Sidney Rosen
Sidney Rosen was an American educator and writer, born in 1916 in Boston, Massachusetts. He pursued higher education at the University of Massachusetts, earning his bachelor's degree in 1939 before serving as a sergeant in the U.S. Air Corps during World War II. Following the war, he attended Harvard University on the G.I. Bill, where he completed his master's and Ph.D. by 1955. Rosen began his teaching career at Brandeis University and later became an assistant professor of physics. Alongside his academic responsibilities, he embarked on a successful writing career, inspired by his wife, Dorothy, who was a children's librarian. His notable works include "Galileo and the Magic Numbers," published in 1958, and several biographies about scientists, such as "Doctor Paracelsus," which was a Newbery Medal runner-up. Rosen also co-authored a mystery series featuring Belle Appleman, which explores Jewish immigrant life during the Great Depression. He passed away in 2005 at the age of eighty-nine, leaving behind a legacy of contributions to both education and children's literature.
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Subject Terms
Sidney Rosen
- Born: June 5, 1916
- Birthplace: Boston, Massachusetts
- Died: October 27, 2005
- Place of death: Urbana, Illinois
Biography
Educator and writer Sidney Rosen was born in the West End of Boston, Massachusetts, in 1916, the son of Morris Rosen, a garment maker, and Jennie Kibrick Rosen. He attended the University of Massachusetts, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in 1939. He then entered the military, serving throughout World War II in the U.S. Air Corps, where he rose to the rank of sergeant.
After the war, Rosen married Dorothy Schaek and they later had a son. Rosen entered Harvard University on the G.I. Bill, earning a master’s degree in 1952 and a Ph.D. in 1955. He began his teaching career in 1981 as a teaching fellow at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He eventually became an assistant professor of physics at the university.
At the same time, Rosen began a second career as a writer. His wife, a children’s librarian at the Boston Public Library, encouraged him to write a biography of Galileo for children. Rosen sold his book, Galileo and the Magic Numbers, to Little, Brown publishers and the book was published in 1958.
That same year, Rosen accepted a position as a visiting professor of science education at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. He remained at the university until his retirement, teaching courses in astronomy and science and eventually becoming a professor emeritus. Rosen continued to write and publish children’s books about science. Some of his books were biographies of important scientists, such as Doctor Paracelsus (1959), a runner-up for the 1959 Newbery Medal. In 1969, Rosen published another biography, Wizard of the Dome: R. Buckminster Fuller, Designer for the Future. The book received the Clara Ingram Judson Memorial Award for the Most Distinguished Book for Young People.
Rosen also wrote several books with his wife, Dorothy Rosen. Their collaborations included a mystery series featuring protagonist Belle Appleman, a Jewish immigrant who lives on Boston’s West End during the Great Depression. The first book of the series, Death and Blintzes, was published in 1985.Rosen died in 2005 at the age of eighty-nine.