Tribute to Jon Hodge

I first met John back in the late 1980's when I returned from London and started playing tennis once more at the Spa Tennis Club in Harrogate. I remember him for his hard serve and his tremendous enthusiasm. I liked him immediately. I loved good conversation and you could talk to John about absolutely anything. I had also met some members of another local club at Birstwith whilst playing for the team. And John soon became involved in our many friendly games we played indoors at both Ilkley and Chapel Allerton in Leeds.

What I also loved was our after game meet ups, usually in the pub afterwards, where we had many conversations about everything. Music, tennis and politics were often thoroughly gone through. I was always interested in his views on the U.S as I had been to the states three times myself. As John did not at that time have a television he also used to come round to my house to watch Wimbledon when it came round. We had many enjoyable sessions watching the great players of the time.

However it was as a friend that John stepped up for me. I had lost my father in 1969 and to be fair no man older than me had ever stepped into the void that had been left. All those years later I always felt comfortable talking to John about issues or going over decisions that I had to make in my life. I mean this in all sincerity that although he was not old enough to be my father figure he did become someone I could trust with my inner thoughts.

He also gave me much support in my tennis life. Each year whilst living in Harrogate I would enter the Ilkley Tennis Club Tournament. My family had lived in Ilkley when I was growing up and I always went back to enter his event. John not only would sometimes practice with me before my matches but he also came and watched when he was able to. I had never had any support like this in my life. It meant the world to me.

After I moved over to Lytham St.Annes in Lancashire in 2000 we kept in touch. I came over to Harrogate on a number of occasions when we went out to lunch together and caught up with news and views. It was always the same. We just picked up where we had left off. John also came over to St.Annes to visit me with another of my old tennis pals from Birstwith, Russ Gaunt.

The last time I saw John was May 17th 2024. I had called round after staying the previous night in Harrogate. I called in unannounced and as usual John was delighted to see me. We sat and talked starting off with health issues. This is something that we men do now when we are getting older !! I remember John saying " you don't want to get older". Too many things start going wrong. We both laughed. I stayed for well over an hour.

As usual he enquired what I was doing and I told him about my "touchtennis" sessions that I was coaching back in St.Annes. He was fascinated and as luck would have it I had the rackets and balls in the back of my car. I gave him a demo and as he was looking at getting back into some kind of manageable activity he showed a great interest. I later learned from Anne that they both had followed this up but had found nowhere that played it. Its a great sport that attracts people of all abilities who can still play racket sports. With a light sponge ball and small racket it lends itself to anyone who has suffered injuries or moves around the court slower that they once did. How I wish I had been local and been able to set up something for John. He would have loved it.

Thank you John for so many great memories. So much fun, understanding and laughter. Mixed in with the need to be serious when the situation required it. Thank you for your energy and knowledge. You will always remain my good friend. Rest in Peace.

Shared by Chris

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Generous. Encouraging. Kind. Funny. Wise. Many of the thoughts shared here by Jon’s colleagues and students pick out the same characteristics that I saw from my viewpoint as a friend of one of his daughters. Jon and Anne were always welcoming to Cynthia’s friends and their kindness and humour has made it a real pleasure to keep in touch with them over the years. Jon had the lovely quality of making you feel like he was always pleased to see you and interested to hear how you were and what you were doing. Thirty years on from making a decision to divert from Neuroscience to doing a Linguistics MPhil, I still have the Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Language that arrived out of the blue at my house from Heffers Booksellers (back in the day when it still seemed unusual to have shops deliver something to your home). I have just taken it off the shelf and I’ve kept the compliment slip in it, that reminds me that it was sent on behalf of Dr M. J. S. Hodge, University of Leeds. What a kind and generous thing to do for your daughter’s friend and what a lovely man.

Hannah

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John and Jacob

I remember John fondly ads a great and generous colleague, and one of the most interesting historians of evolutionism this side of the Channel. My first interaction with him was memorable. As a postdoc at Exeter, I co-organized the fourth conference on the cultural history of heredity there, and Hans-Jörg Rheinberger and I thought it would be wonderful to have Jonathan Hodge. He was indeed a lively presence at the conference, and since we had built the whole project around our appreciating for François Jacob's book on "the logic of life", Jon did not hesitate to express his disdain for this book in unmistakable terms. Yet he remained a respectful and productive companion of this project and an important source of inspiration for our own book, which eventually would come out of our project.

