# Marie Boas Hall > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Marie_Boas_Hall > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Marie_Boas_Hall.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Boas_Hall > Source revision: 1336673943 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) American historian of science (1919 – 2009) Marie Boas Hall Born Marie Boas (1919-10-18)October 18, 1919 Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S. Died February 23, 2009(2009-02-23) (aged 89) Alma mater Radcliffe College, AB, chemistry, 1940; Cornell University, PhD, 1949 Occupation Historian of science Employer(s) Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Brandeis University, University of California, Los Angeles, Indiana University, Imperial College London Spouse Alfred Rupert Hall Relatives Older brother, mathematician Ralph P. Boas Jr. Awards George Sarton Medal, Fellow of the British Academy, American Academy of Arts and Sciences **Marie Boas Hall** [FBA](/source/Fellow_of_the_British_Academy) (October 18, 1919 – February 23, 2009) was an American historian of science and is considered one of the postwar period pioneers of the study of the [Scientific Revolution](/source/Scientific_Revolution) during the 16th and 17th centuries.[1] ## Early life and education Boas was born Marie Boas in [Springfield, Massachusetts](/source/Springfield%2C_Massachusetts), on October 18, 1919.[2] Her older brother was mathematician [Ralph P. Boas Jr.](/source/Ralph_P._Boas_Jr.)[3] She graduated from [Radcliffe College](/source/Radcliffe_College) in 1940. During [World War II](/source/World_War_II), she worked in the [MIT Radiation Laboratory](/source/MIT_Radiation_Laboratory) with [Henry Guerlac](/source/Henry_Guerlac) in writing the history of the laboratory and of the operational use of [radar](/source/Radar) during the war.[3] She continued her work with Guerlac at [Cornell University](/source/Cornell_University) and received her PhD in 1949. Her thesis covered the mechanical philosophy of [Robert Boyle](/source/Robert_Boyle) and was published in the history of science journal *[Osiris](/source/Osiris_(journal))* in 1952.[3] ## Career After receiving her doctorate from [Cornell University](/source/Cornell_University), she took a teaching position at the [University of Massachusetts](/source/University_of_Massachusetts) and subsequently moved to [Brandeis University](/source/Brandeis_University). Marie Boas went to England from the US, "to work on [Robert Boyle](/source/Robert_Boyle)'s papers, and met Hall, who was working on [Isaac Newton](/source/Isaac_Newton)'s. In 1957 she returned to the [University of California, Los Angeles](/source/University_of_California%2C_Los_Angeles); and in 1959 Hall, whose first marriage had ended in divorce, joined her there and they were married. Two years later they went to [Indiana University](/source/Indiana_University). In 1963 they were invited back to London, to [Imperial College](/source/Imperial_College_London), where Hall became the first professor of the history of science and she senior lecturer. There they trained many graduate students."[4] She was elected a Fellow of the [American Academy of Arts and Sciences](/source/American_Academy_of_Arts_and_Sciences) in 1955.[5] She won the [George Sarton Medal](/source/George_Sarton_Medal), the most prestigious award of the [History of Science Society](/source/History_of_Science_Society), together with her husband [Alfred Rupert Hall](/source/Alfred_Rupert_Hall) in 1981. ## Works - *Robert Boyle and Seventeenth-Century Chemistry.* Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1958. - *The Scientific Renaissance, 1450-1630.* New York: Harper, 1962. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-486-28115-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-486-28115-9) - *Robert Boyle on Natural Philosophy: An Essay, with Selections from His Writings.* Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1965. - *Nature and Nature's Laws. Documents of the Scientific Revolution.* London: Macmillan, 1970. - *The Mechanical Philosophy.* New York: Arno Press, 1981. - *All Scientists Now: The Royal Society in the Nineteenth Century.* Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-521-89263-5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-521-89263-5) - [*Promoting Experimental Learning: Experiment and the Royal Society, 1660-1727.* Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.](https://books.google.com/books?id=EkOWyBtP-nsC&q=boas+hall+royal+society) [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-521-89265-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-521-89265-1) - *Henry Oldenburg: Shaping the Royal Society.* Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-19-851053-5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-19-851053-5) ## See also - [History of science in the Renaissance](/source/History_of_science_in_the_Renaissance) ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["Marie Boas Hall: historian of science"](https://www.thetimes.com/comment/register/article/marie-boas-hall-historian-of-science-77t9rwgn96t). The Times. 20 March 2009. Retrieved 5 August 2017. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-mmp_2-0)** Albers, Donald J.; [Alexanderson, Gerald L.](/source/Gerald_L._Alexanderson); [Reid, Constance](/source/Constance_Reid), eds. (1990), "Ralph P. Boas, Jr.", *More Mathematical People*, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, pp. 22–41. 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-times2009_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-times2009_3-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-times2009_3-2) [Marie Boas Hall (1919-2009)](http://www.bbk.ac.uk/boyle/boyle_whatsnew/whatsnew.htm#obituary) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20131127091823/http://www.bbk.ac.uk/boyle/boyle_whatsnew/whatsnew.htm#obituary) 2013-11-27 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine), *The Times*, 20 March 2009 1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Knight, David (26 May 2009). ["Obituary: Rupert Hall"](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/may/27/rupert-hall-obituary). *The Guardian*. Retrieved 3 November 2013. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-AAAS_5-0)** ["Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter B"](https://web.archive.org/web/20100917070534/http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterB.pdf) (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Archived from [the original](http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterB.pdf) (PDF) on 17 September 2010. Retrieved 25 July 2014. ### Sources - Wear, Andrew (October 2009). ["Rupert Hall (1920–2009), Marie Boas Hall (1919–2009)"](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2766136). *Med. Hist*. **53** (4): 587–589. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1017/s0025727300000569](https://doi.org/10.1017%2Fs0025727300000569). [PMC](/source/PMC_(identifier)) [2766136](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2766136). ## External links - [Marie Boas Hall](https://archive.today/20131104095603/http://academic.research.microsoft.com/Author/42300174/marie-boas-hall), Microsoft Academic Search Authority control databases International ISNI VIAF GND FAST WorldCat National United States France BnF data Italy Czech Republic Spain Netherlands Norway Latvia Korea Sweden Poland Vatican Israel Catalonia Belgium Academics zbMATH People Trove DDB Other IdRef Open Library SNAC Yale LUX --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Marie Boas Hall](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Boas_Hall) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Boas_Hall?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.