- Jacob Bronowski
Infobox_Scientist
name = Jacob Bronowski
caption =
birth_date = birth date|1908|1|18|mf=y
birth_place =Łódź ,Congress Poland ,Russian Empire
death_date = death date and age|1974|8|22|1908|1|18|mf=y
death_place = East Hampton, New York, U.S.
residence =UK
nationality = Polish-English
field =Mathematics
erdos_number =
work_institution =Salk Institute
alma_mater =University of Cambridge
doctoral_advisor =H. F. Baker
doctoral_students =
known_for =Geometry
societies =
prizes =
spouse =
children =Lisa Jardine ,Judith Bronowski
religion =
handedness =
website =
footnotes =Jacob Bronowski (
January 18 1908 –August 22 1974 ) was a British mathematician and biologist of Polish-Jewish origin, best remembered as the presenter and writer of theBBC television documentary series, "The Ascent of Man ".Life and work
Jacob Bronowski was born in
Łódź ,Congress Poland ,Russian Empire in 1908. His family moved to Germany during the First World War, and then toEngland in 1920. Although, according to Bronowski, he knew only two English words on arriving in Great Britain, [cite book | author = Bronowski, J. | title = The Common Sense of Science | publisher = Harvard University Press | location = Cambridge, Massachusetts | year = 1967 | pages = 8 ] he gained admission to theCentral Foundation Boys' School inLondon and went on to study at theUniversity of Cambridge .As a mathematics student at
Jesus College, Cambridge , Bronowski co-edited — withWilliam Empson — the literary periodical "Experiment", which first appeared in 1928. Bronowski would pursue this sort of dual activity, in both the mathematical and literary worlds, throughout his professional life. He was also a strong chess player, earning a half-blue while at Cambridge and composing numerous chess problems for theBritish Chess Magazine between 1926 and 1970. [cite web | last = Winter | first = Edward | title = Chess Notes | url = http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/winter34.html|accessdate = 2008-03-23] He received a Ph.D. inmathematics in 1935, writing a dissertation inalgebraic geometry . From 1934 to 1942 he taught mathematics at the University College of Hull. For a time in the 1930s he lived nearLaura Riding andRobert Graves inMajorca .During the Second World War Bronowski worked in
operations research , and afterwards became Director of Research for theNational Coal Board in the UK. Following his experiences as an official observer of the after-effects of theNagasaki and Hiroshima bombings, he turned tobiology , as did his friendLeo Szilard , to better understand the nature of violence. Bronowski was an associate director of theSalk Institute from 1964.Jacob Bronowski married Rita Coblentz in 1941. [cite web | last = Garson | first = Sue | title = Rita Bronowski - San Diego Jewish Journal | publisher = | url = http://www.sdjewishjournal.com/stories/article5.html |accessdate = 2008-03-23] The couple had four children, all daughters, the eldest being the British academic
Lisa Jardine and another being the filmaker Judith Bronowski.In 1967 Bronowski delivered the six Silliman Foundation lectures at
Yale University and chose as his subject the role of imagination and symbolic language in the progress of scientific knowledge. Transcripts of the lectures were published posthumously in 1978 asThe Origins of Knowledge and Imagination and remain in print.He first became familiar to the British public through appearances on the
BBC television version of "The Brains Trust " in the late 1950s, but is better known for his thirteen part series "The Ascent of Man " (1973). This was an inspiration forCarl Sagan to make "" in 1980. During the making of "The Ascent of Man", Bronowski was interviewed byMichael Parkinson , and Bronowski's description of a visit toAuschwitz — he had lost many family members during the Nazi era — was described by Parkinson as one of his most memorable interviews.Jacob Bronowski died in 1974 of a heart attack [cite web | last = Garson | first = Sue | title = Rita Bronowski - San Diego Jewish Journal | publisher = | url = http://www.sdjewishjournal.com/stories/article5.html |accessdate = 2008-03-23] in East Hampton, New York, U.S., a year after "The Ascent of Man" was completed, and was buried in the western side of London's
Highgate Cemetery , near the entrance.Books
* "The Poet's Defence" (1939)
* "William Blake: A Man Without a Mask" (1943)
* "The Common Sense of Science" (1951)
* "The Face of Violence" (1954)
* "Science and Human Values" (1956)
* "William Blake: The Penguin Poets Series" (1958)
* "The Western Intellectual Tradition, From Leonardo to Hegel" (1960) - with Bruce Mazlish
* "Biography of an Atom" (1963) - with Millicent Selsam
* "Insight" (1964)
* "The Identity of Man" (1965)
* "Nature and Knowledge: The Philosophy of Contemporary Science" (1969)
* "William Blake and the Age of Revolution" (1972)
* "The Ascent of Man" (1974)
* "A Sense of the Future" (1977)
* "Magic Science & Civilization" (1978)
* "The Origins of Knowledge and Imagination" (1978)
* "The Visionary Eye: Essays in the Arts, Literature and Science" (1979) - edited by Piero Ariotti and Rita BronowskiReferences
External links
* Has biography, pictures, and obituary.
* [http://www.drbronowski.com/ The Jacob Bronowski Archive]
* [http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=Bronowski+Ascent+of+Man Video related to "The Ascent of Man"] - selections vary
* [http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/ins.chess/bronowski/ The Bronowski Trophy (chess)]Persondata
NAME= Bronowski, Jacob
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Mathematician
DATE OF BIRTH=January 18 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH=Łódź ,Poland
DATE OF DEATH=August 22 1974
PLACE OF DEATH= East Hampton, New York, U.S.
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