Janet Browne - Biography

Biography

Browne was born in 1950, the daughter of Douglas Bell CBE (1914–1993) and his wife Elizabeth Mary Bell (née Edelsten). She married Nicholas Browne in 1972; they have two daughters.

Browne gained a BA degree from Trinity College, Dublin in 1972 and from Imperial College, London an MSc (1973) and PhD (1978) on the history of science. She was a research fellow at Harvard University. She received an honorary Doctor in Science (Sc. D) degree from Trinity College, Dublin in 2009 in recognition of her contribution to the biographical knowledge of Charles Darwin.

After working as an associate editor on the University of Cambridge Library project to collect, edit, and publish the correspondence of Charles Darwin, she wrote a two volume biography of the naturalist: Charles Darwin: Voyaging (1995), on his youth and years on the Beagle, and Charles Darwin: The Power of Place (2002), covering his post-Beagle years through the publication of his theory of evolution and beyond. The latter book has received acclaim for its innovative interpretation of the role of Darwin's correspondence in the formation of his scientific theory and recruitment of scientific support. In 2004, the latter volume won the History of Science Society's Pfizer Prize, the Society's highest honor awarded to individual works of scholarship. In 2003, it also won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Biography.

Browne is currently the Aramont Professor in the History of Science at Harvard University. She specializes in life sciences, natural history, and evolutionary biology from the 17th to the 20th century.