Dzhon Nort

John David North was a historian of science, lecturer, and author of numerous books on the history of the study of the cosmos. He graduated from Merton College, Oxford, and the University of London. In 1977 he became head of the Department of the History of Philosophy and Exact Sciences at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. John North’s research not only offers readers a broad panorama of the history of science, but also shows how discoveries in astronomy are connected with the creation of cultural and artistic masterpieces, from Stonehenge to the poetry of Chaucer.

North was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, in 1934. He attended Batley Grammar School, then studied mathematics at Merton College, Oxford, and later philosophy, politics and economics. He met his wife, Marion, in Oxford and married her in 1957. He later entered the University of London, where in 1958 he earned a degree in astronomy, physics and applied mathematics.

His first book was Measure of the Universe: A History of Modern Cosmology (1965), which was praised as “virtually a complete history of modern cosmology.” Soon after that he began studying medieval science, having been appointed librarian and assistant curator at the Museum of the History of Science in Oxford. In 1977 he was appointed Professor of the History of Philosophy and Exact Sciences at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands, where he remained until his retirement in 1999. North was elected a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1985. He wrote two books about the medieval scholar and mathematician Richard of Wallingford. He was also a member of the British Astronomical Association for a time in the 1950s.

In 2005 North was diagnosed with cancer, and he died on 31 October 2008.