Dudley Shapere (1928 - 2016)

Dudley Shapere was an internationally prominent philosopher of science. He studied at Harvard University as an undergraduate and graduate, receiving a doctorate in philosophy in 1957. Subsequently, he taught at Ohio State University, the University of Chicago, the University of Illinois, and The University of Maryland at College Park. In 1984 he was appointed the Z. Smith Reynolds Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at Wake Forest, from where he retired and became a Professor Emeritus in 2001.Shapere was a titular member of our Academy, as well as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Philosophy of Science Association, the American Psychological Association, the History of Science Society, and the American Philosophical Association. During his career, he held visiting appointments at numerous universities and research centers, notably Rockefeller University, Harvard University, and The Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. He served at the U.S. National Science Foundation as Program Director in History and Philosophy of Science, 1966-1975. Shapere lectured worldwide regularly; his topics of highest demand were conceptual change, the concept of observation in science and philosophy, and the philosophical impact of evolutionary ideas in science. The author of numerous articles in scholarly journals, his books include Reason and the Search for KnowledgePhilosophical Problems of Natural Science, and Galileo: A Philosophical Study.Dudley Shapere is survived by his wife of 42 years, Hannah Hardgrave; their daughters Elizabeth and Christine Anne; his son Alfred and daughter Catherine by his previous marriage to Alfreda Bingham; and five grandchildren (by Alberto Cordero)