---
title: "History of science and technology"
chunk: 3/3
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_science_and_technology"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:38:20.945172+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

=== United States ===
Academic study of the history of science as an independent discipline was launched by George Sarton at Harvard with his book Introduction to the History of Science (1927) and the Isis journal (founded in 1912).  Sarton exemplified the early 20th century view of the history of science as the history of great men and great ideas. He shared with many of his contemporaries a Whiggish belief in history as a record of the advances and delays in the march of progress. 
The History of Science was not a recognized subfield of American history in this period, and most of the work was carried out by interested scientists and physicians rather than professional historians.  With the work of I. Bernard Cohen at Harvard, the history of Science became an established subdiscipline of history after 1945.

Arizona State University's Center for Biology and Society offers several paths for MS or PhD students who are interested in issues surrounding the history and philosophy of the science.
California Institute of Technology offers courses in the History and Philosophy of Science to fulfill its core humanities requirements.
Case Western Reserve University has an undergraduate interdisciplinary program in the History and Philosophy of Science and a graduate program in the History of Science, Technology, Environment, and Medicine (STEM).
Cornell University offers a variety of courses within the Science and Technology course.
Georgia Institute of Technology has an undergraduate and graduate program in the History of Technology and Society.
Harvard University has an undergraduate and graduate program in History of Science
Indiana University offers undergraduate courses and a masters and PhD program in the History and Philosophy of Science.
Johns Hopkins University has an undergraduate and graduate program in the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology.
Lehigh University offers an undergraduate level STS concentration (founded in 1972) and a graduate program with emphasis on the History of Industrial America.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology has a Science, Technology, and Society program which includes HST.
Michigan State University offers an undergraduate major and minor in History, Philosophy, and Sociology of Science through its Lyman Briggs College.
New Jersey Institute of Technology has a Science, Technology, and Society program which includes the History of Science and Technology
Oregon State University offers a Masters and Ph.D. in History of Science through its Department of History.
Princeton University has a program in the History of Science.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has a Science and Technology Studies department
Rutgers has a graduate Program in History of Science, Technology, Environment, and Health.
Stanford has a History and Philosophy of Science and Technology program.
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.
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.
University of California, Santa Barbara has an interdisciplinary graduate program emphasis in Technology & Society through the Center for Information Technology & Society.
University of Chicago offers a B.A. program in the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Science and Medicine as well as M.A. and Ph.D. degrees through its Committee on the Conceptual and Historical Studies of Science.
University of Florida has a Graduate Program in 'History of Science, Technology, and Medicine' at the University of Florida provides undergraduate and graduate degrees.
University of Minnesota has a Ph.D. program in History of Science, Technology, and Medicine as well as undergraduate courses in these fields.
University of Oklahoma has an undergraduate minor and a graduate degree program in History of Science.
University of Pennsylvania has a program in History and Sociology of Science.
University of Pittsburgh's Department of History and Philosophy of Science offers graduate and undergraduate courses.
University of Puget Sound has a Science, Technology, and Society program, which includes the history of Science and Technology.
University of Wisconsin–Madison has a program in History of Science, Medicine and Technology. It offers M.A. and Ph.D. degrees as well as an undergraduate major.
Wesleyan University has a Science in Society program.
Yale University has a program in the History of Science and Medicine.

== Prominent historians of the field ==
See also the list of George Sarton medalists.

== Journals and periodicals ==
Annals of Science
The British Journal for the History of Science
Centaurus
Dynamis
History and Technology (magazine)
History of Science and Technology (journal)
History of Technology (book series)
Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences (HSPS)
Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences (HSNS)
HoST - Journal of History of Science and Technology
ICON
IEEE Annals of the History of Computing
Isis
Journal of the History of Biology
Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences
Notes and Records of the Royal Society
Osiris
Science & Technology Studies
Science in Context
Science, Technology, & Human Values
Social History of Medicine
Social Studies of Science
Technology and Culture
Transactions of the Newcomen Society
Historia Mathematica
Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society

== See also ==
History of science
History of technology
Ancient Egyptian technology
History of science and technology in China
History of science and technology in Japan
History of science and technology in France
History of science and technology in the Indian subcontinent
Mesopotamian science
Productivity improving technologies (historical)
Science and technology in Argentina
Science and technology in Canada
Science and technology in Iran
Science and technology in the United States
Science in the medieval Islamic world
Science tourism
Technological and industrial history of the United States
Timeline of science and engineering in the Islamic world

== Professional societies ==
The British Society for the History of Science (BSHS)
History of Science Society (HSS)
Newcomen Society
Society for the History of Technology (SHOT)
Society for the Social Studies of Science (4S)
Scientific Instrument Society

== References ==

== 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. Mayer, 'Setting up a Discipline: Conflicting Agendas of the Cambridge History of Science Committee, 1936–1950.' Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 31, 2000