Francis Maddison

Who is Francis Maddison?

Francis Romeril Maddison was an English historian and Arabist. He was Curator of the Museum of the History of Science in Oxford, England.

Francis Maddison was born in Hounslow, London, England. He was educated at Hounslow College and Exeter College, Oxford, where he initially studied Modern Languages and then changed to Modern History.

Maddison was President of the Oxford University Archaeological Society. He collaborated with R. J. C. Atkinson, who supervised him when he directed archaeological excavations at Cricklade and Dorchester in Oxfordshire. In 1949, Maddison was a member of the British School at Rome expedition to Leptis Magna, Tripolitana. He then became an assistant archivist, first at Glamorgan County Record Office, followed by Warwickshire.

He became assistant curator at the Museum of the History of Science at the encouragement of the head curator, C. H. Josten. Maddison's expertise in Arabic, initially learnt under the tutelage of his father, was reinforced through the museum's extensive collection of Arabic-Islamic astrolabes. He also has research interests in the history of horology, time measurement, and early sea navigation. He was promoted to Curator in 1964 on the retirement of C. H. Josten and held the post for thirty years until his own retirement in 1994.