Science Beyond Borders Michał Kokowski ORCID 0000-0002-5389-9051 L. and A. Birkenmajer Institute for the History of Science, Polish Academy of Sciences (Warsaw – Kraków, Poland)
[email protected] The divergent histories of Bose-Einstein statistics and the forgotten achievements of Władysław Natanson (1864–1937) Abstract This article investigates the forgotten achievements of Wła- dysław Natanson (1864–1937) related to the creation of Bose- -Einstein statistics. The introductory part of the article presents considerations regarding the methodology of history and the history of exact sciences, and then the divergent research perspectives that can be taken in the description of the history of Bose-Einstein sta- tistics, as well as the author’s integrated approach to this issue, which eliminates the disadvantages of these divergent views. This integrated approach is then used to describe the achievements of Władysław Natanson related to the creation of Bose-Einstein statistics. These achievements are presented against the background and in the context of discussions which – relatively sporadically – PUBLICATION e-ISSN 2543-702X INFO ISSN 2451-3202 DIAMOND OPEN ACCESS CITATION Kokowski, Michał 2019: The divergent histories of Bose-Einstein statistics and the forgotten achievements of Władysław Natanson (1864–1937). Studia Historiae Scientiarum 18, pp. 327–464. DOI: 10.4467/2543702XSHS.19.012.11018. ARCHIVE RECEIVED: 13.04.2019 LICENSE POLICY ACCEPTED: 17.09.2019 Green SHERPA / PUBLISHED ONLINE: 15.11.2019 RoMEO Colour WWW http://www.ejournals.eu/sj/index.php/SHS/; http://pau.krakow.pl/Studia-Historiae-Scientiarum/ Michał Kokowski The divergent histories of Bose-Einstein statistics and the forgotten achievements... took place among various groups of researchers: historians and philosophers of science, physicists, sociologists of scientific knowledge in the 20th and 21st centuries.