Shared by Staffan

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When I finally put down my pipette and quit life as a research fellow in molecular biology to study for a masters in HPS, I found myself on a very steep learning curve with many challenges. But throughout this tough intellectual rollercoaster ride, Jon was an absolute rock - a great source of unflagging inspiration, encouragement and support. One of the greatest lessons he taught me was in a public lecture he gave with Dr. Laura Sellers in the popular ‘History and Philosophy of Science in 20 Objects’ series in 2016 where his take-home-message to the audience was to beware the siren-song of seductively over-simplistic stories in a complex world. It was intended at the time as a lesson in thinking critically about popular narratives when studying the history of science, but as I look at the world around us in 2025, I find that Jon’s words have a relevance and urgency that echo far, far beyond the seminar rooms and lecture theatres of academia. Thanks Jon, you'll be missed.

Kersten Hall

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As a recent arrival as a mature post grad at Leeds i was in awe of Jon. Over the summer i attended an online lecture on Darwinism ( a topic not in my area) and saw him deconstruct an argument with skill, clarity and most of all kindness for the presenter. I wish i had been given the opportunity to meet him more. As a Quaker i think of the saying in Advice and Guidance': Death is but crossing the world as friends do the seas, they live in one another still.' It is clear from the thoughts and memories of Jon here that he will live on in his friends left behind.

Kellie Vernon

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In my thesis acknowledgements I wrote "During my time at Leeds, I was fortunate to benefit from the unofficial supervision of Jon Hodge whose encyclopaedic knowledge of the history of philosophy and of science, and his great generosity, have been of invaluable help". This doesn't even begin to capture how kind, funny, and intellectually inspiring Jon was. His curiosity and generosity extended to everyone he met. I remember us bonding over our shared Somerset heritage, but also French philosophy and of course the history of biology. I left every conversation with Jon having gained new perspectives on all manner of things. For a young, and often nervous PhD student, he was a reassuring presence. I think of him often and will continue to do so.

Emily Herring

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I owe my first, and only, academic job to Jon's decision to leave the new Institute in Toronto, so we were colleagues at great distance in the days before the internet, but his thick and profound articles about the development of Darwin's ideas were important parts of my education in the history of biology. When I began to write on Darwin myself a few years ago, his responses to my emails were swift and encouraging. Where some academics would defend their own turf, Jon welcomed discussion. His impact on our field is permanent.

Jon often gave me a lift from Harrogate into Leeds in his (beloved) Subaru, and we would chat about anything, but of course often about Darwin, Mayr and the philosophy of biology. I always learnt something interesting from him. He also introduced us to Ukrainian church music. He contributed materially to making Leeds a world centre of HPS, and will be much missed.

Peter Simons

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When I moved to the University of Leeds in 1978, Jon got in touch with me, and started an unusual tutorial relationship (resolution of doubt for anyone, it was me that was the pupil). He encouraged me to attend HPS seminars, and he and I would regularly meet for lunch at the cafe in what was then the Leeds Playhouse. He educated me in broad fields: non-Whiggish analysis, what Darwin was really doing, etc.. Wonderfully, when he was attending international seminars, in the USA and Germany chiefly, he arranged for me to be invited as a participant. Our friendship also embraced my being invited round to his and Anne's house in Harrogate when an international worker or two was visiting. Summing up: this biologist by training got enough experience to be contributing to the published proceedings of international hist. & phil. symposia. This continued right up to his last illness, when we corresponded about Alfred Noyes' The Torch Bearers, a theistic account of the history of science: our brief debate was long in its own way. A true and wonderful friend.

John R. G. Turner

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I met Jon as a superannuated graduate student at an ISH conference. He always treated me with the utmost kindness and respect, offering support, encouragement, and the occasional gentle corrective. He read my work and offered thoughtful, generous, and substantive comments. A truly lovely man. And of course a great scholar. I will miss him.

