Thomas D. (Thomas Darlington) Cope

Born in East Bradford, Pennsylvania, in 1880, Thomas Darlington Cope studied at the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned his A.B. in 1903 and later a Ph.D. in physics in 1915. He also studied at Cornell and at the University of Berlin, where he worked under Max Planck, and he spent most of his academic career at Penn, serving from 1906 to 1952.

Although trained as a physicist, he also became well known as a historian of science. He published many articles on the Mason-Dixon survey and helped preserve its scientific and historical importance through especially thorough research.

Cope died in 1964. Archival collections of his papers show the range of his interests, including lectures, notebooks, articles, and research materials connected to both physics and the history of science.