- Polish-born
British scientist, broadcaster, and writer, who enthusiastically popularized
scientific knowledge in several books and in the 13-part BBC television
documentary The Ascent of Man, issued as a book 1973.
Bronowski fled with his family to Germany when, in World War I, Russia
occupied his native Poland. Moving to the UK 1920, he studied mathematics
at Cambridge. He lectured at University College, Hull, 1934-42, and
then did military research during World War II, remaining a government
official until 1963. His last appointment was at the Salk Institute
for Biological Studies in California, from 1964.
His book The Common Sense of Science 1951 displayed the history and
workings of science around three central notions: cause, chance, and
order. Science and Human Values 1958 collected newspaper articles
written for the New York Times about nuclear science and the morality
of nuclear weapons. The Western Intellectual Tradition 1960 is an
illuminating survey of the growth of political, philosophical, and
scientific knowledge from the Renaissance to the 19th century, written
with Bruce Mazlish. Bronowski also wrote about literature; for example,
William Blake and the Age of Revolution 1965.
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