Robert Theodore Gunther (23 August 1869 – 9 March 1940) was a historian of science

History of science

The history of science is the study of the historical development of human understandings of the natural world and the domains of the social sciences....

, zoologist, and founder of the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford

University of Oxford

The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

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Gunther's father, Albert Günther, was Keeper of Zoology at the British Museum

British Museum

The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...

 in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. Robert Gunther was educated at University College School

University College School

University College School, generally known as UCS, is an Independent school charity situated in Hampstead, north west London, England. The school was founded in 1830 by University College London and inherited many of that institution's progressive and secular views...

, attached to University College London

University College London

University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...

. Towards the end of his schooling he attended lectures at University College itself. He was elected to a demyship

Demyship

A demyship is a form of scholarship, specifically at Magdalen College, Oxford. Oscar Wilde, Lewis Gielgud, Lord Denning andT. E. Lawrence were famous recipients. It is derived from demi-socii or half-fellows. Magdalen's founder, William of Waynflete, originally provided them for the College...

 at Magdalen College, Oxford

Magdalen College, Oxford

Magdalen College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2006 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £153 million. Magdalen is currently top of the Norrington Table after over half of its 2010 finalists received first-class degrees, a record...

 in 1887 and took this up in 1888. He joined the Oxford University Scientific Club in his first term at Magdalen and subsequently he took up a Fellowship at the College.

In 1911, Gunther and his family moved to 5 Folly Bridge

Folly Bridge

Folly Bridge is a stone bridge over the River Thames carrying the Abingdon Road, south from the centre of Oxford, England. It was erected 1825–27, to designs of a little-known architect, Ebenezer Perry , who practiced in London....

, an unusual and distinctive tall house on a small island in the River Thames

River Thames

The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...

 next to the bridge. This made the river central to his life. He was a pioneer of environmental conservation in Oxford.

From 1923, Robert Gunther produced a fourteen volume set of books on Early Science in Oxford, his magnum opus, the last appearing in 1945. These were initially produced under the auspices of the Oxford Historical Society

Oxford Historical Society

The Oxford Historical Society is a local history society concerned with the history of the city of Oxford and the surrounding area in the historical county of Oxfordshire in southern England.- History :...

 and printed at the Clarendon Press, Oxford

Oxford

The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...

. A fifteenth volume by his son A. E. Gunther in 1967 covered Robert Gunther himself.

Between 1926 and 1930, Gunther founded the Museum of the History of Science in the Old Ashmolean

Ashmolean Museum

The Ashmolean Museum on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is the world's first university museum...

 building, with some difficulty: it is apparent that few of his contemporaries shared his passion for historical scientific instruments, and indeed the Early Science series makes barbed comments about the failure of predecessors in various august bodies to preserve such things. The museum's initial collection was based on the scientific instrument collection of his friend Lewis Evans

Lewis Evans (collector)

Lewis Evans was an English businessman and scientific instrument collector.Lewis Evans was the son of Sir John Evans, an archaeologist, and younger brother of the more famous archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans who excavated Knossos in Crete. He studied chemistry at University College London and...

, donated in 1924.

Gunther died after a short illness, while staying at a friend's house in the south Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....

 village of South Stoke

South Stoke, Oxfordshire

South Stoke is a village and civil parish on the River Thames, about north of Goring-on-Thames in South Oxfordshire.The parish includes the hamlet and manor house of Littlestoke, north of the village.-Manor:...

. He and his wife, Amy, are buried at Heacham

Heacham

Heacham is a village of 4,707 inhabitants, located in north-west Norfolk, England, between King's Lynn, to the south and Hunstanton, about to the north, on The Wash.- History :...

, Norfolk

Norfolk

Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...

, in the Rolfe family plot, having written their family history. He was succeeded as Curator of the Museum of the History of Science by F. Sherwood Taylor

F. Sherwood Taylor

Dr Frank Sherwood Taylor, PhD was a British historian of science, museum curator, and chemist who was Director of the Science Museum in London, England....

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An archive of manuscripts collected by Gunther is held by the Museum of the History of Science.