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Encyclopedia > Historiography of science

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The historiography of science is the historical study of the history of science (which often overlaps the history of technology, the history of medicine, and the history of mathematics). It is generally found in an academic context as part of the discipline of the history of science and technology, history and philosophy of science, science studies, and other allied disciplines. The historiography of science is a meta-level analysis of the history of science itself — whereas the history of science is concerned with scientific events, the historiography of science is concerned with the descriptions of scientific events over time. The history of science investigates the historical record of human events that are pertinent to the cultural context and the secular development of what is currently called science, namely, a body of empirical and theoretical knowledge, produced by a global community of researchers, making use of specific techniques for the... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1020x1508, 359 KB) Book cover Frontispiece of : Tabulae Rudolphinae : quibus astronomicae . ... The sociology and philosophy of science, as well as the entire field of science studies, have in the 20th century been preoccupied with the question of large-scale patterns and trends in the development of science, and asking questions about how science works both in a philosophical and practical sense. ... A pseudoscience is any body of knowledge purported to be scientific or supported by science but which fails to comply with the scientific method. ... In prehistoric times, advice and knowledge was passed from generation to generation in an oral tradition. ... The Ptolemaic system of celestial motion, from Harmonia Macrocosmica, 1661. ... The history of science in the Middle Ages refers to the discoveries in the field of natural philosophy throughout the Middle Ages - the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history. ... Leonardo da Vincis Vitruvian Man, an example of the blend of art and science during the Renaissance. ... The event which most historians of science call the scientific revolution can be dated roughly as having begun in 1543, the year in which Nicolaus Copernicus published his De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres) and Andreas Vesalius published his De humani corporis fabrica (On the... Natural philosophy or the philosophy of nature, known in Latin as philosophia naturalis, is a term applied to the objective study of nature and the physical universe before the development of modern science. ... Table of astronomy, from the 1728 Cyclopaedia Astronomy is probably the oldest of the natural sciences, dating back to antiquity, with its origins in the religious practices of pre-history: vestiges of these are still found in astrology, a discipline long interwoven with astronomy, and not completely different from it... The history of biology dates as far back as the rise of various civilization as classic philosophers did their own ways of biology as a system of understanding life. ... Portrait of Monsieur Lavoisier and his Wife, by Jacques-Louis David The history of chemistry may be said to begin with the distinction of chemistry from alchemy by Robert Boyle in his work The Skeptical Chymist, which was written after a long and tearfilled talk with his father, and alchymist... ÛEcology is generally spoken of as a new science, having only become prominent in the second half of the 20th Century. ... The growth of physics has brought not only fundamental changes in ideas about the material world, mathematics and philosophy, but also, through technology, a transformation of society. ... For more, see: Social science#History In ancient philosophy, there was no difference between the liberal arts of mathematics and the study of history, poetry or politics—only with the development of mathematical proof did there gradually arise a perceived difference between scientific disciplines and others, the humanities or liberal... The term economics was coined around 1870 and popularized by Alfred Marshall, as a substitute for the earlier term political economy which has been used through the 18th-19th centuries, with Adam Smith, David Ricardo and Karl Marx as its main thinkers and which today is frequently referred to as... Efforts to describe and explain the human language faculty have been undertaken throughout recorded history. ... Antecedents of political science While the study of politics is first found in the Western tradition in Ancient Greece, political science is a late arrival in terms of social sciences. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Sociology is a relatively new academic discipline among other social sciences including economics, political science, anthropology, and psychology. ... FudgeItalic textBold text ... Agronomy today is very different from what it was before about 1950. ... The history of computer science began long before the modern discipline of computer science that emerged in the 20th century. ... The History of materials science is rooted in the history of the Earth and the culture of the peoples of the Earth. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Alternative meanings: Timeline is a 1999 science fiction novel by Michael Crichton Timeline is a 2003 film based on the novel. ... Historiography is the study of the practice of history. ... Part of a scientific laboratory at the University of Cologne. ... HIStory: Past, Present and Future – Book I is a two-disc album by Michael Jackson released in 1995 by the Epic Records division of Sony BMG. The first disc (HIStory Begins) is a fifteen-track greatest hits (later released as Greatest Hits - HIStory Volume I), while the second disc (HIStory... The history of science investigates the historical record of human events that are pertinent to the cultural context and the secular development of what is currently called science, namely, a body of empirical and theoretical knowledge, produced by a global community of researchers, making use of specific techniques for the... FudgeItalic textBold text ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing The word mathematics comes from the Greek μάθημα (máthema) which means science, knowledge, or learning; μαθηματικός (mathematikós) means fond of learning. Today, the term refers to a specific body of knowledge -- the deductive study of quantity, structure, space and change. ... The history of science and technology (HST) is a field of history which examines how humanitys understanding of science and technology has changed over the millennia. ... The history and philosophy of science (HPS) is an academic discipline that encompasses the philosophy of science and the history of science. ... Science studies is an interdisciplinary research area that seeks to situate scientific expertise in its broader social, historical, and philosophical context. ...


