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INSTITUTE FOR SCIENTIFIC lNFORMATION@

George Sarton: The Father of the History of . Part 1. Sarton’s Early Lffe fn

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. , 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, , published a special issue in Behavioml .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 . 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 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 , University of Wis- a bibliography; Appreciation of A ncient and consin, Mad~on, Sarton’s devotion to com- Medieval Science During the 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 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 .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 . Baldmorc, MD: WWuns & Wilkiis, 1931. Vol. II, part I.

------The study of the history of mathematics. 4419 Cambridge, MA: Press, 1936.113 p.

------The study of the history of science. 44412 Cambridge, MA: , 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. Since these tables were divided into six parts, they were more generally caUed Shesh kenafayim, an allusion to tbe six wings of the seraphim described in the Book of Isaiah: “each one of them had six wings; with twain he covered hk face and with twain he covered hw feet, and with twain he did fly. ” Thus, Sarton’s title is both a reference to the famous astronomical tables com- piled in Tarascon (Bouches-du-Rh&e) and to the Bible, which underlay so much of medieval and Renais- sance culture. Each wmg is devoted to some aspect of Renaissance science: the first is entitled “The frame of the Renaissance: exploration and education”; the second covers “Mathematics and astronomy”; “Physics, chemistry, technology” is the subject matter of the third wing; the fourth wing is devoted to “Natural history”; the fifth wing to “Anatomy and medicine”; and the final wing to “Leonardo da Vinci: art and science. ”

George Sarton was familiar to me, since my to the Bible. IS It was fascinating to trace the original interest in citation indexing involved history of a point Sarton made in his book, A its application to the humanities literature. History of Science. Ancient Science Through The first paper that I ever presented on the the Golden Age of Greece, concerning a pas- subject of citation indexing, given in Phila- sage in the Book of Joshua, which alludes to delphla in 1955, concerned citation indexes the translation of harfrot zurim. In a note ap-

243 . ..._.

Table 3: History, philosophy, and sociology of be bothered to have his clothes altered and science journals covered in 15P products. insisted on buying them off the rack to xave time .“ 17 Annals of Science Sarton was born in Ghent, East Flanders, Archive for History of Exact Sciences Belgium, on August 31, 1884. His father, Al- British loumal for the History of Science fred Sarton, was the director and chief engi- British Journal for the Bulletin of the History of Medicine neer of the Belgian State railways. His Centaurus mother, L60nie Van HalmF, died when Impact of Science on Society George was less than a year old. Isis The Victorian household in which Sarton Journal of the History of Biology grew up was dominated by the personality of Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Alfred Sarton. In her book, I Knew a Phoe- Sciences nix, writes of her impressions of Medical History her grandparents. Her grandfather ‘“..was a Philosophy of Science confirmed bachelor, who had for a brief in- Philosophy of the Social Sciences terlude happened to be married, or so, at Social Science History Social Studies of Science least, it appeared to me... .“18 (p. 12) For Synthese May, the phrase, % my father’s house,” with Technology and Culture which George used to begin so many anec- dotes about his life in Belgium before World War 1, always brought into focus a sharp im- pending the section on prehistoric medicine, age of Alfred Sarton—lsltrasensitive, sar- Sarton contends that the phrase has been donic, with bright, deep-set eyes.”fs (p. 13) mistranslated as “sharp knives”; the correct But of Sarton’s mother, little is known— meaning, he claims, is “flint knives.”lb Thus, even to those in her immediate family. LSonie Joshua 5:2 in the Authorized (King James) Sarton died of a hemorrhage a year after Version of the Bible reads, “At that time the George’s birth “, .. because she was too mod- Lord xaid unto Joshua, make thee sharp est to call for help, while her husband, swing- knives and circumcise again the children of ing his cane, ready to go out, waited for her in Israel the second time.” According to Sarton, vain. ”ls (p. 13) She played Chopin and loved however, the passage should read, “And at candied violets and jleur d’omnger. Accord- that time the Lord said unto Joshua, make ing to May, she was innocent and extrava- thee stone knives of the hardest flint, and gant, and shocked her husbands staid family having again a fixed abode, circumcise the by buying her gloves by the dozen. Yet she is children of Israel.” a lonely figure as well: “All around her hangs the perfume of sadness, the silence her hus- band never broke to tell little George some- The Early Years thing of that vanished young mother who so Who was this giant, George Sarton? What soon became younger than her son.”la (p. 14) was this polymathic scholar reaJly like? I met Loneliness also haunted the childhood his charming daughter, thewell-known poet memories of Sarton himself. An isolated, on- and novefist May Sarton, at the Sarton cen- IY chjjd, he was somewhat pampered by the, tennial; she has described him as “,.. an ex- househoId servants, who, with the best of in- ceedingly charming man; this charm made it- tentions, took his medicine for him when he self felt at once, on first meeting, in hk beam- was ill—especially if the concoction had a ing smile, thesmile ofadelighted and some- disagreeable taste. times mischievous chifd, that flashed out In spite of Sarton’s starvation for tender- below the great domed forehead and sensi- ness as a child, however, he was not without tive eyes behind thick glasxes. He was stout, an active imagination and a “streak of with beautifrsl hands and small feet, a stocky Flemish humor.” ts (p. 14) May Sarton writes, man who walked down Brattle Street in Cam- “When still eating in a high chair, George was bridge, Massachusetts, at exactly the same allowed to be present at dinner, but if he so time every morning, with the propulsive en- much as babbled a single word, his father, ergy of a small steam engine, a French beret without raising his head from his newspaper, on his head, a briefcase in one hand, in a coat reached forward to touch the bell (a round a little too long for him because he could not brass bell on a stand, tapped with one finger)

