Anderson was born 2 May 1944 to Herbert Patrick Anderson and Kathleen Diana Burns. Anderson was educated at Woodhouse Grammar School, a former state grammar school in Finchley in North London, followed by St John's College at the University of Oxford. He completed his B.A. in chemistry in 1966, and his B.Sc., and his Doctor of Philosophy in 1970. He studied the electrical conduction in free radical solutions and inelastic scattering of neutrons from adsorbed molecules.
Life and career
Anderson joined the Royal Scottish Museum as an Assistant Keeper in 1970. In 1975, he moved to the chemistry department of the Science Museum, London. He became an Assistant Keeper of Chemistry. One of his challenges in 1976 was to incorporate materials from the history of medicine collection of the Wellcome Museum of the History of Medicine, which were acquired as a permanent loan. He organized a conference and edited "an excellent and detailed account" to celebrate the 250th Anniversary of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Edinburgh, The Early Years of the Edinburgh Medical School. This was followed bty a catalogue in 1978: The Playfair Collection and the Teaching of Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh 1713-1858. Anderson was also in charge of the renovation and expansion of the chemistry and industrial chemistry galleries in 1977. He became keeper of chemistry, succeeded Frank Greenaway as director from 1980 to 1984. Anderson returned to the Royal Scottish Museum as director from 1984 to 1985. When the Royal Scottish Museum amalgamated with National Museum of Antiquities in 1985, he became the director of the new National Museums of Scotland in Edinburgh, a position he retained until 1992. In 1992 Anderson joined the British Museum in London, where he was director from 1992 to 2002. Anderson oversaw the £100 million millennium project redevelopment of the British Museum's Queen Elizabeth II Great Court, designed by Norman Foster and opened by the Queen on 6 December 2000. Anderson was succeeded as director of the British Museum in 2002 by Neil MacGregor. Anderson has been president of the Scientific Instrument Commission of the International Union of History and Philosophy of Science, and of the British Society for the History of Science. In 2004, Anderson became president of the Association of Independent Libraries. Anderson has held visiting academic posts at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton University and at the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities at the University of Cambridge. He is an Emeritus Fellow of Clare Hall, Cambridge. As of 28 July 2016, Anderson became interim president and CEO of the Chemical Heritage Foundation, a history of science organization in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He succeeded German historian of scienceCarsten Reinhardt. On 11 January 2017 Anderson was named the institution's ongoing president and CEO. He was succeeded by David Allen Cole as of May 20, 2020. Anderson has published at least 14 monographs or catalogues and at least 50 papers. His publications include works on the history of scientific instrumentation, the history of museums, and the work of Joseph Black and Joseph Priestley.
