Abstract
History of science played and continues to play an important role in the processes of nation building. Histories of the sciences in Germany were published exactly at the time when the German nation state came into being.
History of the mathematical sciences was part of the topics to be studied for a state examination to become civil servant in late imperial China. The context of professionalization of the history of science in Republican and People's Republican eras of China, the history of mathematics and the history of astronomy also became entangled with political power.
These examples point to a larger issue: the power of the historiography of science in general. What kind of powers do the historians and of science have? In what way do the actors perceive and reflect upon matters of power? How does it reflect in their research and style of writing? How can their impact be detected in the choice of narratives, topics of discussion and methodologies? The power of the history of science can be captured where alternatives clash.
What were the centers and margins of historiography of science? How do counter-histories change the historical discourse? In this session we start exploring some of these questions focusing on the last two centuries. We look at how examiners in late imperial China set questions from the historiography of astronomy; how botanists built the politics of their discipline; how historians elevated heroes of science for their nation, such as Descartes in 19th century France; or clashed over the nationality of e.g.
Copernicus. The 20th century professional historians of science participated in think tanks and influenced science policies both in China and America.
The approach from the perspective of power allows us to reverse the common ttreatment of historiography of science as a passive recipient of "influences" and "motivations" from outside; instead, we can study it as an active factor which aims to influence social consciousness and practice.