244 and when the maid appeared, said simply, following year, Sarton’s only surviving child, ‘Enlevez-/e’ [remove it]. When George was E16anore Mane (later shortened to May) was alone at a meal, formally served him in the born, and the journal Isis, Sarton’s “Revue dining room in MIShigh chair, and he did not consacrZe ; i’histoira de la science ,“ was like something he was given to eat, he founded. repeated the lordly gesture and the lordly Sarton liked to refer to hk wife, Mabel, as phrase and was delighted to see that, fike “the mother of those strange twins, May and ‘Open Sesame’ in reverse, he could thus have Isis,”18 (p. 69) and the hk.tory of science owes the unhappy cabbage, or whatever is was, re- a debt to Mrs. Sarton for the survival of its moved from sight.”ls (p. 14-15) first journal. When the journal was in its early days, Mabel wrapped and mailed each issue, according to I. Bernard Cohen, Harvard, a Sarton’s SOrrfks member of the board that assumed the duties Sarton first studied at the Ath6n@-the of editing Isis when Sarton stepped down equivalent of US primary and secondary from that position. Even in her last years, she schools—in his native town, and then at the watched over her husband tirelessly, to see one in Chimay for four years. In 1902 he en- that he dld not overtax himself. 19 An artist tered the University of Ghent to study at the and a distinguished designer of fumiture, FacultS de Phllosophle. One of hk teachers Mabel Sarton helped George meet the ex- there was the well-known, classical scholar penses incurred by Isis by supplementing KN Joseph Bidez, whose influence Sarton re- income with her own. She was inspiration, membered with gratitude. Sarton found, companion, and helpmeet to her husband, however, that the tradhional presentation of and when she died in 1950, he felt that a part the humanities dld not parallel his interests. of himself had been extinguished. So he abandoned the study of philosophy, Isis, a review devoted to the hktory and and in 1904, after a year of private reading philosophy of science, was to be, as Sarton and reflection, he reentered the university in defined it, “ . . .at once the philosophical jour- the Faculti5 des Sciences, in which he began nal of the scientists and the scientific journal work in the natural sciences. As he later of the , the hktoncal journal of wrote in his journal, “I hope thus to become the scientists and the scientific journal of the more than a writer of fine phrases, and bring historians, the sociological journal of the sci- my effective aid to the progress of the sci- entists and the scientific journal of the sociol- ences.”la (p. 64) ogists.”la (p. 69) As C.D. Hellman reports, Sarton’s studies included chemistry, crys- the title of the new journal was meant to tallography, and mathematics. He received evoke “... that period of human civilization the degree of docfeur des sciences from the which is perhaps the most impressive of University of Ghent in 1911 for a thesis in ce- all—its beginning.”zo lestial mechanics entitfed Les Pn”ncipes de la Like other scholarly journals, Isis would M@canique de Newton. For hk work in chem- publish original research articles, notes, istry, he was awarded a gold medal offered by queries, personal items, and book reviews. the four Belgian universities-Ghent, Lou- But a unique feature of the journal was its vain, Brussels, and L@ge. critical bibliography. During the 40 years he served as the editor of Isis, Sarton himself Foundfng of Isis regularly compiled this index of the major publications dealing with the hktory of sci- Almost immediately after obtaining his ence throughout the world. Its purpose was doctorate, on June 22, 1911, Sarton married to make scholars aware of resources and Eleanor Mabel Elwes, the daughter of a growing literature in the field, and to provide Welsh civil and mining engineer. The young a forum for the correction of errors. 19 couple established themselves in an old coun- By September 1912, Sarton had recruited a try house in Wondelgem, near Ghent. Sar- distinguished editorial board for the journal ton, whose small private income was too that include~ Henri Poincar#, Svante August modest to sustain a family, bought the house Arrhenius, Emile Durkheim, Jacques Loeb, with the proceeds of the auction of his de- Friednch Wilhelm Ostwald, and David Eu- ceased father’s wine cellar. The sale itself was gene Smith. As noted by Robert K. Merton, widely regarded as scandalous, but it was per- Columbia, and Arnold Thackray, University haps typical of the iconoclastic Sarton. In the of Pennsylvania and present editor of Isis, the

