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Introduction: historical geographies of science – places, contexts, cartographies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2005

SIMON NAYLOR
SIMON NAYLOR
Affiliation:
School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, University Road, Bristol, BS8 1SS, UK.
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Abstract

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This paper outlines the contours of a historical geography of science. It begins by arguing for the relevance of spatially oriented histories of scientific thought and practice. The paper then considers three different historical geographies of science: those concerned with the places and spaces of science, those that detail the spatial contexts of scientific endeavour, and those that analyse the internal ‘cartographies’ of scientific theories and methods. The paper concludes with a discussion of other possible avenues of investigation in this field.

Scientific knowledge is made in a lot of different places. Does it matter where? Can the location of scientific endeavour make any difference to the conduct of science? And even more important, can it affect the content of science? In my view the answer to these questions is yes.

Type
Introduction
Information
The British Journal for the History of Science , Volume 38 , Issue 1 , March 2005 , pp. 1 - 12
Copyright
© 2005 British Society for the History of Science

Footnotes

Thanks to Janet Browne, Crosbie Smith, Simon Schaffer and Trish Hatton for their editorial and administrative work on this issue; to all those who acted as referees, often under tight deadlines; and of course to all the authors. Thanks also to Olivier Milhaud, David Livingstone and Simon Schaffer for their comments on this introductory essay.