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Relocating the History of Science pp 69–84Cite as

Centers and Peripheries Revisited: STEP and the Mainstream Historiography of Science

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Part of the book series: Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science ((BSPS,volume 312))

Abstract

This chapter describes the history of the international research group “Science and Technology in the European Periphery” (STEP). It analyses STEP’s genuine academic culture, its complex relation with the mainstream historiography of science and the crucial role that Professor Kostas Gavroglu has played in the making of the whole project, from its foundation in Barcelona in 1999 to its further intellectual, academic growth. It also describes in detail STEP’s main achievements through conferences and publications on subjects such as scientific travels, scientific textbooks and their circulation, national historiographies of science, science popularization in the periphery, scientific controversies, with the most recent meetings covering different topics organized into thematic sessions. Taking “centers” and “peripheries” as flexible and dynamic categories, the STEP research agenda has enriched the study of circulation of knowledge in the past and shall also contribute to a new multicultural approach to a truly European history of science in the future.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The main volumes worth mentioning are Bensaude-Vincent and Abbri (1995), Knight and Kragh (1998), Fox and Nieto-Galan (1999), Bensaude-Vincent and Lundgren (2000).

  2. 2.

    In 1994, the rationale of STEP had already been outlined and developed by Kostas Gavroglu in the European project “Prometheus”: European Community Project, Human Capital and Mobility, Scientific and Technical Cooperation Networks Project Prometheus—The Spreading of the Scientific Revolution from the countries where it originated to the countries in the Periphery of Europe, during the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries, CHRX-CT93-0299, 1994–1996. For more details, see Ana Simões’s chapter in this volume.

  3. 3.

    STEP, first Meeting. Barcelona 1999. Unpublished manuscript.

  4. 4.

    STEP, first Meeting. Barcelona 1999. Unpublished manuscript.

  5. 5.

    This was the case, for instance, among other cases, of the European Society for the History of Science (ESHS) second International Conference, held in September 2006 in Cracow (Poland). A session was devoted there to “Science and Technology in the European Periphery (STEP): (Re)assessing some of historiographical issues”. It aimed to discuss a number of issues associated with the “appropriation” of scientific ideas and practices from the various centres of Europe to the regions of the European periphery. Other STEP sessions were organized regularly in international meetings, whereas single STEP members progressively spread that historiography in individual papers and books.

  6. 6.

    http://www.springer.com/new+%26+forthcoming+titles+(default)/book/978-1-4020-1259-4 (last accessed, 12-10-2014).

  7. 7.

    Fourth STEP meeting. Call for papers (unpublished text).

  8. 8.

    Patiniotis (2006). The volume contains the following papers: [In Greek] Manolis Patiniotis, “Nation, Science, Identities. Historiography of Science in the European Periphery”. 3–16; Ana Simões, Ana Carneiro, Maria Paula Diogo, “Issues in the Historiography of Science in Portugal. A look from the standpoint of four twentieth century types of sources” 17–39; Berna Kılınç, “History of science as a civilizational project” 40–49; Agustí Nieto-Galan, “The history of science in Spain: Imperial past, peripheries and the making of the modern state” 50–74; Ernst Homburg, “Boundaries and audiences of national histories of science: Insights from the history of science and technology of the Netherlands”. 75–109.

  9. 9.

    Nuncius, 23 (2008): Nieto-Galan, A., “The history of science in Spain: a critical overview”, 211–36; Simões, A., Carneiro, A., Diogo, M.P., “Perspectives on contemporary history of science in Portugal”, 237–63; Patiniotis, M., “Origins of the historiography of modern Greek science”, 265–89; Kilinc, B., “Ahmed Midhat and Adnan Adivar on history of science and civilizations”, 291–308; Homburg, E., “Boundaries and audiences of national histories of science: insights from the history of science and technology of the Netherlands”, 309–45.

  10. 10.

    “In particular, studies focusing on travels, forms of scientific practice and teaching, scientific controversies and on ways of communicating science in the European periphery have raised interesting questions, and provided clues to the re-examination of historical and historiographical issues.” Gavroglu et al. (2008, 168).

  11. 11.

    Take for instance the case of Isis, which does not usually review collective volumes, as a positive sign of its reception among the international community, Bensaude-Vincent (2010).

  12. 12.

    Fifth STEP Meeting. Call for papers. (unpublished manuscript).

  13. 13.

    Sixth STEP Meeting. Call for papers (unpublished manuscript).

  14. 14.

    Seventh STEP meeting, call for papers (unpublished text).

  15. 15.

    For the question of academic hegemony see Nieto-Galan (2011).

  16. 16.

    See for instance: Secord (2004), Schaffer et al. (2009), Renn (2012).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre d’Història de la Ciència (CEHIC), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    Agustí Nieto-Galan

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  1. Agustí Nieto-Galan
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Correspondence to Agustí Nieto-Galan .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Athens, Athens, Greece

    Theodore Arabatzis

  2. Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, Germany

    Jürgen Renn

  3. Centro Interuniversitário de História das Ciências e Tecnologia (CIUHCT), Faculdade de Ciência, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal

    Ana Simões

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Nieto-Galan, A. (2015). Centers and Peripheries Revisited: STEP and the Mainstream Historiography of Science. In: Arabatzis, T., Renn, J., Simões, A. (eds) Relocating the History of Science. Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science, vol 312. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14553-2_6

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