biography
| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1882–1965)
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| biography:
| Historian, born in Lynn, Massachusetts, USA, the brother of Edward Lee Thorndike. After taking his PhD at Columbia University (1905), he taught at Northwestern (1907–9) and Western Reserve (1909–24) before returning to Columbia as a professor (1924–50). His early reputation as a mediaevalist came from his teaching and his textbook, History of Medieval Europe (1917), but he came to international prominence when he began publishing his masterwork, A History of Magic and Experimental Science (8 vols, 1923–58), in which he was among the first to explore such activities as astrology, alchemy, and magic and their relationships to the development of modern science. A prolific writer and admired teacher of other professors, he was active in various professional groups, and helped found the History of Science Society (1924). |
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