Prof. Wilson Given Oxford Award for Book on Diderot
ONE of the most distinguished honors to come to a member of the Dartmouth faculty in recent years was bestowed upon Arthur M. Wilson '40h, Professor of Biography and Government, on December 29 when he received the Modern Language Association's Oxford Award for his biography of Diderot, the French encyclopedist. Professor Wilson received the award in person at a dinner given by the Association at the Palmer House, Chicago.
In addition to receiving the Oxford Award of $1,000, Professor Wilson will have his book, entitled Diderot: The TestingYears, 1713-1759, published by the Oxford University Press.
Professor Wilson began writing his biography of Diderot in 1936, but there were many interruptions including World War II, during which he served for two years in the Office of Strategic Services. He also devoted two years to helping to establish Dartmouth's Great Issues Course and directing it during its crucial first year.
Professor Wilson received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1939- 40 to go to France to do research on the book. Last year, under a program at Dartmouth, he received a reduction in course work to permit a greater concentration of effort on his writing.
This is the second major book to be written by Professor Wilson and to receive an important award. Fifteen years ago to the day, also in Chicago, he received the Herbert Baxter Adams Prize of the American Historical Association for French ForeignPolicy under the Administration of Cardinal Fleury, 1726-1743.
A graduate of Yankton College, 1922, Professor Wilson attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, and there received the B.A. degree in 1926 and the M.A. degree in 1931. From Harvard he received the M.A. degree in 1930 and the Ph.D. degree in 1933. In 1940, when he became a full professor, Dartmouth awarded him an honorary M.A. degree.
He came to Dartmouth as an Instructor in Biography in 1933. He was named Professor of Biography in 1940 and Professor of Biography and Government in 1944.
PROFESSOR ARTHUR M. WILSON '40h
