the Historical Foundations of Research Policies in Europe Edited by Luca Guzzetti European Commission DG RTD Address: Rue de la Loi, 200 SDME 2/147, B-1049 Brussels Fax: (32-2) 299 42 07 E-mail: [email protected] Euroscientia Conferences Science and Power: the Historical Foundations of Research Policies in Europe A Conference organised by the Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza (Firenze, Italy) Edited by Luca Guzzetti Firenze, 8-10 December 1994 A great deal of additional information on the European Union is available on the Internet. It can be accessed through the Europa server (http://europa.eu.int). Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2000 ISBN 92-828-9351-0 © European Communities, 2000 Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged. Printed in Belgium PRINTED ON WHITE CHLORINE-FREE PAPER Table of Contents Editor's Note 7 The Contributors 9 1. From Patronage to the Management of Science 11 Nicholas Jardine, The Place of Astronomy in Early-Modern European Culture 13 Giuseppe Olmi, Science and the Court: Some Comments on "Patronage " in Italy 25 Paula Findlen, A Site of Encounter: The Emergence of the Science Museum 47 William Eamon, Unmannered Science: Natural Philosophy and Medical Practice in the Piazza 63 2. Cognitive and Political Organisation of Science 69 Simon Schaffer, Modernity and Metrology 71 Kostas Gavroglu, The Sciences at the European Periphery during the Enlightenment: Transmission versus Appropriation 93 Svante Lindqvist, A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Science: The Dilemma of Engineering Schools in the 20th Century 109 Stuart Blume, Structures of Innovation and Their Historic Roots: The Case of Medicine 121 Table of Contents 3. The Development of National S&T Policies 137 Rudolf Stichweh, Differentiation of Science and Politics: Science Policy in the 19th and 20th Century 139 François Jacq, The Emergence of French Research Policy: Chance or Necessity? 149 José M. Sánchez-Ron, Styles in Spanish Science Policy (1900 -1960) 161 Roberto Maiocchi, Fascism and Italian Science Policy 179 Claudio Pogliano, Images and Practice of Science in Post-War Italy 187 Andrew Pickering, Beyond the Great Divide: Transformations of Science and Its Context in World War II 197 David Edgerton, The "White Heat" Revisited: The British Government and Technology in the 1960s 207 4. Notes on a New Epistemology 237 Wolfgang Lefèvre, Material and Social Conditions in a Historical Epistemology of Scientific Thinking 239 Euroscientia Conferences - Information Note 247 Editor's Note Luca Guzzetti The aim of the conference was to highlight the main issues and trends that have characterised the centuries-long process of institutionalisation of scientific and technological research in Europe. Attention has been mostly focused on the great changes that occurred in the period 1500-1800 in the forms of patronage and institutional setting of the sciences, and on the process of progressive nationalisation of science in contemporary Europe. These historical studies represent a good stand-point for a critical assessment of the factors determining research policies and of the means deployed for their implementation. For several reasons - the quite long time passed since the taking place of the conference among them - not all the texts of the conference could be gathered for publication here. The sixteen articles composing this volume have thus been reorganised - following a roughly historical order in four sections: "From Patronage to the Management of Science", "Cognitive and Political Organisation of Science", "The Development of National S&T Policies" and "Notes on a New Epistemology". The first four papers deal with the period of birth of modern science, considering the development of a single discipline - astronomy (Nicholas Jardine) - and the role that "places" and social institutions different from the learned societies - the court (Giuseppe Olmi), the Science museum (Paula Findlen), and the piazza (William Eamon) - have played in the early institutionalisation of science. The two following articles treat of the role of standardisation in early modernity (Simon Schaffer), and of the appropriation of modern science in a European "periphery" (Kostas Gavroglu). Aspects of the modern development of two scientific disciplines are then considered: education in engineering (Svante Lindqvist), and the professional diffusion of new technologies in medicine (Stuart Blume). Getting closer to the twentieth century, the State becomes the main actor in scientific and technological activities, and the concept itsef of "science policy" emerges (Rudolf Stichweh). Five articles thus look at the development of politics and science policies in different European