American historian (born 1941)
Kenneth L. Taylor (born May 16, 1941) is an American historian of geology.
Education and career.
At Harvard University, Taylor graduated in the specialty "History and Science" with three degrees: A.B. in 1962, A.M. in 1965, and Ph.D. in 1968. His doctoral advisors were I. Bernard Cohen and Everett Mendelsohn. In the department of the history of science at the University of Oklahoma, Taylor was an assistant professor from 1967 to 1972, an associate professor from 1972 to 1986, and a full professor from 1986 to 2006, when he retired as professor emeritus. He chaired his department for 14 years, from 1979 to 1992, and acted as interim chair in autumn 1978 and spring 1999.
Taylor was for the academic year 1973–1974 a postdoctoral fellow, supported by the CNRS and the NSF, at the "Centre Alexandre Koyré" in Paris. He was from 1990 to 1991 a Dibner Visiting Historian of Science. In 2001 he held the position "Directeur d’Études Associé" at the "École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales" in Paris.
He has written numerous articles and essay reviews. Several of his papers on the history of French geology and science during the Age of Enlightenment are recognized as classics. Taylor's essay "The Beginnings of a French Geological Identity" (1980) presents evidence that, in the years from 1750 to 1800, naturalists tended to reject large syntheses or theoretical systems of natural history and geology and to strongly favor field observations. His essay "Before volcanoes became ordinary" (2016) points out that ancient Greek and Latin literature had no generic terms for volcanoes and gives an overview of how perceptions about volcanoes have changed over the past two millennia.
Taylor has served in various capacities in several organizations. From 1990 to 1993 he chaired the U.S. National Committee on the History of Geology of the National Academy of Sciences. From 2005 to 2007 he was a consulting editor for the "New Dictionary of Scientific Biography". From 2012 to 2016 he was the president of the International Commission on the History of Geological Sciences (INHIGEO).
He was elected in 1997 a Fellow of the Geological Society of America. He received in 1998 the Sue Tyler Friedman Medal from the Geological Society of London, in 2007 the Mary C. Rabbitt History of Geology Award from the Geological Society of America, and in 2018 the "Prix Wegmann" from the "Société Géologique de France".