George Sarton: the Father of the History of Science. Part 1. Sarton's
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EUGENE GARFIELD INSTITUTE FOR SCIENTIFIC lNFORMATION@ George Sarton: The Father of the History of Science. Part 1. Sarton’s Early Lffe fn Belgium Number 25 June 24, 1985 Introdudfolr events and publications in which Sarton has been memorialized. The year 1984 marked the centennial This essay was originally planned for of the birth of George Alfred LEon Sar- presentation at the international confer- ton, a pioneer in establishing the history ence honoring Sarton that was held in of science as a discipline in its own right. Ghent, Belgium last fall. A slightly con- In honor of the Sarton centennial, the densed version of it was published re- journal he founded and edtted for 40 cently in the Journal of the History of the years, Isis, published a special issue in Behavioml Sciences.2 This fiit part fo- March 1984 containing a number of arti- cuses on Sarton’s formative years in his cles dedicated to Sarton’s contributions native Belgium, prior to his emigration to the history of science. 1The editors of to the US during World War I. Part 2 his, the primary journal in the field of will focus on Sarton’s struggles to attain the history of science, also plan a special his vision of a new dmcipline uniting the issue at the end of 1985 to review the two cultures of art and science. %ton’s Major works (1450-1600); and The History of Science and the New Humanism. Table 1 fiats the titles of Sarton is perhaps best known as the author the joumafs in which Sarton’s works were of what many consider to be one of the most published. Table 2 lists Sarton’s most-cited definitive works of the history of sci- works, according to data accumulated from ence-the mammoth Introduction to the 1955 to 1984 by ISF”s Science Citation fn- Mkory of Science. The three-volume, de@ (SCF ), Social Sciences Citation In- 4,236-page work consists of five tomes, in de~ (SSCP ), and Arts & Humanities Cita- which Sarton reviewed and cataloged the sci- tion ~ndex~ (A& HCW). Keep in mind that entflc and culturaf contributions of every most of Sarton’s works were pubfished welf civifkzation from antiquity through the four- before 1955, the earliest date for which IN’s teenth century. data are available. Thus, these works may Among the other major works by Sarton, have passed through their peak citation years author of 15 books and over 300 articles, are before they were included in any of our in- A History of Science, a tw-volume rework- dexes. ing of hk lectures covering the acquisition of For Sarton, science was “the totality of knowledge from ancient science and the positive knowledge.”s According to a 1953 Golden Age of Greece through the Hellenis- article by Wfliam H. Hay, then of the De- tic period; A Guide to the History of Science, partment of Philosophy, University of Wis- a bibliography; Appreciation of A ncient and consin, Mad~on, Sarton’s devotion to com- Medieval Science During the Renaissance piling the history of science was born of his 241 Table 1: JoumaLs that have pubfished George Despite the importance that Sarton placed !kton’s work. on the history of science, however, the disci- pline was a means, not an end. Sarton’s ulti- Alumni (Brussels) Asnericmr Orientaf Society. Journal mate goal was an integrated philosophy of Archiv fuer Geschlchte der Mathematik, der science that bridged the gap between the sci- Naturwissenschaften und der Tecfusik ences and the humanities-an ideal he called Archives Intematiossales d’Histoire des Sciences “the new humanism,”7 as F .S. Bodenheimer Brdtetin of the Hktory of Medicine quotes him in Archives Internationals Buffetin of the New York Academy of Medicine d’Histoire des Sciences. And Hay reports that Cahiers d’Histoire Mondiate (Paris) Centaurus in the division between scientist and human- Chymia ist, Sarton saw a “chasm. ..cutting our culture Ciel et Terre asunder and threatening to destroy it.”q As Cleveland Medical Library. Buttetin E.]. Dijksterhuis noted, Sarton waged his war Ffamberge; Revue de Litt%strsrs et d’Art on two fronts, admonishing humanists who Gasette des Beaux-Artc Harvard Library Brdtedn trivialize science as a mere technical occupa- Isis tion to respect it as one of the most impres- loumal of the HBtory of Medicine and Allied sive activities of which humanity is capable, Sciences while at the same time imploring scientists to Joumat of Utiled Science (Erkensrtnis) immerse themselves in the scholarly tradi- Lychnos Monist tions of the humanities.s Bodenheimer says Nation (New York) that Sarton perceived the hktory of science Natural History as the synthesix of science and the humanities Open Court, A Quarterly Magazine that would help to make ”.. .xcientists who are Osiris not mere scientists, but also men and Proceedings of the American Philosophical citizens. ”7 Society Renaissance (Paris) In an essay on the coverage of hktory and Rewse Bleue, Politique et LM6mire sociology of science journals in Currenr COrr- Revne Gi?n.