The Historiography of Contemporary Science and Technology (Routledge Studies in the History of Science, Technology and Medicine)

More than ninety percent of all scientific history has been made during the last half century. So far, however, only a fraction of historical scholarship has dealt with this period. Merely a decade ago, most scientific historians considered recent science - the scientific culture created, lived and remembered by contemporary scientists - an area of study best left to the historical actors themselves. Who Will Sort Out The Hundred Or More Paul Ehrlichs?: Remarks On The Historiography Of Recent And Contemporary Technoscience / Thomas Soderqvist -- Whigs, Prigs And Politics: Problems In The Historiography Of Contemporary Science / Jeff Hughes -- The Conversation: History And History As It Happens / M. Susan Lindee -- Using Interviews To Write The History Of Science / Soraya De Chadarevian -- Writing The History Of Space Science And Technology: Multiple Audiences With Divergent Goals And Standards / Joseph N. Tatarewicz -- Participant Observation And The Study Of Biomedical Sciences: Some Methodological Observations / Ilana Lowy -- The Living Scientist Syndrome: Memory And History Of Molecular Regulation / Jean-paul Gaudilliere -- Electric Memories And Progressive Forgetting / Skuli Sigurdsson -- Knowledge Of The Brain: The Visualizing Tools Of Contemporary Historiography / Susan E. Cozzens -- Writing About Scientists Of The Near Past / Frederic L. Holmes -- Recent Science: Late-modern And Post-modern / Paul Forman -- Scientists As Policymakers, Advisors And Intelligence Agents: Linking Contemporary Diplomatic History With The History Of Contemporary Science / Ronald E. Doel -- Who's Afraid Of The History Of Contemporary Science? / Steve Fuller. Edited By Thomas Söderqvist. Revised Versions Of Papers Presented At The International Workshop On The Historiography Of Contemporary Science, Technology And Medicine,held On 16-17 September 1994 At Göteborg University, Sweden. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Contents 6 Preface 8 Notes on Contributors 12 1 Who Will Sort out the Hundred or More Paul Ehrlichs? Remarks on the Historiography of Recent and Contemporary Technoscience • Thomas Söderqvist 14 2 Whigs, Prigs and Politics: Problems in the Historiography of Contemporary Science • Jeff Hughes 32 3 The Conversation: History and History as it Happens • M. Susan Lindee 52 4 Using Interviews to Write the History of Science • Soraya de Chadarevian 64 5 Writing the History of Space Science and Technology: Multiple Audiences with Divergent Goals and Standards • Joseph N. Tatarewicz 84 6 Participant Observation and the Study of Biomedical Sciences: Some Methodological Observations • Ilana Löwy 104 7 The Living Scientist Syndrome: Memory and History of Molecular Regulation • Jean-Paul Gaudillière 122 8 Electric Memories and Progressive Forgetting • Skúli Sigurdsson 142 9 Knowledge of the Brain: The Visualizing Tools of Contemporary Historiography • Susan E. Cozzens 164 10 Writing about Scientists of the Near Past • Frederic L. Holmes 178 11 Recent Science: Late-Modern and Post-Modern • Paul Forman 192 12 Scientists as Policymakers, Advisors and Intelligence Agents: Linking Contemporary Diplomatic History with the History of Contemporary Science • Ronald E. Doel 228 13 Who’s Afraid of the History of Contemporary Science? • Steve Fuller 258 Index 274 Today, an increasing number of historians are turning to the history of recent and contemporary science. When doing so, they are confronted with new and unfamiliar methodological and theoretical problems: How to handle the huge amounts of published and unpublished sources? Is it possible to write a synthetic history of recent science? What level of scientific training is necessary to understand recent and contemporary science? Does the lack of historical distance prevent good scholarship? Can (and will) historians of recent science share the turf with other professional groups, such as active scientists, scholars of science and technology studies, and science journalism? How to deal with scientists' and technocrats' constant interference with our work? Whose history are we writing? Whose science? The thirteen contributors to this volume are active researchers in what has been called 'the last frontier' in the history of science