Hankins, Thomas L.

Professor and historian, Thomas Leroy Hankins (born 1933), a specialist in the history of science, became a Professor Emeritus with the University of Washington following a long association with that institution.

Hankins began his service at the University of Washington as an assistant professor in the History Department in 1964 and retired in 2000. From 1971 to 1973 he also served as associate chairman of the History Department. He served on the History Department Curriculum Committee and numerous search committees. Hankins' work focused on eighteenth-nineteenth century mathematical physics and scientific biography. He was an active member of the History of Science Society and also served as the Publications Committee chair for the History of Science Society from 1987 to 1989. Hankins was active in the international community of historians of science, serving as chair of the United States National Committee for the International Union of the History and Philosophy of Science from 1983 to 1985. Hankins' publications include: Jean d'Alembert: Science and the Enlightenment; Science and the Enlightenment; Sir William Rowan Hamilton; and Instruments and the Imagination (with Robert Silverman).