245 wide range of fields represented by the work war that most people referred to as “a scare” of these scholars reflected Sarton’s convic- lurked around the corner. tion that the history of science was by nature Despite the seemingly far-off nature of the an encyclopedic discipline, as well as his ori- threat, however, the Belgian newspapers entation toward universal history, and his were filled with rumors, and preparations of a philosophical belief in the brotherhood of sort were made. Of that time, May Sarton man.21 wrote, “The Civil Guard, to which my father With a discipline to be forged, esoteric the- atone time belonged, drilled now and then on ories and rigorous consistency were less im- the vilfage green, and took uttiforms out of portant to Sarton than establishing profes- mothballs. Sometime in July they were issued sional techniques, methodologies, and an in- ancient muskets. But no one really befieved tellectual orientation of comparison, summa- in that impossible war as a reality. In any tion, and synthesis. Thus, Sarton was a com- case.. .Belgium itself was neutral. Nothing bination of propagandist and proselytizer, could happen here. and Isis was the intended organ of the new “[But] on August second, the Germans de- discipline. It was through Isis, according to manded free passage, were refused, and on Thackray and Merton, that he hoped to “sys- August third the Wehrmacht marched in in tematically and holistically” combine “meth- their spiked helmets . .. . My father, though no odological, sociological, and philosophical longer an official member of the Civil Guard, perspectives with purely historical inquiry,” got out his heavy Civil Guard coat, took down enabling such inquiry to gain its full signifL the old musket, and reported for patrol duty. cance.zl (p. 108) The first issue of Isis ap- He was set to guard the railway intersection. peared in March 1913. In 1924, when the His- There, alone, a lantern in one hand, his gun tory of Science Society was founded, Isis be- in the other, he paced up and down all night came its official publication, but the society hoping that the German army would not did not assume full financial responsibility for come hurtling down the track. Fortunately, the journal until 1940. The annual deficit it [it] did not.”ls (p. 75-76) ran for 28 years was met by Sarton, who had Twenty-six German officers and infantry- no private or independent income. 19 men were billeted at the Sartons’ house in As subscriptions to Isis trickled in from aff Wondelgem, and Sarton was responsible for over the world, Sarton was hard at work tak- their safety; had any of the enlisted men ing voluminous notes for his monumental Irr- failed to make curfew, Sarton would have trocfuction to the History of Science. tg At the been taken out into his garden and shot. In- start, Sarton had intended to bring his History deed, it was to prevent just suet, an occur- upto the present, butthetask onthe scale he rence that he buried his Civil Guard coat, had planned proved beyond even his extraor- since members of the guard were being dinary efforta. In fact, accordkg to Cohen, treated as spies, Sarton would explain to students that, had he Little by little, as the war continued and known as much about the history of science Sarton realized—after a brief, frustrating stint in the Red Cross in Brussels—that he when he began his Introduction as he did could be of more use continuing his own when he finished the two-volume, 2, 155-page work, the Sartons came to the decision that work on the fourteenth century, he would they should leave the country. The quiet, never have gotten even that far. 19 scholarly idyll Sarton had enjoyed during these early, formative years was over: ahead lay years of uncertainty and academic up- W odd War 1 Isstervesses heaval, but the most fruitful part of Sarton’s The spring and summer of 1914 was an idyl- career was just beginning, lic time for the Sartons, according to May. Sarton’s emigration to the US and his tri- “We were beautifully happy and indepen- umph over numerous obstacles in the realiza- tion of his dreams are the subjects of Part 2 of dent, aff three.”ls (p. 74) But on June 28, the thk essay. Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated in . . . . . Sarajevo. AU through July of that year, May My thanks to Robert K. Merton for sug- wrote, as her father worked quietly in hk gesting the idea of writing this essay and to study, and her mother wondered why the Stephen A, Bonaduce and Cecelia Fiscus for plum tree woufd not bear fruit, diplomats their help with its prepamtion and its biblio- hurried back and forth across Europe. The graphic research. 019s51s1

