Alison Winter, University of Chicago historian, dies at 50

University of Chicago professor Alison Winter was a historian of science and medicine with a gift for focusing on unorthodox subjects and writing about them in compelling ways.

"She was a brilliant writer and researcher. She was interested in nonmainline science," said Robert Richards, who both worked with and taught Winter at the University of Chicago.

Richards, a professor of the history of science and medicine, cited Winter's interest in mesmerism, an unproven 18th century theory of an invisible natural force.

"She wrote a brilliant dissertation on mesmerism, which became her first book," he said of her exploration of the subject, "Mesmerized: Powers of Mind in Victorian Britain."

Winter, 50, a longtime resident of Hyde Park, died of a brain tumor June 22 at Rush University Medical Center, according to her husband, Adrian Johns. ...