The Institute for the History of Science was established in 1954 as an institution of the

Polish Academy of Sciences The Polish Academy of Sciences ( pl, Polska Akademia Nauk, PAN) is a Polish state-sponsored institution of higher learning. Headquartered in Warsaw, it is responsible for spearheading the development of science across the country by a society of ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

Overview

The Institute is located in the

Staszic Palace Staszic Palace ( pl, Pałac Staszica, ) is an edifice at ulica Nowy Świat 72, Warsaw, Poland. It is the seat of the Polish Academy of Sciences. History Origin The history of the Staszic Palace dates from 1620, when King Sigismund III of Poland ...

in the center of

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

, near the

Copernicus Nicolaus Copernicus (; pl, Mikołaj Kopernik; gml, Niklas Koppernigk, german: Nikolaus Kopernikus; 19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath, active as a mathematician, astronomer, and Catholic canon, who formulated ...

monument. Among its founders were professors:

Bogdan Suchodolski Bogdan Suchodolski (27 December 1903 – 2 October 1992) was a Polish philosopher, historian of science and culture and teacher. He served as a marszałek senior, senior marshal of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland, Sejm from 1985 to 1989. Biogra ...

and

Aleksander Birkenmajer Aleksander Ludwik Birkenmajer (8 July 1890 – 30 September 1967) was a Polish historian of exact sciences and philosophy, bibliologist, professor of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków and of the Warsaw University. Biography He was the son o ...

. In the mid 1970s, it was renamed to the Institute for the History of Science, Education and Technology. Since 1994, the name has been shortened to the Institute for the History of Science, but with its previous research scope. The head of its present Academic Council is Leszek Zasztowt. Since 2011 the Institute has taken the official name of

Ludwik Birkenmajer Ludwik Antoni Birkenmajer (18 May 1855 - 20 November 1929), Polish historian of science, physicist, astronomer, professor of the Jagiellonian University. Biography Descended from the German family settled in Galicia (Eastern Europe), Galicia ( ...

and

: ''L & A Birkenmajer Institute for the History of Science'' (Polish: Instytut Historii Nauki PAN imienia Ludwika i Aleksandra Birkenmajerów).

Structure

The Institute consists of two departments: the Department of the History of

Social Sciences Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of soci ...

, History of

Education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...

and Scholarly Institutions (Sections: History of Social Sciences, History of Education, History of Scientific Organizations), and the Department of the History of

Exact Sciences The exact sciences, sometimes called the exact mathematical sciences, are those sciences "which admit of absolute precision in their results"; especially the mathematical sciences. Examples of the exact sciences are mathematics, optics, astron ...

Natural Sciences Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...

and

Technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, science, ...

(Sections: History of Exact Sciences and Technology, History of Medicine, History of Chemistry and Pharmacy, History of Mathematics).

Field of interest

The Institute conducts research focused on the

history of science The history of science covers the development of science from ancient times to the present. It encompasses all three major branches of science: natural, social, and formal. Science's earliest roots can be traced to Ancient Egypt and Meso ...

, both

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at the t ...

and

social sciences Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of soci ...

as well as

natural Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are p ...

and

exact sciences The exact sciences, sometimes called the exact mathematical sciences, are those sciences "which admit of absolute precision in their results"; especially the mathematical sciences. Examples of the exact sciences are mathematics, optics, astron ...

, and the

history of technology The history of technology is the history of the invention of tools and techniques and is one of the categories of world history. Technology can refer to methods ranging from as simple as stone tools to the complex genetic engineering and info ...

. The history of culture and history of education and pedagogical thought are also main research fields, equally with the

history of ideas Intellectual history (also the history of ideas) is the study of the history of human thought and of intellectuals, people who conceptualize, discuss, write about, and concern themselves with ideas. The investigative premise of intellectual histor ...

and its philosophical milieu.

Notable academics

* Paweł Czartoryski *

Tadeusz Kowalik Tadeusz Kowalik (19 November 1926 – 30 July 2012) was a Polish economist, public intellectual and political and activism, social activist. As a prolific publicist in the area of political economy, he is notable for his dissenting left-wing politi ...

Jerzy Michalski Jerzy Michalski (9 April 1924 in Warsaw – 26 February 2007 in Warsaw) was a Polish historian, specializing in the 18th and 19th centuries. He was a professor of the Institutenof History at the Polish Academy of Sciences The Polish Academy of ...

Jerzy Osiatyński Jerzy Osiatyński (2 November 1941 – 4 February 2022) was a Polish politician. A member of the Democratic Union, he served in the Sejm from 1989 to 2001 and was Minister of Finance from 1992 to 1993. Osiatyński died in Warsaw Warsaw ...

* Bolesław Skarżyński *

Ryszard Terlecki Ryszard Iwon Terlecki (born 2 September 1949) is a Polish politician, the Parliamentary Caucus Head of the Law and Justice party. Terlecki, a historian and professor of humanities, lectures at the Pontifical University of John Paul II. He is a ...

* Leszek Zasztowt

Series editions

Nicolaus Copernicus Nicolaus Copernicus (; pl, Mikołaj Kopernik; gml, Niklas Koppernigk, german: Nikolaus Kopernikus; 19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath, active as a mathematician, astronomer, and Catholic Church, Catholic cano ...

, Opera omnia, Vol. I–IV, 1973–2007; editor

and Paweł Czartoryski, and successors. * History of Polish Science (Historia nauki polskiej, in Polish, Vol. I–X, 1970–2015; and continuation, editor Bogdan Suchodolski and successors.
Studia Copernicana
Vol. I–XLI, 1970–2009; and continuation, editor Paweł Czartoryski and successors.
Monographs on the History of Science and Technology

Monographs on the History of Education
editor Leszek Zasztowt.
Fontes Rerum ad Historiam Scientiae Spectantium (Sources to the History of Science)

History of Education Archives
Vol. I–XIII and continuation.

Journals

*
Analecta. Studies and Materials for the History of Science
' ("Analecta. Studia i Materiały z Dziejów Nauki", semi-annual journal published in Polish with English summaries). * '' Quarterly Journal for the History of Science and Technology'' ("Kwartalnik Historii Nauki i Techniki"). *
Dissertations on the History of Education
' ("Rozprawy z Dziejów Oświaty", annual journal publishing articles in Polish, English and Russian). * ''

Organon The ''Organon'' ( grc, Ὄργανον, meaning "instrument, tool, organ") is the standard collection of Aristotle's six works on logical analysis and dialectic. The name ''Organon'' was given by Aristotle's followers, the Peripatetics. The si ...

'', annual journal founded in 1936 and published in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish.

Bibliography

* ''Instytut Historii Nauki Polskiej Akademii Nauk w latach 1953–2003. Księga jubileuszowa z okazji pięćdziesięciolecia działalności'', edited by Joanna Schiller and Leszek Zasztowt, Warszawa 2004.

External links

Official website

Electronic catalog of the Library of the Institute for the History of Science of the Polish Academy of Sciences

Institute for the History of Science of the Polish Academy of Sciences in the Polish Science database
{{authority control Educational institutions established in 1954 History institutes History of science organizations Institutes of the Polish Academy of Sciences 1954 establishments in Poland History organisations based in Poland