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Willis K. Shepard Professorship in the History of Science

Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Sciences

Established in 1961 by Willis K. and Richard H. Shepard

WILLIS K. SHEPARD was a successful oil businessman. With his son, RICHARD H. SHEPARD, Med 1946, he set up a trust to endow this professorship and support construction of the Milton S. Eisenhower Library. Their commitment–at first made anonymously; but after Willis Shepard’s death in 1965, recognized publicly–also qualified for a Ford Foundation matching gift.

ShepardWillisRICHARD H. SHEPARD (pictured) held joint appointments at Hopkins as professor of biomedical engineering and physiology and as associate professor of medicine. Dr. Shepard was an expert in the physiology of the lungs and is credited with introducing computers to the School of Medicine. He died in 1991.

Held by Robert Hugh Kargon

KargonRobertROBERT HUGH KARGON, the Willis K. Shepard Professor of the History of Science, is an historian of physics, science and social change, and science in America. Dr. Kargon has written and edited nine books. He has been on the Hopkins faculty since 1965 and has chaired the Department of History of Science, Medicine, and Technology four times. He is also the founding director of the Communications in Contemporary Society Program in the Advanced Academic Programs of Hopkins’ Krieger School of Arts and Sciences.