Since the mid-19th century, ideas about the history of science and technology have been tied to important philosophical and practical questions, such as whether scientific conclusions should be regarded as progressing towards truth, and whether freedom is important for scientific research. Put broadly, the field as a whole examines the entire spectrum of human experience relating to science and technology, and how our understanding of that experience has changed over time. Historiography of science is a much more recent discipline than history of science, although they have exerted great mutual influence on each other, through the study of theories, changes in theories, disciplinary and institutional history, the cultural, economic, and political impacts of science and technology, and the impact of society on scientific practice itself. Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Common dictionary definitions of truth mention some form of accord with fact or reality. ... Culture (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning to cultivate), generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activity significance. ... Face-to-face trading interactions among on the New York Stock Exchange trading floor Economics, as a social science, studies the production, distribution, and consumption of resources. ... Politics is the process by which groups make decisions. ...

Contents

The origins of the discipline

Though scholars and scientists had been chronicling the results of scientific endeavors for centuries (such as William Whewell's History of the Inductive Sciences from 1837, and the popular and historical accounts which accompanied the scientific revolution of the 17th century), the development of the distinct academic discipline of the history of science and technology did not occur until the early 20th century, and was intimately bound to the changing role of science during the same time period. The history of science was once exclusively the domain of retired researchers -- former scientists whose days in the laboratory had expired but still with a hearty interest in the field -- and the rare specialist. However in the decades since the end of World War II the field has evolved into a full academic discipline, with graduate schools, research institutes, public and private patronage, peer-reviewed journals, and professional societies. William Whewell William Whewell (May 24, 1794 – March 6, 1866) was an English polymath, scientist, Anglican priest, philosopher, theologian and historian of science. ... Queen Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom (1837 - 1901) 1837 (MDCCCXXXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... The event which most historians of science call the scientific revolution can be dated roughly as having begun in 1543, the year in which Nicolaus Copernicus published his De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres) and Andreas Vesalius published his De humani corporis fabrica (On the... (16th century - 17th century - 18th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 17th century was that century which lasted from 1601-1700. ... Plato is credited with the inception of academia: the body of knowledge, its development and transmission across generations. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999... Michael Faraday, 19th century physicist and chemist, in his lab. ... Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Nazi Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Harry Truman Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead... A graduate school or grad school is a school that awards advanced degrees, with the general requirement that students must have earned an undergraduate (bachelors) degree. ... Peer review (known as refereeing in some academic fields) is a process of subjecting an authors scholarly work or ideas to the scrutiny of others who are experts in the field. ... Academic publishing describes a system of publishing that is necessary in order for academic scholars to review work and make it available for a wider audience. ...


Outsiders are often amazed that such a seemingly specialized discipline exists (though just how specialized the subject is depends on how broadly a definition of science and technology one uses). However the study of the history of science has had great effects on the philosophy of science, conceptions of the role of science in society, and scientific policy. Philosophy of science is the branch of philosophy that studies the philosophical assumptions, foundations, and implications of science, including the formal sciences, natural sciences, and social sciences. ... Public policy is a course of action or inaction chosen by public authorities to address a problem. ...


The founding figure of the discipline in the United States was George Sarton, later the founding editor of the journal Isis. Sarton and his family fled Belgium after the German invasion in World War I, and after a brief stay in England, he arrived in the United States penniless and unemployed. Sarton began lecturing part-time at several academic institutions, and in 1916 began a two year appointment at Harvard University. When his appointment did not look like it would be renewed, he appealed to Robert S. Woodward, president of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, for patronage. Woodward gave Sarton a two year position and in 1920 extended it to a permanent tenured appointment as a Research Associate in the Institution's Department of History. George Alfred Leon Sarton (1884-1956) was a seminal Belgian-American polymath and historian of science. ... Combatants Allied Powers: British Empire France Italy Russia United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary Bulgaria Germany Ottoman Empire Commanders Ferdinand Foch Georges Clemenceau Joseph Joffre Victor Emmanuel III Luigi Cadorna Armando Diaz Nicholas II Aleksei Brusilov Herbert Henry Asquith Douglas Haig John Jellicoe Woodrow Wilson John Pershing Wilhelm II Paul... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2005 est. ... 1916 (MCMXVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Harvard University (incorporated as The President and Fellows of Harvard College) is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. ... The Carnegie Institution of Washington (CIW) is a foundation established by Andrew Carnegie in 1902 to support scientific research. ... 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ...


