Knight was born on 30 November 1936 in
Exeter, England. After Oxford he was appointed as
Durham's lecturer in the history of science in the Department of Philosophy and remained there for the duration of his career. He served on the editorial boards of Ambix, Archives of Natural, History Annals of Science, and the
British Journal for the History of Science and edited history of science book series for
Cambridge University Press,
Routledge and
Ashgate Publishers. Although he was trained as a historian of ideas, Knight spent his career developing a unique approach to the history of science that draws from methods used in the history of the book, social history and biographical history. His interest in the cultural history of science led him to write a number of books that focused on a wide range of topics, including the history of chemistry, the history of natural history, science and religion, and the public understanding of science. He was President of the
British Society for the History of Science and received numerous awards during the duration of his career, including the
Templeton Award for his work on nineteenth century natural theology and the
American Chemical Society's prestigious
Edelstein Award for his research in the history of chemistry. Knight and his wife, Sarah, had six children. ==Works==