History of science and technology

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For chronological accounts of the development of science and technology, see history of science and history of technology.

The history of science and technology (HST) is a field of history which examines how humanity's understanding of science and technology has changed over the millennia. Without this understanding, development of new technologies would have been improbable. ^{[citation needed]} This field of history also studies the cultural, economic, and political impacts of scientific innovation.

The historiography of science was originally written by practicing and retired scientists, starting primarily with William Whewell, as a way to communicate the virtues of science to the public. In the early 1930s, after a famous paper given by the Soviet historian Boris Hessen, effort was focused into looking at the ways in which scientific practices were allied with the needs and motivations of their context. After World War II, extensive resources were put into teaching and researching the discipline, with the hopes that it would help the public better understand both science and technology as they came to play an exceedingly prominent role in the world. In the 1960s, especially in the wake of the work done by Thomas Kuhn, the discipline began to serve a very different function, and began to be used as a way to problematize scientific enterprise. At the present time it is often closely aligned with the field of Science studies.

Modern mathematical science and physical engineering as it is understood today took form during the scientific revolution, though much of the mathematics and science was built on the work of the Greeks, Egyptians, Mesopotamians, Chinese, Indians and Muslims. See the main articles History of science and History of technology for these respective topics.

1 Universities with HST programs
2 Prominent historians of the field
3 Journals and periodicals
4 Professional societies
5 References
6 Bibliography
7 External links

