Clagett, Marshall 1916–2005
Clagett, Marshall 1916–2005
OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born January 23, 1916, in Washington, DC; died October 21, 2005, in Princeton, NJ. Historian, educator, and author. Clagett was a scholar of the history of science, specializing in research on ancient civilizations and how their discoveries extended their influence all the way through medieval Europe. He completed both his B.A. and M.A. at George Washington University in 1937, continuing on to Columbia University, where he earned his Ph.D. in 1941. When the United States entered World War II, Clagett enlisted in the Navy and saw action in the Pacific theater. He attained the rank of lieutenant commander before being decommissioned. Returning to Columbia to teach for a year, he then moved on to the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Here he rose to full professor of history in 1954 and directed the Institute for Research in the Humanities from 1959 to 1964. That year, he joined the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton as a professor, remaining there until his 1986 retirement as professor emeritus. As a scholar and author, Clagett was known for his ambitious, multi-volume works on the history of ancient-to-medieval science. Among these works are the four-volume Archimedes in the Middle Ages (1964–80) and the three-volume Ancient Egyptian Science: A Source Book (1989–99).
OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:
PERIODICALS
Los Angeles Times, October 30, 2005, p. B13.
New York Times, October 26, 2005, p. C24.