Greg Priest

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Others are able to speak in a more informed manner about Jon Hodge's scholarly achievements. I would simply like to record the fact that I consider myself very fortunate to have known Jon while I was a postgraduate in HPS at Leeds (1977-84). I benefited greatly from his historiographical iconoclasm, his willingness to share his knowledge of obscure archival sources and his sage advice regarding the direction that my research should take. I have also forgiven him for taking a dim view of my enthusiasm for the recordings of Glenn Gould, which Jon thought was solely due to my being a Canadian.

Paul Wood

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It is with shock and great sadness that I have just learnt of Jonathan Hodge’s passing. We were colleagues for some 33 years in the small Division of History & Philosophy of Science at the University of Leeds. He was an ideal colleague: a person of great integrity and humanity, always willing to engage with colleagues and students and help them not only with academic problems but also with personal issues. He was gentle, amusing, exceedingly friendly and accessible – perhaps reflecting his Quaker background. Talking with him for even a few minutes at the tea trolley or in the Foyer, you came away feeling morally and intellectually refreshed. Jon greatly enjoyed communicating knowledge to others; he was an excellent lecturer, who inspired many students. He flourished as a researcher on Darwin and talked enthusiastically about his work in that and related topics. He saw research as a communal activity and many of his publications were co-authored with colleagues and especially other Darwin scholars. I had the pleasure and honour of co-editing 2 books with him – Conceptions of Ether and (with Bob Olby and John Christie) the Leeds Companion. He did not esteem the administrative hassles of academia but was thoroughly immersed in teaching and researching the subjects he loved. He was greatly admired and will be greatly missed.

Geoffrey Cantor

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Jon was a fabulously original scholar who shaped my views of the history of evolution. In the days before smart phones, I once found myself having an energetic phone conversation with him about Darwin while I standing in a Berlin phone booth in the pouring rain! Back when Leeds and Durham used to have joint HPS workshops, we continued that conversation, sometimes while riding across the countryside in search of a pub. He will certainly be missed.

Matthew Daniel Eddy

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My introduction to MJS Hodge came from a graduate seminar taught by another giant in the field, namely Marjorie Grene. If you were lucky enough to know her you would know she never minced words and did not suffer any fools gladly. She assigned one reading by him, that famous review of Stauffer published in the British Journal for the History of Science. It was only ten pages in length, but it dominated the discussion for the entire semester as we read Darwin's Origin and placed it in its 19th century philosophical context. Marjorie never talked about him as a person, but just referred to him as "Hodge," usually with an exclamation mark (you had to know her to know what I mean by this but it just etched his surname in my mind that I still think of him as "Hodge" but now with affection). I remember thinking what kind of scholar could write a review that would generate enough substance to provide a discussion for an entire semester? Answer: someone so knowledgeable with the topic at hand, but in possession of an exceedingly incisive mind. I've never forgotten that review especially the way he put it together (in only those ten pages). He could pack a real punch and it set an example for me, and I believe for many others--who cares about big thick books that don't take you very far, when you can write a review, an article, a brief monograph that can take you to entirely new places or shake things up? That was Hodge's style. He was no careerist, and did not write stuff just to get ahead, but to contribute something to a field that was already pretty crowded even 40 years ago; and though he offered advice on some career matters after I did manage to meet him a few years later, he did so with humility, very much aware that he didn't play the game like many others--he was in it for the ideas, and only the ideas. You could feel this when you were with him--he was a keen listener, always interested in other people's work and especially in younger people. Everyone who knew him recognized the kindness of the man, the spirit of generosity, that was combined with a soaring intellect and curiosity--It never ended, I'm happy to say; "Hodge" was the perpetual learner, excited about ideas, and keen to engage them, and very directly--no guile, no artifice, none of that academic pretense or posturing that is depressingly common. I am so grateful to zoom, which allowed me to join a seminar in Leeds last year or so, that allowed me to see him in action again, one last time. With others in the community, I mourn the loss, but believe his legacy continues, especially in the many people who were lucky to know Jon, and benefit from his tireless interest in all matters pertaining to Darwin and evolutionary biology.

Betty Smocovitis

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A wise, warm response to undergraduate tears

I graduated with Single Honors HPS in 2005 so was an undergraduate with Jon shortly before he retired. He was a co-supervisor for my dissertation. I lived with my friend Nic, who was also supervised by Jon. He used to phone the landline in our shared house to see how our studies were going – talking to us each in turn. He was so engaged in our studies.