countries: France (François Jacq), Spain (José M. Sánchez-Ron), Italy (Roberto Maiocchi, Claudio Pogliano), and Great Britain (David Edgerton). With the only exception of the article by Andrew Pickering dealing mostly with the US, all texts consider the changing relations between science and power and the institutionalisation of science in Editor's Note Europe, in different periods of its history. The historical ordering has not been respected in the case of Wolgang Lefèvre, who in his article presents a historical approach to the philosophy of science - seemingly developing the proposals of naturalisation (Willard V. Quine) and socialisation (Mary Hesse) of epistemology. The conference was held in Florence from 8 to 10 December 1994, in the framework of the European Science and Technology Forum '. It was organised by the Istutito e Museo di Storia della Scienza (Florence) in collaboration with the Centre d'Histoire des Sciences et Techniques (Paris), CI.S. (Bologna), Department of History and Philosophy of Science (Cambridge), Instituto Documentales e Históricos sobre la Ciencia (Valencia), European University Institute (Florence), Max-Planck-Institut (Berlin), Office for the History of Science (Uppsala). Its scientific committee was formed by Michel André, Tore Frängsmyr, Paolo Galluzzi, Nicholas Jardine, John Krige, José M. López Pinero, Giuliano Pancaldi, Dominique Pestre, Jürgen Renn, Simon Schaffer. Special thanks to Marco Beretta, scientific secretary of the conference, who collaborated in the editing of the proceedings. Now, Euroscientia Conferences. The Contributors Stuart Blume, Department of Science and Technology Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. William Eamon, Department of History, New Mexico State University, USA. David Edgerton, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London, United Kingdom. Paula Findlen, Department of History, Stanford University, USA. Kostas Gavroglu, Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Athens, Greece. François Jacq, Centre de Sociologie de l'Innovation, Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris, France. Nicholas Jardine, Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom. Wolfgang Lefèvre, Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Berlin, Germany. Svante Lindqvist, Museum Director, The Nobel Foundation, Stockholm, Sweden. Roberto Malocchi, Dipartimento di Filosofia, Università Cattolica di Milano, Italy. Giuseppe Olmi, Dipartimento di Discipline Storiche, Università di Bologna, Italy. Andrew Pickering, Department of Sociology, University of Illinois, USA. Claudio Pogliano, Istituto e Museo di Storia delle Scienza, Firenze, Italy The Contributors José M. Sánchez-Ron, Departamento de Física Teórica, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain. Simon Schaffer, Department of History and Philosophy of Science, Cambridge University, United Kingdom. Rudolf Stichweh, Faculty of Sociology, University of Bielefeld, Germany. 10 1. From Patronage to the Management of Science The Place of Astronomy in Early-Modern European Culture* Nicholas Jardine Introduction My paper will deal with ways in which forms of patronage affected the beliefs and goals of astronomy in the early modern period. Astronomy did not then make up a specialty or discipline in anything like the modern sense. Rather, it comprised a whole series of practices widely diffused through the various social sites and strata. So I shall start with a quick survey of the types and settings of sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century astronomy. I shall then concentrate on courtly patronage and its roles in sixteenth-century innovations in astronomy. Types and sites of astronomy Throughout the period astronomy (including what we call astrology) occupied a minor, but fairly constant place in university curricula. It was the noblest of the mathematical arts of the old quadrivium - arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy. It was part of the arts course preparatory to study in a higher faculty, generally law or theology in the Northern universities, law or medicine in the Italian universities. Although lecturers in "higher mathematics", that is, astronomy and astrology, were better paid than those in "lower mathematics", that is, arithmetic and geometry, the pay was miserable compared with the salaries of teachers in the higher faculties - at best a fifth or a quarter. The mathematics posts often provided a first taste of teaching for young men moving on to medicine, law or theology; and they were not infrequently held concurrently with medical professorships. University statutes and textbooks show astronomy teaching to have been for the most part at a very elementary level. The most widely used basic