Allan Chapman (30 May 1946 – 21 January 2026) was a British historian of science.
Life and career Allan Chapman was born in Swinton, Lancashire, England on 30 May 1946. He 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 was a historian by training and his special interests were astronomy and scientific biography.
Chapman had been based at the University of Oxford for most of his career, as a member of the Faculty of History, based at Wadham College.Dr. Alan Chapman (Book Author) , ADK Press . He was 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 was also a television presenter, notably Gods in the Sky,Gods in the Sky , WAG TV. covering astronomical religion in early civilisations, and Great Scientists,Great Scientists , WAG TV. 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 taught the study abroad programme of Eurospring for Minnesota State University, Moorhead, Minnesota, and Bemidji State University, Bemidji, Minnesota. This responsibility was later handed to BSU professor Pat Donnay.
He wrote many books including biographies such as England's Leonardo on Robert Hooke.England's Leonardo:Robert Hooke (1635–1703) and the Art of Experiment in Restoration England .
Chapman was a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. He was 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 was the Honorary President and a member of Salford Astronomical Society, Honorary President of Reading Astronomical Society, Honorary President of the Mexborough & Swinton Astronomical Society,Mexborough & Swinton Astronomical Society Honorary President of Orwell Astronomical Society (Ipswich)Orwell Astronomical Society (Ipswich) and Vice-President of the Newbury Astronomical Society.Newbury Astronomical Society President of Preston and District Astronomical Society.
Chapman died on 21 January 2026, at the age of 79.
Asteroid (13490) Allanchapman is named in his honour.
Selected bibliography William Crabtree 1610–1644: Manchester's First Mathematician, Allan Chapman. Manchester Statistical Society, 1996. . The Victorian Amateur Astronomer: Independent Astronomical Research in Britain, 1820–1920, Allan Chapman. Praxis Publishing, Wiley-Praxis Series in Astronomy & Astrophysics, 1996. . Second edition, Publisher, Gracewing. -100. 2017. Astronomical Instruments and Their Users: Tycho Brahe to William Lassell, Allan Chapman. Ashgate, Variorum Collected Studies, 1996. . Patrick Moore's Millennium Yearbook: The View from AD 1001, Patrick Moore and Allan Chapman. Springer-Verlag, 1999. . Gods in the Sky: Astronomy from the Ancients to the Enlightenment, Allan Chapman. Channel 4 Books, 2002. . Mary Somerville: And the World of Science, Allan Chapman. Canopus Publishing, 2004. . England's Leonardo: Robert Hooke and the Seventeenth-century Scientific Revolution, Allan Chapman. Institute of Physics Publishing, 2004. . Robert Hooke and the English Renaissance, Allan Chapman and Paul Kent (editors). Gracewing, 2005. . Slaying the Dragons: Destroying Myths in the History of Science and Faith, Allan Chapman. Lion Hudson, 2013. . Physicians, Plagues and Progress: the History of Western Medicine from Antiquity to Antibiotics, Allan Chapman. Lion Hudson, 2016. .
See also List of visiting Gresham professors
References
External links 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) website Newbury Astronomical Society website Reading Astronomical Society website Audio podcast on www.astrotalkuk.org on Science and Religion