Though modern scholars do not usually share Sarton's motivations -- Sarton saw the history of science as the only genuine example of human progress -- the tools he left to the field, the journal Isis and the annual volume Osiris (both still in print today), provided the foundation of the discipline in the United States.


The Hessen thesis and the birth of externalism

Just as the 1930s were a seminal decade for the development of our modern understanding of science, they were a seminal decade for the history and historiography of science as well. While Sarton taught the first American doctoral students in the discipline, in Europe some of the most influential historians and philosophers of science were first coming into the picture, and the setting of the philosophical battle which is now known as "the Science Wars" was being set. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Historiography is the study of the practice of history. ... Ph. ... World map showing Europe A satellite composite image of Europe Europe is one of the seven traditional continents of the Earth. ... The Science wars were a series of intellectual battles in the 1990s between postmodernists and realists (though neither party would likely use the terms to describe themselves) about the nature of scientific theories. ...


In 1931, the Second International Congress of the History of Science was convened in London. The papers delivered by the Soviet delegation, led by N.I. Bukharin, quickly invigorated the discipline. Boris Hessen in particular delivered a paper entitled "The Social and Economic Roots of Newton's Principia," in which he asserted that Isaac Newton's most famous work was created to cater to the goals and desires of 17th century industry and economy. Hessen asserted that Newton's work was inspired by his economic status and context, that the Principia was little more than the solution of technical problems of the bourgeoisie. 1931 (MCMXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link is to a full 1931 calendar). ... London (pronounced ) is the capital city of the United Kingdom and the largest city of England (strangely, England has no constitutional existence within the United Kingdom, and therefore cannot be said to have a capital). ... Motto: Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь! (Transliterated: Proletarii vsekh stran, soedinyaytes!) (Russian: Workers of the world, unite!) Anthem: The Internationale (1922-1944) Hymn of the Soviet Union (1944-1991) Capital (and largest city) Moscow None; Russian de facto Government Federation of Soviet Republics  - Last President Mikhail Gorbachev  - Last Premier Ivan Silayev Establishment October Revolution   - Declared... Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin (Russian: Николай Иванович Бухарин), (October 9 (September 27 Old Style) 1888 - March 13, 1938) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and then a Soviet politician, and intellectual. ... Boris M. Hessen. ... Sir Isaac Newton, FRS (4 January 1643 – 31 March 1727) [ OS: 25 December 1642 – 20 March 1727][1] was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, alchemist, and natural philosopher, regarded by many as the greatest figure in the history of science. ... (16th century - 17th century - 18th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 17th century was that century which lasted from 1601-1700. ... Newtons own copy of his Principia, with handwritten corrections for the second edition. ... Bourgeoisie (RP [], GA []) in modern use refers to the ruling class in a capitalist society. ...


Present scholarship has revealed that Hessen's motives were not completely academic. At that time in the Soviet Union, the work of Albert Einstein was under attack by Communist Party philosophers; being supposedly motivated by bourgeois values, it was "bourgeois science" [citation needed] and should henceforth be banned. (In many ways this attack was similar to the Deutsche Physik movement in Germany which occurred only a few years later.) Hessen's paper was a lobbying tactic: Party philosophers would not challenge the accuracy of Newton's theories, and to show them as being motivated by bourgeois concerns would, in Hessen's eyes, show that scientific validity could exist whatever the motivations were for undertaking it. However, there is little evidence that his paper had any effect in the internal Soviet philosophical battles over Einstein's work. Einstein redirects here. ... In modern usage, a communist party is a political party which promotes communism, the sociopolitical ideology based on Marxism. ... A philosopher is a person devoted to studying and producing results in philosophy. ... Deutsche Physik (literally: German Physics) or Aryan Physics was the name given to a nationalist movement in the German physics community in the early 1930s against the work of Albert Einstein, labeled Jewish Physics. ...


