Howard Stein (January 21, 1929 – March 8, 2024) was an American philosopher and historian of science.^[1] He was an emeritus professor at the University of Chicago.^[2]

Stein was born on January 21, 1929, in New York City. He received a BA from Columbia University in 1947,^[3] where he studied under John Herman Randall Jr., Irwin Edman, and Ernest Nagel, before obtaining a PhD from the University of Chicago in 1958,^[4] and an MS from the University of Michigan in 1959.^[2] He joined the faculty of the University of Chicago in 1951 before teaching at Brandeis University, Case Western Reserve University and Columbia University. He also worked for Honeywell as a mathematician and engineer in between his teaching career. He returned to the University of Chicago in 1980 and retired in 2000.^[5]

Stein's work was centered on the philosophy of physics, as well as the history of physics and mathematics.^[2] His 1967 paper, "Newtonian Space Time," inaugurated the modern study of the foundations of physics.^[6]

Stein was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1989.^[7] He also received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1974.^[8]

Stein died on March 8, 2024.^[9][10]