Browne is the daughter of Douglas Bell CBE (1905–1993) and his wife Betty Bell. She married Nicholas Browne in 1972; they have two daughters. Browne gained a BA degree from
Trinity College, Dublin in 1972 and from
Imperial College, London an MSc (1973) and PhD (1978) on the history of science. She was a research fellow at
Harvard University. She received an honorary Doctor in Science (Sc. D) degree from
Trinity College, Dublin in 2009 in recognition of her contribution to the biographical knowledge of
Charles Darwin. After working as an associate editor on the
University of Cambridge Library project to collect, edit, and publish the correspondence of Charles Darwin, she wrote a two-volume biography of the naturalist:
Charles Darwin: Voyaging (1995), on his youth and
years on the Beagle, and
Charles Darwin: The Power of Place (2002), covering the years after the publication of his theory of
evolution. The latter book has received acclaim for its innovative interpretation of the role of Darwin's correspondence in the formation of his scientific theory and recruitment of scientific support. In 2004, this volume won the
History of Science Society's
Pfizer Award, the Society's highest honor awarded to individual works of scholarship. In 2003, it also won the
James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Biography. In 2020 she was admitted as a member of the
Royal Irish Academy. Browne currently serves as the Aramont Professor in the History of Science at
Harvard University. She specializes in life sciences, natural history, and evolutionary biology from the 17th to the 20th century. ==Publications==