by Ruth Stevens

Michael S. Mahoney, who earned his Ph.D. from Princeton and then dedicated his 40-year academic career in the history of science to the University, died July 23 at the University Medical Center at Princeton. The 69-year-old professor of history did not recover from cardiac arrest suffered July 18 during his regular swim at Dillon Pool on campus.

“His was a vigorous personality, and he was a superb teacher both of undergraduate and graduate students as well as a brilliant interlocutor in scholarly, or indeed other, discussions,” said Charles Gillispie, the Dayton-Stockton Professor of History Emeritus, with whom Mahoney studied as a graduate student.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard University, Mahoney came to Princeton in 1962 after studying for two years at the University of Munich as a German Foreign Exchange Service Fellow. While working on his doctorate in history and in history of science at Princeton, he served as an instructor and was appointed an assistant professor upon the completion of his degree in 1967.

Mahoney divided his research and teaching between the development of the mathematical sciences from antiquity to 1700 and the recent history of computing and information technology. He was the author of “The Mathematical Career of Pierre de Fermat, 1601-1665”; a series of monographs on the mathematics of René Descartes, Isaac Barrow, Christiaan Huygens and Isaac Newton; and dozens of articles on the development of computer science and software engineering as new technical disciplines.

“I have counted Mike Mahoney as a friend since I first came to Princeton as a graduate student in history,” said William Jordan, the Dayton-Stockton Professor of History and the chair of the history department, who earned his Ph.D. from Princeton in 1973. “I learned quickly that his knowledge of medieval history, which I began to specialize in, was profound, and while a graduate student and later as a professor I often talked with him about books and articles on medieval topics. I always came away from those conversations with the feeling that I had been in the presence of a powerful and elegant mind.

“I went through a period very early in my career of trying to read at least one major work of all my colleagues in the history department, and I will never forget the impression Mike’s study of the great mathematician, Pierre de Fermat, made on me,” he continued. “I thought and still think it is one of the most beautifully written books I have ever read. I remember at the time that the phrase that came into my mind was, ‘such a lovely piece of writing, simply lovely.’”

For several years, Mahoney served as director of the Program in History of Science and the Program in Science in Human Affairs. He was a member of the former at the time of his death.

“Mike has been a mainstay in the Program in History of Science since its founding — he was one of the program’s first Ph.D.s before joining the Princeton faculty,” said Angela Creager, professor of history and director of graduate studies for the Program in History of Science. “He took pleasure in maintaining a reputation as both the department’s most technologically sophisticated member and its institutional memory.

“Mike was a master teacher,” she added, “and one of the highlights of my time at Princeton was the graduate seminar on ‘Computers and Organisms’ that he and I twice co-taught. He had a remarkable ability to render the most difficult technical concepts and texts intelligible, and to show his students what it means to ask historical questions of scientific sources, even computer code.”

Robert Tignor, the Rosengarten Professor of Modern and Contemporary History Emeritus, joined the faculty two years before Mahoney arrived on campus. He recalled, “[Mike] loved this university and thought it was the finest institution for undergraduate education in the country. He helped to make it even better, for he threw himself wholeheartedly into teaching and advising undergraduates. He taught introductory courses in the history of science and European history and advised many of the best senior theses that were written in the department over the years.”

Mahoney taught classes on topics ranging from “The Origins of Modern Science, 1500 to 1700,” to “Creating the Computer: From ENIAC to the Internet,” a freshman seminar he led last fall. He also advised many doctoral dissertations, conducted numerous alumni education programs and taught in the Teachers as Scholars Program, which provides professional development opportunities for area school teachers.

A public memorial service is set for 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 18, in the University Chapel. Gifts in Mahoney’s memory may be made to Phillips Academy, Andover, by mailing: The Trustees of Phillips Academy, 180 Main St., Andover, MA 01810; or visiting <www.andover.edu/alumni/giving_volunteering>.

To read the full obituary, go to www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S21/70/15G51/