I remember being incredibly stressed about the complexity of my dissertation. I had a session in his office when I was rather overwhelmed and got quite upset. He looked at me kindly, and with his steady, calm, warm voice – gently told me that I was further ahead in my dissertation than any student he’d ever known at this stage of their final year. He told me I needed some time away from these ideas. He said I should leave Leeds for the day, not think about this and do something totally different.

I walked out of his office, puffy eyed but reassured. I bumped into a friend and told him about the meeting I'd just had in Jon's office, and that I needed to get out of Leeds. He was free. We got on the train to Harrogate and had tea at Betty’s.

I came back to Leeds that evening feeling much better.

Thank you Jon, for teaching me, from a very young age, to take a step back if it all gets too much. You were such a wise, insightful, kind teacher.

Rosie Stanbury (Née Tooby)

Shared by Rosie

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I first met Jon in his role as PG Admissions Advisor in 1991, and over the following years from PhD to first post he was always a calm source of warm encouragement.

Sean Johnston

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I met Jon as a mature aged doctoral student at ISH, and he was very encouraging and helpful. I mentioned to him that I had been worried that Mayr would use his rhetorical skills to destroy me upon the publication of my thesis, but he assured me of Mayr's generosity for students and recent graduates, and told me a story about how he and Mayr had given a talk in Paris, and Mayr told Jon to disagree forcefully with his presentation, and that it would scandalise their colleagues (at the Museum of Natural History, I think), as the convention was that students would never publicly dispute their advisors. They did, and they were. May his memory be a blessing, as they say.

John S. Wilkins

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When I met Jon, decades ago when I was a student, the sense of being enveloped in vast learning was immediate and would have been thoroughly intimidating were it not for the fact that he was so kind and supportive, and made everything I said in response (which was nothing, really) into something interesting and worthwhile. It was awe-inspiring and endearing and the same every time after that. I never really understood why he might want to talk to me at all (our projects were so different) until it finally occurred to me: he was simply and truly a beautiful person.

Anjan Chakravartty

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Jon was an amazing academic and an amazing man. A big inspiration for me during my MA and PhD years at Leeds 2004-2010. I vividly remember him talking with my parents, explaining the evolutionary origins of our weakness for fat and sugar. He put it so well! A huge presence during my formative years. I'll never forget him.

Peter Vickers

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Others will have much to say on what a lovely man Jon was and I agree wholeheartedly. My thought for this part of the website is that Jon was the most generous and insightful of Darwin scholars, such a joy to exchange ideas and essays with him, and unfailingly enthusiastic about the world of knowledge. I am so sorry to hear of his passing. His publications were few and far between but so careful, every sentence worth reading. I was astonished and endlessly grateful when he offered to read a manuscript of mine. How rare it is to meet someone so kind. He was genuinely interested in pushing knowledge of Darwin and related matters forward.

Janet Browne

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A kind and generous mentor always

When I read Jon's work in graduate school, I was so impressed, I was very intimidated. I expected him to be a very serious and stern man, when and if I got the opportunity to meet and talk with him in person. Yet, when we met (I honestly don't remember when, it may have been over 20 years ago now), he was so kind, gentle, and generous with his time and with his ideas. I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to learn from him, in more ways than merely academic. He was a great scholar, but also a wonderful example. (Anya Plutynski, aplutyns@wustl.edu)

Shared by Anya

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A Giant of History and Philosophy of Science

I have many fond memories of Jon marching in front of a large academic audience with nothing in his hands--no notes, no outline, no computer, no powerpoint, no clicker, no pointer, no overhead projector sheets, no handouts, no nothing. He just didn't need them.

With nothing but a spot-on thesis, a photographic memory of the science and history, and a collection of terrific stories, he'd pace back and forth and hold court in a way that left the audience spellbound. Nobody did it like Jon.

The history and philosophy of science community has lost a giant mind and personality, but his legacy will endure. Thank you, Jon!

Shared by James

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"There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it."

A saying by Edith Wharton

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Tribute to Jon Hodge

This site is a collection of good wishes and memories that friends and family share in honour of Jon.

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