23. THE TEACHING OF THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE 



Institutes for the history of science will be dealt with in the next section; insti- 

 tutes are often integral parts of universities and in such cases whatever teaching is 

 organized is done in those institutes or with their cooperation. The next section 

 dealing with institutes should thus be consulted with reference to teaching. 



What kind of teaching is given in various universities? And where does that 

 teaching lead? To which degrees or positions? At its executive meeting held in 

 Paris in May 1948 the International Academy charged one of its members. Dr. E. J. 

 DijKSTERHUis of Oistcrwijlc (Netherlands) to make investigations concerning the 

 teaching of the history of science all over the world, and his report was published 

 under the title. La place de I'histoire des sciences dans I'instruction superieure (Ar- 

 chives internationales d'histoire des sciences 29, 39-76, 1950). This is only a first 

 approximation, however, for it is not very helpful to know that Prof. John Doe 

 gives a course on the history of science in the University of Podunk. One would 

 like to know what kind of a covuse he is giving and what are his own qualifications. 

 Is John Doe really a historian of science, or simply a schoolteacher or a charlatan? 

 The total number of courses does hardly matter, but one would fike to know how 

 many courses are offered by competent scholars who have a technical knowledge of 

 science, of history, of historical methods, and of the history of science. 



The teaching of the history of science has been used for nationalistic purposes, as 

 a means of stimulating the national pride of students. That was done in Italy dur- 

 ing the fascist regime. See Alfred Perna: Les cours d'histoire des sciences en 

 Italic (Ille Congres international d'histoire des sciences, 1934, p. 113-20, Lisboa 

 1936). It is of course natural that teachers should pay special attention to the 

 great men of science of their own country; that is legitimate if done with modera- 

 tion and frankly. It is to be hoped, however, that the teaching of the history of 

 science will be as international, or supernational as possible, for it is only then 

 that it acquires its full value from the point of view of humanistic education. The 

 history of science must be a means of uniting men, rather than of increasing their 

 self-conceit and their separation from other men. In that respect, students of the 

 New World are privileged, for it is relatively easy for their teachers to be inter- 

 nationally-minded in their account of the progress of science before modern times. 



Notes concerning the teaching of the history of science in various countries or 

 universities are frequently published in Isis. See, e.g., for Switzerland, Isis 38, 244; 

 for the Netherlands, Isis 38, 98; 39, 67. 



It is now possible to obtain a doctor's degree in the history of science in various 

 universities, e.g., in London, Harvard, Cornell, Columbia, Univ. of Wise. The field 

 of the history of science is so immense and so complex that in order to guide 

 doctoral work it is necessary to estabfish a committee ad hoc estabfishing a special 

 program for each candidate. See Regulations for the degree of Ph.D. in the history 

 of science and learning (Official register t)f Harvard University, vol. 32, no. 30, 8 p., 

 June 22, 1935). Such a committee should be made up in the following way: one 

 half of the members to be professors or teachers of science, medicine, engineering, 

 the other half to be professors of the humanities; a professor of the history of sci- 

 ence to be the chairman. It should be noted that while such a committee is needed 

 to organize examinations in the history of science, it is superfluous for the history 

 of learning. The regular scientific departments are not qualified to conduct ex- 

 aminations in the history of science, because their members have generally no techni- 

 cal knowledge of history, and what is worse, have no idea of historical methods; they 

 are hardly aware of the existence of such methods. On the contrary, every de- 

 partment of learning is ipso facto a historical department; every historian or philolo- 

 gist is acquainted with historical methods. Should a student wish to study the 

 history of Thucydidean scholarship he would find all the help he might need in 

 the classical department and nowhere else. 