Despite its lack of effect in his home country, Hessen's thesis had a wide effect in Western history of science. Though Hessen’s work is now easily dismissed as "vulgar Marxism [citation needed]," its focus on the relationship between society and science was, in its time, seen as novel and inspiring. It was a challenge to the notion that the history of science was the history of individual genius in action, the dominant view at least since William Whewell's History of the Inductive Sciences in 1837. Marxism refers to the philosophy and social theory based on Karl Marxs work on one hand, and to the political practice based on Marxist theory on the other hand (namely, parts of the First International during Marxs time, communist parties and later states). ... A genius is a person with great intelligence. ... William Whewell William Whewell (May 24, 1794 – March 6, 1866) was an English polymath, scientist, Anglican priest, philosopher, theologian and historian of science. ... Queen Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom (1837 - 1901) 1837 (MDCCCXXXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...


Few contemporary Western readers of Hessen took his paper at face value. His rigid connection between economy and knowledge was not accepted by a majority of historians. However, his assertion that a connection existed between the growth of knowledge and the art of war, and that ballistics played a central part of physics and Newton's world, was viewed with keen interest. In the shadow of the first war to employ chemical weapons, and as the war machines were again gearing up in preparation for another world war, the role between science, technology, and warfare was becoming more interesting to scholars and scientists. Previous views of science as separate from the mundane or vulgar aspects of practical life -- the disembodiment of the scientific mind from its context -- were becoming less attractive than a view that science and scientists were increasingly embedded in the world in which they worked. Personification of knowledge (Greek Επιστημη, Episteme) in Celsus Library in Ephesos, Turkey. ... A historian is someone who writes history, and history is a written accounting of the past. ... A war is a conflict between two or more groups that involve large numbers of individuals. ... Ballistics (gr. ... Early detection of chemical agents Sociopolitical climate of chemical warfare While the study of chemicals and their military uses was widespread in China, the use of toxic materials has historically been viewed with mixed emotions and some disdain in the West (especially when the enemy were doing it). ... By the mid 20th century humans had achieved a level of technological mastery sufficient to leave the surface of the planet for the first time and explore space. ... For other uses of War, see War (disambiguation). ...


This became reflective in the scholarship of the time as well, with dissertations written on such subjects as "Science and War in the Old Regime," which examined the ways in which military engineering influenced pre-Revolution French scientists. The French Revolution (1789–1799/1804) was a vital period in the history of French, European and Western civilization. ...


This method of doing the history of science became known as externalism, looking at the manner in which science and scientists are affected, and guided by, their context and the world in which they exist. It is an approach which eschews the notion that the history of science is the development of pure thought over time, one idea leading to another in a contextual bubble which could exist at any place, at any time, if only given the right geniuses. Recently internalism and externalism have become part of the standard jargon of philosophical discourse, and have become central to certain important debates. ...


The contrast to this approach, the method of doing history of science which preceded externalism, became known as internalism. Internalist histories of science often focus on the rational reconstruction of scientific ideas and consider the development of these ideas wholly within the scientific world. Although internalist histories of modern science tend to emphasize the norms of modern science, internalist histories can also consider the different systems of thought underlying the development of Babylonian astronomy or Medieval impetus theory Recently internalism and externalism have become part of the standard jargon of philosophical discourse, and have become central to certain important debates. ... Rational reconstruction is a philosophical and linguistic method that systematically translates intuitive knowledge of rules into a logical form (Habermas 1979). ... Table of astronomy, from the 1728 Cyclopaedia Astronomy is probably the oldest of the natural sciences, dating back to antiquity, with its origins in the religious practices of pre-history: vestiges of these are still found in astrology, a discipline long interwoven with astronomy, and not completely different from it... Impetus is an obsolete scientific theory of motion, largely developed by Jean Buridan in the 14th century. ...


In practice, the line between internalism and externalism can be incredibly fuzzy. Few historians then, or now, would insist that either of these approaches in their extremes paint a wholly complete picture, nor would it necessarily be possible to practice one fully over the other. However, at their heart they contain a basic question about the nature of science: what is the relationship between the producers and consumers of scientific knowledge? The answer to this question must, in some form, inform the method in which the history of science and technology is conducted; conversely, how the history of science and technology is conducted, and what it concludes, can inform the answer to the question. The question itself contains an entire host of philosophical questions: what is the nature of scientific truth? What does objectivity mean in a scientific context? How does change in scientific theories occur? Objectivity has several meanings: Objectivity (philosophy) Objectivity (journalism) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...