246 REFERENCES

1. Thackray A, ed. Sarton, science, and history. (Whole issue, ) Isis 75(276), 1984.240 p. 2. Garfield E. The Iiie and career of George Sarton: the father of the history of science. J. His[. Behav, .Sci. 21(2): 107-17, 1985. 3. Sarton G. The history ojscience and the new humanism, Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1962. p. 118. 4. Hay W H. George Sarton: historian of science and humanist. Amer. Sri. 41:282-6, 1953. 5. Sarton G. Introduction to the history of science. From Homer to Omw Khayyam. Baltimore, MD: Wilfiams & Wilkins, 1950 (1927). Vol. I. p. 3. 6. ------The study of the history of science. New York: Dover, 1957, p, 5. 7, Bodenhefmer F S. George .%rton, Arch. Int. Hist, Sci. 9:295-8, 1956. 8. Dijksierhuls E L Obituaries in memoriam George Sarton, Centatow 4:369-81, 1956. 9. Garfield E. Additional history and sociology of science coverage in Current Contenf$. -hays of an information scientist. Philadelphia: 1S1 Press, 1980. Vol. 3. p. 723-6. 10. f.arkey S V. Childbirth in the days of Queen Elizabeth. Amer. J. Ob$tet. Gynecol. 27:303-8, 1934. 11, ----. ------, Pubfic health in Tudor . Amer. J, Public Health 24:912-3, 1934. 12. .------, Pubfic health in Tudor England. Amer. 3. Pub/it Hea/fh 24:1099-102, 1934. 13. Leake C D. Interrelations of sciences with humanities and . Reflections on quadricentennial of Galileo’s birth. Tex. J. .Sci. 17:5, 1%5. 14. ------, The old Egyptian medical papyri. Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas Press, 1952.108 p. 15. Garfield E. Citation indexes—new dimensions in documentation (citation index to the Old Testament). Unpublished speech presented at the American Documentation Institule. 2-4 November 1955. Philadelphia, PA. 16, Sartrm G. A history of science. Ancient science through the Golden Age of Greece. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1952. p. 8. 17. .%rton M. An informal portrait of George Sartom Tex. Quart. 5:101-12, 1%2. 18. ------.1 knew a phoenix. New York: Rinehsrt, 1959.222 p. 19, Cohen I B. George Sarton. New Yorker 29:286-303, 1954. 20. Hellmm C D. George Sarton, historian of science and new humanist. Science 12E:641-4,1958. 21. Thackray A & Merton R K. %r’ton,George Alfred L&on. Dictionary of scientific biogmphy. New York: Scribner, 1975. Vol. 12. p. 107-14.

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