Campus & Community

History of Science Society awards Sarton Medal to John Murdoch

2 min read

Professor of the History of Science John E. Murdoch has been awarded the Sarton Medal from the History of Science Society. It is the society’s most prestigious award, honoring lifetime scholarly achievement.

During a career spanning more than 50 years, Murdoch has distinguished himself as a renowned scholar of ancient Greek and medieval Latin science and philosophy, with a particular interest in the concepts of infinity and continuity throughout early science. He is the author of “Album of Science: Antiquity and the Middle Ages” (1984) and co-editor of “The Cultural Context of Medieval Learning” (1973). He has also penned more than 60 scholarly essays on various aspects of ancient and medieval science.

Murdoch earned a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Wisconsin in 1957. His dissertation, a philosophical introduction to 14th century scholar Thomas Bradwardine’s work on the continuum, earned him a three-year appointment in Harvard’s History of Science Department. He moved to Princeton in 1960 and then returned to Harvard in 1963, where he remains an active faculty member.

The Sarton Medal honors George Sarton, founder of the History of Science Society’s journal Isis. The award is given annually since 1955 to an outstanding historian of science selected from the international scholarly community. For more information, visit the History of Science Society Web site.