William Hodson Brock
{{Short description|British chemist and science historian (1936–2025)|bot=PearBOT 5}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
William Hodson Brock (1936 – 16 February 2025) was a British chemist and science historian.
Life and career
Brock was born in Brighton in 1936. He studied chemistry at University College London and the history and philosophy of science at the University of Leicester to become a lecturer on the subject. He earned a Ph.D. for his biography of the chemist William Prout which was expanded into the book, From Protyle to Proton: William Prout and the Nature of Matter, 1785–1985 (1985). Brock remained at Leicester until he retired in 1998 as Emeritus Professor of History of Science.Biography of William Hodson Brock. (2006). Division of History of Chemistry of the American Chemical Society.
Brock has written biographies of famous chemists such as Justus von Liebig, August Wilhelm von Hofmann and William Crookes.Rocke, A. J. (1986). Justus von Liebig und August Wilhelm Hofmann in ihren Briefen (1841-1873) by William Hodson Brock. Isis, Vol. 77, No. 2. pp. 380-381.
In 1995, Brock received the Dexter Award for Outstanding Achievement in the History of Chemistry from the American Chemical Society.{{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}}
Brock died on 16 February 2025, at the age of 88.{{cite news |title=William Hodson Brock |url=https://www.thetimes.com/comment/register/article/births-marriages-and-deaths-march-14-2025-g9pmkzpq7 |access-date=14 March 2025 |publisher=The Times |date=14 March 2025}}
Publications
- Justus von Liebig und August Wilhelm Hofmann in ihren Briefen (1841–1873) (1984)
- From Protyle to Proton: William Prout and the Nature of Matter, 1785–1985 (1985)
- The Fontana History of Chemistry (1992){{cite journal|author=Brooke, John Hedley|authorlink=John Hedley Brooke|title=Review of The Fontana History of Chemistry by William H. Brock|journal=Isis|volume=85|issue=2|date=June 1994|pages=301–302|doi=10.1086/356820}}
- The Norton History of Chemistry (1993){{cite journal|title=Review of The Norton History of Chemistry by William H. Brock|author=Kauffman, George B.|authorlink=George Kauffman|journal=J. Chem. Educ.|date=1 August 1994|volume=71|issue=8|page=A214|doi=10.1021/ed071pA214|doi-access=free}}
- Science for All: Studies in the History of Victorian Science and Education (1996)
- William Crookes (1832–1919) and the Commercialization of Science (2008)
- The Case of the Poisonous Socks: Tales from Chemistry (2011)
References
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Category:Alumni of University College London
Category:Alumni of the University of Leicester
Category:British science writers
Category:British historians of science
Category:Members of the International Academy of the History of Science