He was the founding chair of the Department of History and Sociology of Science and now holds the title of Joseph Priestley Professor Emeritus.
Thackray was the founding director of the institution originally established as the Chemical Heritage Foundation,now known as the Science History Institute.[3]
He earned a Bachelor of Science degree with First Class Honours in chemistry from the University of Bristol in 1960.[1]After graduation,he began working in industry in Yorkshire. During this time,he became involved with a group at Leeds University,led by Jerome Ravetz,that explored emerging ideas in the history of science.[2]
A year earlier,Thackray had already become the first graduate student at Churchill College to be elected a Fellow of the college.[5]In this new role,he pioneered the effort to secure the papers of leading British scientists including Sir James Chadwick,for what in 1973 would become the Churchill College Archive Centre.[8]
Academic and professional career
Thackray decided to seek his BTA—his 'been to America' degree. In September 1967 he intermitted his Fellowship to accept a one-year visiting lectureship at Harvard University,fully intending to return to the original Cambridge.[8] However,enjoying American academe,in 1968 he chose to join the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania.[9]
In 1969 he became director of a joint Penn-Bryn Mawr-American Philosophical Society graduate program in the history of medicine and the biological sciences.[1] In 1970 he became chairman of Penn's Department of the History and Philosophy of Science,which soon thereafter was renamed the Department of the History and Philosophy of Science in order to be more consistent with the direction that Thackray had chosen for it.[8][10] As chairman of the brand-new HSS Department,Thackray drew on faculty members from such disciplinary areas of the university as history,philosophy,anthropology,sociology,chemistry,physics,biology,engineering,English,and American civilization.[11]
Thackray was a member of the Penn faculty for 28 years,retiring in 1996 as Joseph Priestley Professor emeritus.[12]
A 1979-1980 task force led by chemist/historian John H. Wotiz[15] resulted in a recommendation to the American Chemical Society that it create a center for the history of chemistry.[16] In 1981,the American Chemical Society solicited proposals to develop such a center.[16] Thackray proposed that the center be at the University of Pennsylvania.[17][16][18] Late in 1983,the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) became a co-sponsor.[19]
Thackray sought to move CHF to a home of its own somewhere in the greater Philadelphia (Wilmington,DE to Princeton,NJ) area. In 1993 CHF purchased the First National Bank,which stood in the backyard of Benjamin Franklin's home,within what by the 1980s had become Philadelphia's Independence National Park. The build-out of this 1865 structure into a modern 120,000 sq. ft. facility took over a decade of planning and fundraising. The repurposed complex eventually included offices,archives,and space for the Othmer Library (itself steadily growing in size and stature as an internationally-acclaimed resource). The home of CHF would eventually include a capacious public museum designed by Ralph Appelbaum.[21][22] The overall project was complete in 2008.[23] Under Thackray's tenure,CHF steadily expanded its scope,its sponsoring organizations,its repertoire of visiting academic scholars,and its activities around the country and overseas.[24] An annual Othmer Gold Medal was inaugurated in 1997,to honor individuals contributing to science through innovation,entrepreneurship,research,legislation,and philanthropy. The Award’s four sponsors were the ACS,the AIChE,The Chemists' Club,and the Sociétéde Chimie Industrielle (American Section). A growing series of other medals and prizes followed,in partnership with relevant organizations in the USA and abroad,to honor pioneers in fields ranging from materials science to biotechnology.[25][26][27]
Thackray served as president of CHF until 2009,after which time he served a seven-year term as Chancellor. Over the 28 years of his active leadership of a growing organization,he raised a permanent endowment of $130 million,while investing almost $50 million to create CHF’s home.[28][29]
Life Sciences Foundation
After stepping down as president of CHF,Thackray relocated to Silicon Valley. There he founded the Life Sciences Foundation .[30] The foundation was conceived at a 2009 meeting with four biotechnology industry leaders. The group reasoned that biotech,by then 40 years old,had a poorly understood history.[31] The Life Sciences Foundation was formed in 2011 to capture the stories of the industry’s founders,while increasing awareness of the field’s significance through oral histories,public events,and a variety of publications,including a free magazine.[32][33][34][35]
Thackray became a citizen of the United States in 1981.[1] He first married Barbara (née Hughes) Thackray,a physicist who became a teacher at the Shipley School in Bryn Mawr,Pennsylvania.[39] Their three children were Helen Thackray,a biotechnology executive,Gillian,an intellectual property lawyer,and Timothy,who is autistic and differently abled.[39][40] Thackray's wife since 1994 is Diana (née Schueler) Thackray.[41] Walking,gardening,reading,and raising roses have been his hobbies.[16]
Selected publications
Thackray, Arnold (24 August 2022). Sturchio, Jeffrey L.; Lewenstein, Bruce V. (eds.). Science: Has its Present Past a Future?: Selected Essays. Seasons Associates Publishing. pp.112–133. ISBN979-8551167730.
Thackray, Arnold; Ulrych, Richard (2017). Building a Petrochemical Industry in Saudi Arabia: A Vision Becomes a Reality: the Life of Abdulaziz Abdullah Al-Zamil Former Minister of Industry & Electricity. Obeikan. Also in Arabic. ISBN978-603-02-4331-0.[42]
Thackray, Arnold; Brock, David C.; Jones, Rachel; Brock, Davd C. (2015). Moore's law: the life of Gordon Moore, Silicon Valley's quiet revolutionary. New York, NY: Basic Books. ISBN978-0465055647. Chinese translation Moore's law: the life of Gordon Moore, Silicon Valley's quiet revolutionary (2017) Renmin University of China Press ISBN978-7300239231[43]
Thackray, Arnold, ed. (1998). Private science: biotechnology and the rise of the molecular sciences. Philadelphia, Pa: Univ. of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN0812234286.[44][45]
Thackray, Arnold; Sturchio, Jeffrey L.; Carroll, P. Thomas; Bud, Robert (1985). Chemistry in America 1876–1976 Historical Indicators. Springer Dordrecht. ISBN978-9027726629.[46]
Morrell, Jack; Thackray, Arnold (1981). Gentlemen of science: early years of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (1sted.). Oxford: Clarendon Pr.[47]
↑ "John H. Wotiz (1919–2001)"(PDF). American Chemical Society, Division of the History of Chemistry. American Chemical Society Dexter Awards. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
1 2 3 4 "Center for History of Chemistry Inaugural". CHOC News. 1 (3): 1–5. Summer 1983.
↑ Gussman, Neil. "The Power of John C. Haas's Good Name". Chemical Heritage Foundation. Archived from the original on 12 July 2016. Retrieved 8 May 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
1 2 Carpenter, Ernest (16 November 1987). "Chemistry History Center Receives Large Grant". Chemical & Engineering News. 65 (46): 6.
↑ "American Institute of Chemical Engineers Joins CHOC Endeavor". CHOC News. 2 (1): 1–3. Spring 1984.
↑ "History". Science History Institute. 31 May 2016.
↑ Dowling, G.J.H. (March 2019). "Building a Petrochemical Industry in Saudi Arabia: The Life of Abdulaziz Abdullah Al-Zamil". Middle East Policy. 26 (1): 155–157. doi:10.1111/mepo.12409.
↑ Rader, Karen A. (Karen Ann) (2000). "Private Science: Biotechnology and the Rise of the Molecular Sciences (review)". Bulletin of the History of Medicine. 74 (3): 648–649. doi:10.1353/bhm.2000.0117. ISSN1086-3176.
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