%ale des Sciences Pures et Appliqu.5es /ent# (CCP ), which appeared in these pages Revwe d’Histoire des Sciences et de Leurs some years ago,g 1 noted that early in my ca- Applications reer as an information scientist, I almost be- Science Scientia (Paris) came a historian of science myself. When I ScienW1c Monthly was a young, upstart member of the Johns Scribners Magazine Hopkins University Welch Medical Library Syrian World Indexing Project in Baltimore, Maryland, 1 Vie Intemationale had plenty of exposure to the field. For in- Yale Review stance, my boss, Sanford V. Larkey, a physi- cian by training, was fascinated by Elizabe- than medicine. ‘@12 My friend and mentor conviction that such study is the key to the Chauncey D. Leake, chairman of the proj- history of humanity, yieldlng unique insights ect’s advisory group, was one of those rare in- concerning the complexity of human nature.4 dividuals who combined an interest in the The purpose of the Introduction to the Histo- history of science with active laboratory re- rJ’ c1 Science, as Sarton puta it, is to “. ..ex- search. His work includes articles on Gali- pfain briefly, yet as completely as possible, ]eolJ and Egyptian medical papyri. 14 And the development of one essential phase of hu- during my stay on the project, I often attend- man civiliition.,. the development of sci- ed Owsei Temkin’s and Richard Shryock’s ence .. No history of civilization can be tol- lectures on the hktosy of medicine. Inciden- erably complete which does not give consid- tally, the CC essay just cited contains a list of erable space to the explanation of scientific the history, philosophy, and sociology of sci- progress. “5 Indeed, in The Study of the Histo- ence journals covered in CC at the time; an ry of Science, Sarton states that ”... the Idst& updated list of such journals currently cov- cy of science is the only history which can il- ered in ISI’S various indexes is shown in lustrate the progress of mankind. In fact, Table 3. ‘progress’ has no definite and unquestionable Even without the nodding acquaintance meaning in other fields than the field of sci- with the hixtory of science that I developed ence.”b at Johns Hopkkts, however, the name of 242 TaMe 2: Moat-cited works by George Sarton arranged in chronologic order. A= bibliographic data. B=number of citations from the SCP, 1955-1984. C=number of citations from the SSC~, 1966-1984. D= number of citations from the A&HCp, 1976-1984. E= total number of citations. A BCDE SartoII, George. Mrwiuction to the history of science. From Homer to Omar 38 34 25 97 K/myyam. Baltimore, MD: WWams & Witkins, 1927. Vol. I. --------------- The history of science and the new humantim. 66214 New York: Henry HoIt, 1931.178 p. --------------- Introduction to the history of science, From Rabbi Ben Ezm to 1871136 Roger Bacon. Baldmorc, MD: WWuns & Wilkiis, 1931. Vol. II, part I. --------------- The study of the history of mathematics. 4419 Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1936.113 p. -------------- The study of the history of science. 44412 Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1936.75 p, --------------- Introduction to the history of science. Science and learning in the 811726 fourteeruh century. Baltimore, MD: Wiltiams & Wilkins, 1947. Vol. 111, part I. --------------- The Ife of science. Essays in the hirtory of civilization. 9s 115 New York: Henry Schuman, 1948. 197p. --------------- A history of science. Ancient science through the Golden Age of 29 26 7 62 Greece. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1952.646 p. --------------- A guide to the hirtory of science. 108119 Waltham, MA: Chronica Botarrica, 1952, 316 p. --------------- Galen of Peqamon. 135220 Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas Press, 1954.112 p, --------------- Appreciation of ancient and medieval science dun’ng the RenaLrmnce 125825 (1450-1600). Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1955.233 p. --------------- Six wings: men of science in the Renaissance. ” 156324 Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1957.318 p. --------------- A hirtory of science. Hellenistic science ond cuhua in the last three 358245 centuries B.C. Cmnbridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1959. 554 p. ●As related by Sarton himseff, this bock covers “the whole of science during a period of a century and a haff (1450-1600) .“ Its title is a continuation of a tradition traceable to the Old Testament. Sarton was made aware of the tradition through the work of Immanuel Bonfils of Tarascon, a med]eval writer who flourished around the years 134@l 377 and who was best known for his astronomical tables, called Xanfe neshan”rn, or “wings of eagles,” from the Book of Exodus.