ERWIN NICK HIEBERT

HIEBERT, Erwin Nick 93, of Belmont, passed away peacefully on Nov. 28, 2012, in Waltham. He was a prominent historian of science who taught most recently at Harvard (1970-89) and was Prof. Emeritus there, 1989-2012. Hiebert was an active and prolific scholar and teacher to scores of students who became well-known academics in the field. He was also a devoted husband, father, and grandfather. Hiebert was born on May 27, 1919inWaldheim, Saskatchewan. He was the third child of Tina Harms and Cornelius Hiebert, a renowned Mennonite Brethren minister, and spent his childhood in an urban Russian Mennonite community in multi-ethnic Winnipeg, Manitoba. Hiebert had an early passion for science; he attended Faraday Grade School and graduated from Sir Isaac Newton H.S. in Winnipeg. But he also spent memorable summers as a youth working on Mennonite farms harvesting wheat in Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska and moving north up to the Dakotas as the harvest progressed. In this way he earned enough money to put himself through college. Hiebert attended Tabor College in Hillsboro, KS for two years and then nearby Bethel College, where he received his BA in 1941, majoring in Chemistry and Mathematics. In 1943 he received his MA in Chemistry and Physics at the U. of Kansas in Lawrence. While in Hillsboro, he met Elfrieda Franz; they were married in 1943. They moved immediately to Whiting, IN, where he accepted a job as a Research Chemist at Standard Oil Co. in the Chicago Metallurgical Labs of the Manhattan Project and worked there until 1946. From 1946 to 1947, Hiebert was Asst. to the Chief of the Scientific Branch, War Dept. General Staff in Washington, DC. In 1947, he and Elfrieda settled in Chicago, where he became a Research Chemist at the Inst. for the Study of Metals at the U. of Chicago until 1950, earning a MSc degree there in Physical Chemistry in 1949. In 1950, they relocated to Madison, WI, where Hiebert received his PhD in 1954, with a double major in History of Science and Physical Chemistry. Hiebert enjoyed a long, illustrious career. His first teaching post, 1952-54, was an Asst. Professorship of Chemistry at San Francisco State College. He subsequently became a Fulbright Lecturer (1954-55) at the Max-Planck-Institut in Gottingen, Germany. The following year, he became an Instructor in History of Science at Harvard, a position he held in 1955-57. From 1957 to 1970, he taught in the Dept. of History of Science at the U. of Wisconsin-Madison, serving as Chairman in 1960-65. Hiebert joined the faculty of the Dept. of History of Science at Harvard in 1970, whereupon the family settled in Belmont. He was Chairman of the department (1977-84) and Emeritus Prof. from 1989 until his death in 2012. Hiebert was a Fellow at the Inst. for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ in 1961-62 and 1968-69 and Visiting Prof. at the Univ. of Tubingen, Germany in 1965 as well as at Harvard (1965). Once permanently at Harvard in 1970, he was Visiting Lecturer (1978-79) at the Zentrum fur Interdisziplinare Forschung in Bielefeld, Germany as well as at Hebrew Univ. and the Van Leer Foundation in Jerusalem (1973, 1981). He was also a Visiting Scholar at Cambridge Univ. in 1980, 1981, and 1982 and a Fellow in Residence there during 1984-85. At the Chinese Acad. of Sciences and China Assoc. for Science & Technology in Beijing, Hiebert was Visiting Lecturer in 1985 and visiting Hill Prof. in History & Philosophy of Science at the U. of Minnesota in 1987. In 1987-88, he was a Fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin and Lecturer at the Humboldt Univ. in East Berlin in 1988. After retiring, Hiebert was Visiting Prof. in Gottingen in 1991-92 and Visiting Scholar at the Max Planck Institut in Berlin in 1998, 2002, and 2007. He continued throughout these years to devote most of his time to his own research and writing, journeying from Belmont to Harvard nearly every day for many years after his retirement to work in his much-loved study in Widener Library. In 1967-68, Hiebert was elected Pres. of the Midwest History of Science Soc.; in 1971-72, he was VP and then Pres. in 1973-74 of the national History of Science Soc. He was a member of the Academie Internationale d'Histoire des Sciences starting in 1971 and Elected Fellow of the Amer. Acad. of Arts & Sciences in 1975. In 1981, Hiebert became Chairman-elect of the History & Philosophy of Science Section of the Amer. Assoc. for the Advancement of Science, and in 1982, Chairman, serving until 1986. He was also Pres. of the Div. of the History of Science of the Intl. Union of the History & Philosophy of Science from 1982 to 1985. Hiebert was a Member of the Advisory Committee of the 18-vol. Dictionary of Scientific Biography (1970-90) and served on editorial boards of numerous other major publications and journals. He presented papers at countless conferences and invited lectures. Hiebert was the author of 3 books and numerous articles. His research and teaching focused on the 19th- and 20th-c. history and philosophy of science. At his death he was completing a publication on acoustics. He was perhaps best known for his teaching, evident in the generations of students (altogether 37) who worked with him on their doctoral degrees. They benefitted from the thoughtful and thorough guidance that he provided them and were frequent guests in Erwin and Elfrieda Hieberts' hospitable home, typically keeping in touch with "E & E" throughout their careers and beyond. He was known for the intellectual zeal with which he engaged students in his seminars and notably never taught the same course the same way twice. One of his strongest convictions was that in order to study the history of science, it was essential to have basic grounding in the science itself. Hiebert was the recipient of 2 Festschrifts. Hiebert joined the Mennonite Congregation of Boston in 1970, actively participating in it until his death. As a pair, the Hieberts were long-time members of its progressive Social Concerns Committee. He played the clarinet for most of his long life and is affectionately remembered for his spirited participation in informal evenings of music-making with the family. Hiebert was preceded in death in Sept. 2012 by his wife of 69 years, Elfrieda, and is survived by their 3 children: Catherine Kerst of Silver Spring, MD; Margaret Beissinger & husband Mark of Princeton, NJ; and Thomas Hiebert & wife Lenore of Fresno, CA. He also leaves 7 grandchildren: David & Anitha Kerst; Jonathan & Rebecca Beissinger; and Sarah, Benjamin, & Daniel Hiebert. Hiebert was keenly dedicated to scholarship for virtually his entire life. He will be remembered as a devoted researcher and teacher but above all as a committed, caring, and beloved husband, father, and grandfather. A memorial service for Erwin Hiebert will be held at the Harvard Memorial Church in Cambridge on Sunday, Feb. 17 at 2:00 pm. Contributions can be made in Erwin & Elfrieda Hieberts' memory to the Mennonite Central Committee Global Family Program Supporting Education, 21 S. 12th St., P.O. Box 500, Akron, PA 17501orat https://donate.mcc.org/registry/Elfrieda-and-Erwin-Hiebert