Revue d'Histoire des Sciences

Revue d'Histoire des Sciences is a French scholarly journal dedicated to the historical study of science, technology, and medicine, publishing research, critical editions, and historiographical essays. Founded in the 20th century, the journal has engaged with international debates and archival discoveries spanning Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Africa, and has featured studies linked to major figures and institutions in the history of science.

History

The journal emerged amid intellectual networks connecting École Normale Supérieure, Sorbonne, Collège de France, Académie des Sciences, and archives such as Bibliothèque nationale de France and Archives Nationales. Early contributors included scholars associated with Fernand Braudel, Marc Bloch, Émile Durkheim, and historians working in the aftermath of events like World War I and World War II, while later issues engaged debates influenced by work from Thomas Kuhn, Karl Popper, Alexandre Koyré, and Michel Foucault. Its development intersected with research institutions including CNRS, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Wellcome Trust, Royal Society, and universities such as University of Oxford, Harvard University, University of Cambridge, Université de Montréal, and University of Tokyo. Over decades the journal reflected shifting methodological currents exemplified by studies on figures like Galileo Galilei, Isaac Newton, Antoine Lavoisier, Louis Pasteur, René Descartes, and Marie Curie.

Scope and Content

The journal covers archival studies, conceptual history, biography, and scientific practice across periods involving Ancient Greece, Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Renaissance, Scientific Revolution, Enlightenment, Industrial Revolution, French Revolution, Napoleonic Wars, World War I, and World War II. Its pages publish work on instruments and institutions such as Royal Society, Académie Royale des Sciences, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Smithsonian Institution, and Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, and on biographies of scientists including Johannes Kepler, Leonardo da Vinci, André-Marie Ampère, Sophie Germain, Dmitri Mendeleev, Niels Bohr, Albert Einstein, Lise Meitner, J. J. Thomson, Max Planck, Werner Heisenberg, and Florence Nightingale. Periodicals, correspondence, and case studies often invoke archives tied to Vatican Library, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, National Archives (UK), Library of Congress, Deutsches Museum, and Institut Pasteur. Methodological articles dialogue with scholarship by Edgar Zilsel, Carlo Ginzburg, Georges Canguilhem, Isabelle Stengers, Bruno Latour, and E. P. Thompson.

Editorial Board and Publication Details

The editorial board has historically drawn editors and advisors from institutions such as Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Université Paris-Saclay, Université de Strasbourg, University of Edinburgh, Columbia University, Stanford University, Max Planck Society, Institut d'Histoire des Sciences de l'Université de Genève, and research bodies like European Research Council and National Science Foundation. Publication frequency, distribution, and indexing link the journal to catalogues maintained by ISSN International Centre, JSTOR, Scopus, Web of Science, and library networks including OCLC. Special issues have been guest-edited in collaboration with centers such as Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine, Centre Alexandre Koyré, and museums such as Musée des Arts et Métiers.

Notable Articles and Contributions

Notable contributions include archival revelations on topics related to Ptolemy, Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, and debates over priority in discoveries involving Antoine Lavoisier and Joseph Priestley; critical editions of correspondence between Pierre-Simon Laplace and Jean-Baptiste Joseph Fourier; forensic studies of experiments by Luigi Galvani and Alessandro Volta; and historiographical reassessments of medical figures like Hippocrates, Galen, William Harvey, Andreas Vesalius, Ignaz Semmelweis, Edward Jenner, and Paul Ehrlich. The journal has published influential essays on instrument-making linked to James Watt, Henry Cavendish, George Stephenson, and archaeological histories of technology encompassing Aztec and Inca artifacts, colonial encounters such as Scramble for Africa, and the global circulation of knowledge between ports like Lisbon, Amsterdam, Venice, Alexandria, and Canton (Guangzhou). Interdisciplinary pieces engage with legal and political contexts involving treaties like Treaty of Westphalia and events such as Congress of Vienna when relevant to scientific institutions.

Reception and Impact

The journal is cited in monographs and articles produced at centers including Princeton University, Yale University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of California, Berkeley, Johns Hopkins University, University College London, and by scholars associated with prizes such as the Kluge Prize, Holberg Prize, Sarton Medal, and Balzan Prize. It has informed exhibitions at institutions like Science Museum (London), Musée d'Orsay, Louvre Museum, and Deutsches Technikmuseum. Reviews and commentary have appeared in outlets connected to Le Monde, The Guardian, Nature, Science (journal), and Isis (journal). The journal's impact extends to curricula at École Polytechnique, Heidelberg University, University of Bologna, and summer schools organized by Erasmus Programme and Humboldt Foundation.

Category:History of science journals