth century. He was at Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Study in 1972-3 doing chemical philosophy. In 1994 he was awarded the George Sarton Medal from the History of Science Society. Full name Churchill College Motto Forward Named after Sir Winston Churchill Previous names - Established 1960 Sister College(s) Trinity College Master Sir John Boyd Location Storeys Way Undergraduates 440 Postgraduates 210 Homepage Boatclub Churchill College Main Entrance Churchill College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of... Morris Fishbein (1889 – 1976) was the head of the American Medical Association and editor of its journal, JAMA from 1924 to 1949. ... Fuld Hall The Institute for Advanced Study is a private institution in Princeton Township, New Jersey, U.S.A. (although it is not part of Princeton University), designed to foster pure cutting-edge research by scientists in a variety of fields without the complications of teaching or funding, or the... There are very few or no other articles that link to this one. ... The History of Science Society (HSS) is the primary professional society for the academic study of the history of science, founded in 1924 by George Sarton. ...

Family

Allen G. Debus notes that his academic career was an innovation in his familial lineage. His father formed the company “Modern Boxes”, a company for which Allen served as salesman for a time in 1950. Further, in 1955 his father’s estate funded his education at Harvard. Allen met Brunilda Lopez Rodrigues from Puerto Rico at Abbott Labs. They married in 1951, and studied Latin, French, and German together preparing for Debus’ push for the Ph.D. They have three children: Allen (1956), Richard (1957), and Karl (1961). Plato is credited with the inception of academia: the body of knowledge, its development and transmission across generations. ...

Books

• The English Paracelsians (The Watts history of science library) (1966)
• Who's Who in Science (1968)
• The chemical dream of the Renaissance (1968)
• Science and education in the seventeenth century: The Webster-Ward debate, (History of science library, primary sources) (1970)
• The chemical philosophy: Paracelsian science and medicine in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (1977)
• Chemistry, Alchemy and the New Philosophy, 1550-1770: Studies in the History of Science and Medicine (Collected Studies Ser.; No. Cs249) (1987)
• Hermeticism and the Renaissance: Intellectual History and the Occult in Early Modern Europe (1988)
• The Complete Entertainment Discography: From 1897-1942 (Roots of Jazz)' (1989) - co-authored by Brian A. L. Rust
• Reading the Book of Nature: The Other Side of the Scientific Revolution (Sixteenth Century Essays and Studies) (1998) co-authored by Michael Thomson Walton
• Chemistry and Medical Debate (2001)
• The Chemical Philosophy (2002)
• Alchemy and Early Modern Chemistry (2004)
• The Chemical Promise: Experiment And Mysticism in the Chemical Philosophy, 1550-1800 : Selected Essays of Allen G. Debus' (2006)

Hermes Trismegistus depicted as European in a medieval rendering. ...

Reference

From Science to History: A Personal Intellectual Journey (in Experiencing Nature, Proceedings of a Conference in Honor of Allen G. Debus), Paul H Theerman and Karen Hunger Parshall, editors, Kluwer Academic Publications (ISBN 0-7923-4477-4).