The historian/sociologist of science Robert K. Merton produced many famous works following Hessen's thesis, which can be seen as reactions to and refinements of Hessen's argument. In his work on science, technology, and society in the 17th century England, Merton sought to introduce an additional category -- Puritanism -- to explain the growth of science in this period. Merton worked to split Hessen's crude category of economics into smaller subcategories of influence, including transportation, mining, and military technique. Merton also tried to develop empirical, quantitative approaches to showing the influence of external factors on science. Despite these changes, Merton was quick to note his indebtedness to Hessen. Even with his emphasis on external factors, though, Merton differed from Hessen in his interpretation: Merton maintained that while researchers may be inspired and interested by problems which were suggested by extra-scientific factors, ultimately the researcher's interests were driven by "the internal history of the science in question.[citation needed]" Merton attempted to delineate externalism and internalism along disciplinary boundaries, with context studied by the sociologist of science, and content by the historian. Editing Robert K. Merton This article is about the sociologist. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2005 est. ... The Puritans were members of a group of radical Protestants which developed in England after the Reformation. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... Empirical is an adjective often used in conjunction with science, both the natural and social sciences, which means an observation or experiment based upon experience that is capable of being verified or disproved. ... A scale for measuring mass A quantitative property is one that exists in a range of magnitudes, and can therefore be measured. ... In academics, science studies (sometimes seen as science and technology studies) is an umbrella term for a number of approaches devoted to studying science, and as a discipline its participants often come from a wide variety of disciplines, usually history of science, sociology of science, philosophy of science, sociology of...


Vannevar Bush and World War II

The study of the history of science continued to be a small effort until the rise of Big Science after World War II. The influential bureaucrat Vannevar Bush, and the president of Harvard, James Conant, both encouraged the study of the history of science as a way of improving general knowledge about how science worked, and why it was essential to maintain a large scientific workforce. In 1977 the completion of the Shiva laser at LLNL ushered in a new field of big science; laser fusion. ... Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Nazi Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Harry Truman Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead... Vannevar Bush (March 11, 1890 – June 30, 1974) was an American engineer and science administrator, known for his political role in the development of the atomic bomb, and the idea of the memex—seen as a pioneering concept for the World Wide Web. ... Harvard University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, and a member of the Ivy League. ... James Bryant Conant (March 26, 1893 - February 11, 1978) was a chemist, educational administrator, and public servant. ...


Thomas Kuhn and the 1960s

From the 1940s through the early 1960s, most histories of science were different forms of a "march of progress" [citation needed], showing science as a triumphant movement towards truth. Many philosophers and historians did of course paint a more nuanced picture, but it was not until the publication of Thomas Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions that this approach became seriously suspected as being misleading [citation needed]. Kuhn's argument that scientific revolutions worked by paradigm shifts seemed to imply that truth was not the ultimate criterion for science, and was an extremely influential book outside of academia as well [citation needed]. Corresponding with the rise of the environmentalism movement and a general loss of optimism of the power of science and technology unfettered to solve the problems of the world, this new history encouraged many critics to pronounce the preeminence of science to be overthrown [citation needed]. Thomas Samuel Kuhn (July 18, 1922 – June 17, 1996) was an American intellectual who wrote extensively on the history of science and developed several important notions in the philosophy of science. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Paradigm shift is the term first used by Thomas Kuhn in his 1962 book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions to describe the process and result of a change in basic assumptions within the ruling theory of science. ... The historic Blue Marble photograph, which helped bring environmentalism to the public eye. ...


The discipline today

The discipline today encompasses a wide variety of fields of academic study, ranging from the traditional ones of history, sociology, and philosophy, and a variety of others such as law, architecture, and literature.


