Allan Chapman was born in Swinton, Lancashire, England and grew up in

the Pendlebury and Clifton districts of the then Swinton and Pendlebury borough. Having
attended the local Cromwell Road Secondary Modern School for Boys, Sefton Road,
Pendlebury (1957–1962), he then gained his first degree from the University of Lancaster.
Subsequently he undertook a history of science DPhil at Wadham College, Oxford. He is a
historian by training and his special interests are astronomy and scientific biography.
Chapman has been based at Oxford University for most of his career, as a member of the
Faculty of History, based at Wadham College.[1] He is an accomplished lecturer and public
speaker (including as visiting professor at Gresham College in London). In January 1994,
he delivered the Royal Society history of science Wilkins Lecture, on the subject of Edmund
Halley.
He is also a television presenter, notably Gods in the Sky,[2] covering astronomical religion
in early civilisations, and Great Scientists,[3] presenting the lives of five of the greatest
thinkers. Not averse to other forms of television, he also participated in the TV
quiz University Challenge – The Professionals as part of the Royal Astronomical
Society team, broadcast in June–July 2006.
Chapman teaches for the study abroad programme of Eurospring for Minnesota State
University, Moorhead, Minnesota, USA and Bemidji State University, Bemidji, Minnesota,
USA.
He has written many books including biographies such as England's Leonardo on Robert
Hooke.[4]
Chapman is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. He is a founder member and
president of the Society for the History of Astronomy (SHA). He received an honorary
doctorate from the University of Central Lancashire in 2004. He is the Honorary President
and a member of Salford Astronomical Society, Honorary President of Reading
Astronomical Society, Honorary President of the Mexborough & Swinton Astronomical
Society,[5] Honorary President of Orwell Astronomical Society (Ipswich)[6] and Vice-President
of the Newbury Astronomical Society.[7]President of Preston and District Astronomical
Society

Selected bibliography[edit]
 William Crabtree 1610–1644: Manchester's First Mathematician, Allan
Chapman. Manchester Statistical Society, 1996. ISBN 0-85336-132-0.
 The Victorian Amateur Astronomer: Independent Astronomical Research in Britain,
1820–1920, Allan Chapman. Praxis Publishing, Wiley-Praxis Series in Astronomy &
Astrophysics, 1996. ISBN 0-471-96257-0. Second edition, Publisher,
Gracewing. ISBN 9-781781820 Parameter error in {{isbn}}: Invalid ISBN.-100.
2017.
 Astronomical Instruments and Their Users: Tycho Brahe to William Lassell, Allan
Chapman. Ashgate, Variorum Collected Studies, 1996. ISBN 0-86078-584-X.
 Patrick Moore's Millennium Yearbook: The View from AD 1001, Patrick Moore and
Allan Chapman. Springer-Verlag, 1999. ISBN 1-85233-619-6.
 Gods in the Sky: Astronomy from the Ancients to the Enlightenment, Allan
Chapman. Channel 4 Books, 2002. ISBN 0-7522-6164-9.
 Mary Somerville: And the World of Science, Allan Chapman. Canopus Publishing,
2004. ISBN 0-9537868-4-6.
 England's Leonardo: Robert Hooke and the Seventeenth-century Scientific Revolution,
Allan Chapman. Institute of Physics Publishing, 2004. ISBN 0-7503-0987-3.
 Robert Hooke and the English Renaissance, Allan Chapman and Paul Kent (editors).
Gracewing, 2005. ISBN 0-85244-587-3.
 Slaying the Dragons: Destroying Myths in the History of Science and Faith, Allan
Chapman. Lion Hudson, 2013. ISBN 978-0-7459-5583-4.
 Physicians, Plagues and Progress: the History of Western Medicine from Antiquity to
Antibiotics, Allan Chapman. Lion Hudson, 2016. ISBN 978-0-7459-6895-7.

See also[edit]
 List of visiting Gresham professors

References[edit]
1. Jump up^ Dr. Alan Chapman (Book Author), ADK Press.
2. Jump up^ Gods in the Sky Archived 17 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine., WAG TV.
3. Jump up^ Great Scientists Archived 17 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine., WAG TV.
4. Jump up^ England's Leonardo:Robert Hooke (1635–1703) and the Art of Experiment in
Restoration England Archived 6 March 2011 at Archive.is.
5. Jump up^ Mexborough & Swinton Astronomical Society
6. Jump up^ Orwell Astronomical Society (Ipswich)
7. Jump up^ Newbury Astronomical Society

External links[edit]
 University of Oxford History Faculty entry
 Society for the History of Astronomy
 Books from Amazon.co.uk
 England's Leonardo lecture (Robert Hooke)
 England's Leonardo book review in the New Scientist magazine
 Gods in the Sky on Channel 4
 University of Central Lancashire Honorary Doctorate 2004, including a short biography
 'Scientists and Craftsmen in Sir Christopher Wren's London', lecture given at Gresham
College, 23 April 2008 (available in text, audio and video formats).
 Mexborough & Swinton Astronomical Society website
 Orwell Astronomical Society (Ipswich) web site.
 Newbury Astronomical Society web site.
 Reading Astronomical Society web site.
 Audio podcast on www.astrotalkuk.org on Science and Religion.