[edit] Universities with HST programs

Brown University has a program in the History of Mathematics. <ref>Brown University. History of Mathematics at Brown. Retrieved on July 30, 2006.</ref> (This program is in the process of being phased out. There are no longer any full-time faculty, and no new students are being admitted to the program.)
Carleton University Ottawa offer courses in Ancient Science and Technology in its Technology, Society and Environment program
Case Western Reserve University has an undergraduate interdisciplinary program in the History and Philosophy of Science <ref>Case Western Reserve University. History and Philosophy of Science. Retrieved on July 30, 2006.</ref> and a graduate program in the History of Science, Technology, Environment, and Medicine (STEM). <ref>Case Western Reserve University. History of Science, Technology, Environment, and Medicine. Retrieved on July 30, 2006.</ref>
Georgia Institute of Technology has an undergraduate and graduate program in the History of Technology and Society. <ref>Georgia Institute of Technology. School of History, Technology, and Society. Retrieved on July 30, 2006.</ref>
Harvard has a large undergraduate and graduate program in History of Science, and is one of the largest departments currently in the world. <ref>Harvard University. Department of the History of Science. Retrieved on July 30, 2006.</ref>
Indiana University offers undergraduate courses and a masters and PhD program in the History and Philosophy of Science. <ref>Indiana University. Department of History and Philosophy of Science. Retrieved on July 30, 2006.</ref>
Johns Hopkins University has an undergraduate and graduate program in the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology. <ref>Johns Hopkins University. History of Science, Medicine, and Technology. Retrieved on July 30, 2006.</ref>
Lehigh University offers an undergraduate level STS concentration (founded in 1972) and a graduate program with emphasis on the history of industrial America. <ref>Lehigh University. The Science, Technology, and Society Program. Retrieved on July 30, 2006.</ref>
Linköpings universitet, Sweden, has a Science, Technology, and Society program which includes HST. <ref>Linköping University. Tema Teknik och social förändring. Retrieved on July 30, 2006.</ref>
The London Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine - this Centre was formed in 1987 and runs a postgraduate programme which is jointly administered and taught by Imperial College London, University College London, and the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at UCL. <ref>London Centre for the History of Science, Medicine and Technology. History of Science, Medicine and Technology. Retrieved on July 30, 2006.</ref>
Massachusetts Institute of Technology has a Science, Technology, and Society program which includes HST. <ref>Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Program in Science, Technology, and Society. Retrieved on July 30, 2006.</ref>
Princeton University has a program in the History of Science. <ref>Princeton University. Program in History of Science. Retrieved on July 30, 2006.</ref>
Technische Universität Berlin has a program in the History of science and technology. <ref>Berlin Technical University. Philosophy, Theory of Science, and History of Science and Technology. Retrieved on July 30, 2006.</ref>
Stanford has a History and Philosophy of Science and Technology program. <ref>Stanford University. History and Philosophy of Science and Technology. Retrieved on July 30, 2006.</ref>
Stevens Institute of Technology has an undergraduate and graduate program in the History of Science.
University of California, Berkeley offers a graduate degree in HST through its History program, and maintains a separate sub-department for the field. <ref>University of California, Berkeley. History of science and technology. Retrieved on July 30, 2006.</ref>
University of California, Los Angeles has a relatively large group History of Science and Medicine faculty and graduate students within its History department, and also offers an undergraduate minor in the History of Science. <ref>University of California, Los Angeles. History of Science Program. Retrieved on July 30, 2006.</ref>
University College London has an undergraduate programme in History and Philosophy of Science in the Department of Science and Technology Studies. A postgraduate programme is offered through the London Centre. <ref>University College London. Science and Technology Studies. Retrieved on July 30, 2006.</ref> UCL also contains The Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine which runs a postgraduate programme. <ref>University College London. The Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine. Retrieved on July 30, 2006.</ref>
University of Bristol has a masters and PhD program in the Philosophy and History of Science. <ref>University of Bristol. Department of Philosophy. Retrieved on July 30, 2006.</ref>
University of Cambridge has an undergraduate course and a large masters and PhD program in the History and Philosophy of Science (including the History of Medicine). <ref>University of Cambridge. History and Philosophy of Science. Retrieved on July 30, 2006.</ref>
University of Durham, UK, has a 1st year History of Science module in the Philosophy department. <ref>University of Durham. Department of Philosophy. Retrieved on July 30, 2006.</ref>
University of Florida has a Graduate Program in 'History of Science, Technology, and Medicine' at the University of Florida provides undergraduate and graduate degrees. <ref>University of Florida. Department of History. Retrieved on July 30, 2006.</ref>
University of King's College has a History of Science and Technology Program. <ref>University of King's College. History of Science & Technology. Retrieved on July 30, 2006.</ref>
University of Leeds has both undergraduate and graduate programmes in History and Philosophy of Science in the Department of Philosophy. <ref>University of Leeds. History & Philosophy of Science. Retrieved on July 30, 2006.</ref>
University of Minnesota offers graduate programmes and an undergraduate minor in History of Science and Technology and History of Medicine. <ref>University of Minnesota. History of Science and Technology. Retrieved on September 14, 2006.</ref><ref>University of Minnesota. History of Medicine. Retrieved on September 14, 2006.</ref>
University of Oklahoma has an undergraduate minor and a graduate degree program in History of Science. <ref>University of Oklahoma. Department of the History of Science. Retrieved on July 30, 2006.</ref>
University of Oxford has a one-year graduate course in 'History of Science: Instruments, Museums, Science, Technology' associated with the Museum of the History of Science. <ref>University of Oxford. History of Science: Instruments, Museums, Science, Technology. Retrieved on July 30, 2006.</ref>
University of Pennsylvania has a program in history and sociology of Science. <ref>University of Pennsylvania. History & Sociology of Science. Retrieved on July 30, 2006.</ref>
University of Toronto has a program in history and philosophy of Science and Technology. <ref>University of Toronto. History and Philosophy of Science and Technology. Retrieved on July 30, 2006.</ref>
University of Wisconsin-Madison has a program in the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology. <ref>University of Wisconsin-Madison. History of Science. Retrieved on July 30, 2006.</ref>
Utrecht University has two co-operating programmes: one in History and Philosophy of Science at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and one in Historical and Comparative Studies of the Sciences and the Humanities at the Faculty of Humanities. <ref>Utrecht University. History and Philosophy of Science. Retrieved on July 30, 2006.</ref><ref>Utrecht University. Historical and Comparative Studies of the Sciences and Humanities. Retrieved on July 30, 2006.</ref>
Yale University has a program in the History of Science and Medicine. <ref>Yale University. History of Science and Medicine. Retrieved on July 30, 2006.</ref>

[edit] Prominent historians of the field

[edit] Journals and periodicals

British Journal for the History of Science
History of Technology
Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences (HSPS)
ICON
IEEE Annals of the History of Computing
Isis
Journal of the History of Biology
Journal of the History of Medicine and the Allied Sciences
Osiris
Science & Technology Studies
Science in Context
Science, Technology, & Human Values
Social Studies of Science
Technology and Culture
Transactions of the Newcomen Society
Historia Mathematica

[edit] Professional societies

[edit] References

[edit] Bibliography

Historiography of science

H. Floris Cohen, The Scientific Revolution: A Historiographical Inquiry, University of Chicago Press 1994 - Discussion on the origins of modern science has been going on for more than two hundred years. Cohen provides an excellent overview.
Ernst Mayr, The Growth of Biological Thought, Belknap Press 1985
Michel Serres,(ed.), A History of Scientific Thought, Blackwell Publishers 1995
Companion to Science in the Twentieth Century, John Krige (Editor), Dominique Pestre (Editor), Taylor & Francis 2003, 941pp
The Cambridge History of Science, Cambridge University Press
- Volume 4, Eighteenth-Century Science, 2003
- Volume 5, The Modern Physical and Mathematical Sciences, 2002

History of science as a discipline

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
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