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Gerard Simon, born on date of birth 21 January 1931 and died on date of death 22 June 2009, is a historian French] science. Former student of the [[École normale supérieure (Paris)|Ecole Normale Supérieure, he was professor emeritus at the University Lille III. Under the direction of Ferdinand Alquié, he devoted his doctoral thesis to  Kepler,  Structures of thoughts and objects of knowledge at Kepler  (published in 1979 at Gallimard under the title  Kepler astronomer astrologer ).

The originality of Gérard Simon is to propose a practice of epistemology and the history of science at the antipodes of that of Gaston Bachelard. For Gérard Simon, the cultural inscription of the sciences is fundamental: his work does not consist in opposing a alchemy pre-scientific to a chemistry become scientific by insisting on an epistemological cut. On the contrary, it is a question of studying a knowledge becoming, which can take the form of alchemy at a given time, then of chemistry from a certain period. In Kepler, there is no need to oppose the astrologer and the astronomer, since the two coexist together. It is a question of studying the conditions of possibility, the structures of knowledge devoted to the stars at the beginning of this knowledge sometimes takes the form of astrology, sometimes of astronomy. Some works (writing almanacs and calendars) also require an astronomer skill attached to an astrologer skill.

Gérard Simon's historian practice has helped rehabilitate the work of the astrologer Kepler, too often denied by positivist historiography. By refusing to separate the astrologer from the astronomer, Gérard Simon finally offers historians the means to understand these masterful works that are the  Mysterium cosmographicum  (1596) and the  Harmonice Mundi  (1619).

Works

 * Kepler astronome astrologue. Paris, Gallimard, 1979. (Bibliothèque des sciences humaines). ISBN 2-07-029971-6.
 * Le regard, l'être et l'apparence dans l'optique de l'Antiquité. Paris, Seuil, 1988. (Des travaux). ISBN 2-02-009932-2.
 * ''Sciences et savoirs aux. Lille, Presses du Septentrion, 1996. (Savoirs et système de pensée. Histoire des sciences). ISBN 2-85939-506-7.
 * Archéologie de la vision : l'optique, le corps, la peinture. Paris, Seuil, 2003. (Des travaux). 290p. ISBN 2-02-058091-8.
 * Sciences et histoire. Paris, Gallimard, 2008. (Bibliothèque des sciences humaines). ISBN 978-2-07-078477-6.
 * Kepler, rénovateur de l'optique ; texte édité par Delphine Bellis et Nicolas Roudet, préface d'Edouard Mehl. Paris : Classiques Garnier, 2019. (Histoire et philosophie des sciences ; 19). ISBN 978-2-406-08013-8.

Critical and reviews

 * Noël Mouloud, recension de Kepler astronome astrologue dans la Revue de métaphysique et de morale, vol. 86, n° 2 (1981), p. 281-284.
 * Jean Pouillon, La vérité dans son puits culturel, in : Le temps de la réflexion 1 (Paris : Gallimard, 1980), p. 419-422. <à propos de Kepler astronome astrologue>
 * Numéro spécial de la Revue d'histoire des sciences, ISSN 0151-4105, vol. 60-1 (2007), consacré à Gérard Simon.
 * Jean-Paul Thomas, Quand les symboles font avancer la connaissance, in : Le Monde des livres, 15 février 2008. <à propos de Sciences et histoire>
 * Sabine Rommevaux, Gérard Simon, architecte des savoirs, in : L'Humanité, 29 juin 2009.
 * Sabine Rommevaux, Gérard Simon (1930-2009), Archives internationales d'histoire des sciences, vol. 59, (2009), p. 326-328.
 * Philippe Hamou, In memoriam Gérard Simon (1931-2009), Revue d'histoire des sciences, vol. 62/2 (2009), p. 511-516.
 * Jacques Girault, Simon Gérard, in : Dictionnaire biographique, mouvement ouvrier, mouvement social [= Maitron], tome 11. Période 1940-1968, sous la dir. de Claude Pennetier et Paul Boulland (Paris : Éditions de l'Atelier / Éditions ouvrières, 2015), p. 340a-340b.

Prize

 * Prix Gegner 2003.