George Sarton

George Alfred Leon Sarton (; 31 August 1884 – 22 March 1956) was a Belgian-American chemist and historian. He is considered the founder of the discipline of the history of science as an independent field of study. His most influential works were the Introduction to the History of Science, which consists of three volumes and 4,296 pages and the journal Isis. Sarton ultimately aimed to achieve an integrated philosophy of science that provided a connection between the sciences and the humanities, which he referred to as "the new humanism". Life and work George Alfred Leon Sarton was born to Léonie Van Halmé and Alfred Sarton on August 31, 1884 in Ghent, East Flanders, Belgium. However, within a year of his birth, Sarton's mother died. He attended school first in his hometown before later attending school for a period of four years in the town of Chimay. Sarton enrolled at the University of Ghent in 1902 to study philosophy, but found that the subject did not correspond with his interests and subsequently ceased his studies. In 1904, after a period of reflection, he re-enrolled in the university to study the natural sciences. During his time at the University of Ghent Sarton received several honors. In 1908, the four Belgium universities gave him a gold medal for chemistry, and the city of Ghent gave him a silver laurel for a memoir he wrote. He graduated with his doctorate in 1911 with a thesis in celestial mechanics. Shortly after his graduation, on June 22, 1911, Sarton married Elanor Mabel Elwes, an artist and distinguished furniture designer. The couple moved to a house in Wondelgem where their only child, a daughter, Eleanore Marie or May was born in 1912. During World War 1, in August 1914, the German army invaded Belgium. At this time Sarton was no longer an official member of Belgium's Civil Guard. Nevertheless, when the invasion occurred, he reported in and was assigned to patrol the nearby railroad intersection, but encountered no German soldiers that night. Under German occupation, members of the Civil Guard were treated as spies, and Sarton buried his Civil Guard coat in the garden so he would not be taken up and shot as a spy. During the occupation, twenty-six German soldiers were billeted at his house and he was held responsible for the soldiers' safety. If any of the enlisted men staying at his house had not met curfew, Sarton would have been shot.