Disciplinary figures

See: Historians of science I. Bernard Cohen (1914-2003) was the Victor S. Thomas Professor of the history of science at Harvard University and the author of many books on the history of science and, in particular, Isaac Newton. ... Allen G. Debus (born August 16, 1926 in Chicago) is an American historian of science, known primarily for his work in the history of chemistry and alchemy. ... Eduard Jan Dijksterhuis (1892-1965), Historian of Science from the Netherlands. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... John L. Heilbron was an American historian of science and academic. ... Thomas Parke Hughes is Mellon Professor of the History and Sociology of Science, Emeritus, at the University of Pennsylvania, and Visiting Professor at MIT and Stanford University. ... Evelyn Fox Keller (*1936) is an American physicist, author and feminist and is currently a Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. ... Daniel J. Kevles is Stanley Woodward Professor of History at Yale University, a position he assumed in 2001. ... Alexandre Koyré Alexandre Koyré (1882/1892, Taganrog - April 28, 1964, Paris) was a French philosopher of Russian origin who wrote on history and the philosophy of science. ... Thomas Samuel Kuhn (July 18, 1922 – June 17, 1996) was an American intellectual who wrote extensively on the history of science and developed several important notions in the philosophy of science. ... Abraham Pais (May 19, 1918 - August 4, 2000) was a Dutch-born physicist. ... George Alfred Leon Sarton (1884-1956) was a seminal Belgian-American polymath and historian of science. ... Steven Shapin is Franklin L. Ford Professor of the History of Science, joining Harvard in 2004 after previous appointments as Professor of Sociology at the University of California, San Diego, and at the Science Studies Unit, Edinburgh University. ...

See: Philosophers of science Paul Karl Feyerabend (January 13, 1924 - February 11, 1994) was an Austrian-born philosopher of science, who later lived in England, the United States, New Zealand, Italy, and finally Switzerland. ... Ian Hacking, CC (born 1936) in Vancouver is a philosopher operating in the fields of philosophy of science and philosophy of language. ... Lakatos – book by Brendan Larvor. ... Thomas Samuel Kuhn (July 18, 1922 – June 17, 1996) was an American intellectual who wrote extensively on the history of science and developed several important notions in the philosophy of science. ... Sir Karl Raimund Popper, CH, MA, Ph. ...

Pierre Bourdieu (August 1, 1930 – January 23, 2002) was an acclaimed French sociologist whose work employed methods drawn from a wide range of disciplines, from philosophy and literary theory to sociology and anthropology. ... Bruno Latour Bruno Latour (born June 1947, Beaune, France) is a French sociologist of science best known for his books We Have Never Been Modern, Laboratory Life, and Science in Action, describing the process of scientific research from the perspective of social construction based on field observations of working scientists. ... Editing Robert K. Merton This article is about the sociologist. ...

See also

Galileo before the Holy Office by Joseph-Nicolas Robert-Fleury, a classic depiction of science clashing with religion The conflict thesis, also known as the warfare thesis, the warfare model or the Draper-White thesis, is an interpretive model of the relationship between religion and science. ... The military funding of science has had a powerful transformative effect on the practice and products of scientific research since the early 20th century. ... The sociology and philosophy of science, as well as the entire field of science studies, have in the 20th century been preoccupied with the question of large-scale patterns and trends in the development of science, and asking questions about how science works both in a philosophical and practical sense. ...

References

  • Michael Aaron Dennis, "Historiography of Science: An American Perspective," in John Krige and Dominique Pestre, eds., Science in the Twentieth Century, Amsterdam: Harwood, 1997, pp. 1-26.
  • J. A. Bennett, 'Museums and the Establishment of the History of Science at Oxford and Cambridge', British Journal for the History of Science 30, 1997, 29–46
  • Dietrich von Engelhardt, Historisches Bewußtsein in der Naturwissenschaft : von der Aufklärung bis zum Positivismus, Freiburg [u.a.] : Alber, 1979
  • Loren R. Graham, "Soviet attitudes towards the social and historical study of science," in Science in Russia and the Soviet Union: A Short History, Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1993, pp. 137-155.
  • Helge Kragh, An Introduction to the Historiography of Science, Cambridge University Press 1990
  • Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Chicago: University of Chicago, 1962 (third edn, 1996).
  • A.-K. Meyer, 'Setting up a Discipline: Conflicting Agendas of the Cambridge History of Science Committee, 1936–1950.' Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 31, 2000
  • Dhruv Raina, Images and Contexts Critical Essays on the Historiography of Science in India, Oxford University Press 2003

  Results from FactBites:
 
Historiography of science - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (1997 words)
The historiography of science is the historical study of the history of science (which often overlaps the history of technology, the history of medicine, and the history of mathematics).
The historiography of science is a meta-level analysis of the history of science itself — whereas the history of science is concerned with scientific events, the historiography of science is concerned with the descriptions of scientific events over time.
Historiography of science is a much more recent discipline than history of science, although they have exerted great mutual influence on each other, through the study of theories, changes in theories, disciplinary and institutional history, the cultural, economic, and political impacts of science and technology, and the impact of society on scientific practice itself.
Category:Historiography of science - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (89 words)
The main article for this category is Historiography of science.
Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences
Theories and sociology of the history of science
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