At Harvard University, Taylor graduated in the specialty "History and Science" with three degrees: A.B.

[1] Taylor was for the academic year 1973–1974 a postdoctoral fellow, supported by the CNRS and the NSF, at the Centre Alexandre Koyré in Paris.

[1] Several of his papers on the history of French geology and science during the Age of Enlightenment are recognized as classics.

[4] Taylor's essay The Beginnings of a French Geological Identity (1980) presents evidence that, in the years from 1750 to 1800, naturalists tended to reject large syntheses or theoretical systems of natural history and geology and to strongly favor field observations.

[1] From 2012 to 2016 he was the president of the International Commission on the History of Geological Sciences (INHIGEO).