1987 Sarton Medal CitationAuthor(s): Edward GrantSource: Isis, Vol. 79, No. 2 (Jun., 1988), pp. 243-244Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of The History of Science SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/233608 .

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NEWS OF THE PROFESSION-ISIS, 79: 2: 297 (1988) 243

1987 SARTON MEDAL CITATION

This year the Sarton Medal is awarded to Geoffrey Ernest Richard Lloyd. Although we honor him for his outstanding scholar- ship, we should be equally pleased that we honor a scholar whose writings and teach- ings have, as William Coleman has so aptly expressed it, "played a major role in assur- ing that classical studies remain an impor- tant aspect of the history of science." Pro- fessor Lloyd has achieved this remarkable feat by making a deliberate effort to reach a broad audience of interested readers. With- out sacrificing scholarship, he has cast his books in language that can be readily un- derstood and has sought to write about issues that are both of central importance and of wide interest.

Professor Lloyd has had a distinguished career. From his B.A. in 1954 to the present, his academic career has been as- sociated with Cambridge University. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. in 1958 and since 1957 has been a Fellow of King's Col- lege. After serving as an assistant lecturer and a lecturer in classics between 1965 and 1974, he was made Reader in Ancient Phi- losophy and Science in 1974 and served until 1983, when he was named Professor of Ancient Philosophy and Science. He has lectured abroad numerous times, most no- tably as Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science in 1981; in the United States he has served as Bonsall Professor at Stanford University in 1981 and as Sather Professor at the University of Cali- fornia at Berkeley during 1983-1984. In 1983 he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy.

Professor Lloyd has written and edited some nine books, the most recent of which is The Revolutions of Wisdom: Studies in the Claims and Practice of Ancient Greek Science (California, 1987). For those in this audience who teach survey courses in the history of science, Lloyd is probably best known for two wonderfully succinct and lucid volumes, Early Greek Science: Thales to Aristotle (1970) and Greek Science after Aristotle (1973). The title of the first may be said to define the focus of his scholarly ca- reer. His major works are devoted to var- ious aspects of early Greek science, em- phasizing logic and scientific methodology and how these affected scientific argument. Four books, largely embracing the Preso- cratic natural philosophers, the Hippocratic

medical authors, and Plato and Aristotle, lie at the heart of Lloyd's efforts. Taking them chronologically, the first is Polarity and Analogy: Two Types of Argumentation in Early Greek Thought (1966). In it Lloyd analyzes early Greek usage to the time of Aristotle of the notion of opposites such as hot and cold, male and female, and right and left, following this with an analysis of the Greeks' use of analogies. Here Lloyd was concerned with the Greeks' perception and use of similarities and contrasts in the world around them.

The second of these volumes, Aristotle: The Growth and Structure of His Thought (1968), is a summary account of the major aspects of Aristotle's thought with empha- sis on science and natural philosophy. It is an ideal volume for historians of science who want a quick, penetrating, and read- able fix on Aristotle's scientific thought. In 1979, Lloyd published Magic, Reason and Experience: Studies in the Origins and De- velopment of Greek Science. Here again, as in Polarity and Analogy, we witness Lloyd's keen interest in early foundational thinking, in the kind of conceptualization and empiricism that borders on, and even merges into, scientific thought. In the four chapters of this work, the first treats of magic, the second takes up reason in the form of Greek ideas of dialectic and demon- stration, the third considers the develop- ment of empirical research, and the fourth, titled "Greek Science and Society," tries to answer the always intriguing question, "How far can we go toward specifying the social and other conditions that allowed or promoted the emergence of philosophy and science?" The fourth volume, Science, Folklore and Ideology: Studies in the Life Sciences in Ancient Greece, appeared in 1983 and sought to reveal the interplay be- tween science on the one hand and tradi- tional belief and ideology on the other. Here we find discussions of Aristotle's zo- ology, Hippocratic and Hellenistic medi- cine, the role of women in Greek society, and Theophrastus and Pliny. As one re- viewer (John Longrigg, Classical Review, 1985, 35:82-85) put it, "Lloyd displays once again virtues manifested in previous work-comprehensive learning, careful re- search and clarity of expression."

As the son of a physician, Lloyd has always paid close attention to medical and

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244 NEWS OF THE PROFESSION-ISIS, 79: 2: 297 (1988)

biological thought. Virtually all of his books include significant segments on these topics and one of them, Hippocratic Writ- ings, is exclusively devoted to medicine. If you want a brief but authoritative account of the history, content, and methodology of the Hippocratic medical corpus, you can do no better than read Lloyd's fascinating sixty-page introduction.

I should like to close my remarks by ref- erence to Lloyd's inaugural lecture as a newly appointed Professor at Cambridge University, delivered on 7 March 1985. By way of introduction, Lloyd laments the dis- regard of Greek science amongst classi- cists: he accuses them of a "depressingly widespread mid-twentieth-century conspir- acy of silence." Indeed Lloyd argues that despite the shameful omission of Greek science from the writings and teachings of modern classicists, it is precisely the authors of that much neglected science- Plato, Aristotle, Euclid, Galen, and Ptol- emy-who have had the greatest subse- quent impact on human history.

But it is the subject and content of Lloyd's inaugural lecture that deserve at- tention. From its very title, "Science and Morality in Greco-Roman Antiquity," we

see once again Lloyd's propensity to con- cern himself with issues of wide and endur- ing significance. Among other themes in this brief twenty-nine-page lecture, Lloyd considers ancient attitudes toward vivisec- tion, both animal and human; the relations between Greek physics and ethics; and the relations between social and cosmic hierar- chies. It is a provocative essay, typical of Lloyd's approach and perspective.

I would like to think that tonight we honor G. E. R. Lloyd with the Sarton Medal not only because he has demon- strated a keen eye for basic issues and, as Longrigg so aptly put it, presented them with "comprehensive learning, careful re- search and clarity of expression," but also because, as the President of our Society has so admirably declared, he has "played a major role in assuring that classical stud- ies remain an important aspect of the his- tory of science."

EDWARD GRANT

Department of History and Philosophy of Science

130 Goodbody Hall Indiana University

Bloomington, Indiana 47405

DONORS TO AND SUPPORTERS OF THE FUND DRIVE

The response to the second Challenge Grant announced in November 1986 by the late Bern Dibner continues to be gratifying. Contributions to the Endowment Fund re- ceived over the years 1987-1989 will be matched from the Dibner Challenge Grant.

Listed below are the Major Donors, Life Members, and Foundations and Corporate Donors from the start of the Fund Drive in 1983. Major Donors have contributed $2,000 or more. Life Members have con- tributed $1,000 or more.

Also listed are those Sustaining Members

and Other Donors who contributed to the Fund Drive from mid 1987 to early 1988. Sustaining Members have contributed $100 or more. Earlier lists of donors in these two categories may be found in Isis, 1984, 75:358; 1985, 76:219-221; 1986, 77:308-309; and 1987, 78:241-243.

The History of Science Society extends its thanks to all those who are helping to make the Fund Drive a success and have thereby provided much-needed financial security for our growing organization.

Major Donors Michele Aldrich Leo L. Beranek Landon Clay Miles and Audrey Davis Bern Dibner J. Robert Douglas Sidney M. Edelstein William T. Golden

Joseph H. Hazen William D. Henderson Gerald Holton Thomas S. Kuhn Morton Pepper David Rockefeller Charles Scribner, Jr. Lynn White, jr., and

Maude White

Eugene P. Wigner Robert R. Wilson Jacob and Josephine

Ver Brugge Zeitlin Anonymous

Honorary Life Member May Sarton

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