The Eves: From the Institute for the History of Science to the Institute for the History of Science and Technology of the USSR Academy of Science

Ilizarov, Simon

doi:10.31857/S020596060010871-0

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Voprosy istorii estestvoznaniia i tekhniki

The Eves: From the Institute for the History of Science to the Institute for the History of Science and Technology of the USSR Academy of Science

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The Eves: From the Institute for the History of Science to the Institute for the History of Science and Technology of the USSR Academy of Science

PII

S020596060010871-0-1

DOI

10.31857/S020596060010871-0

Publication type

Article

Status

Published

Authors

Simon Ilizarov

Affiliation: S. I. Vavilov Institute for the History of Science and Technology
Address: Moscow, Ul. Baltiyskaya, 14

Journal name

Voprosy istorii estestvoznaniia i tekhniki

Edition

Volume 41 3

Pages

519-559

Abstract

This paper is devoted to a very important event in the historiography of the history of science – the restoration of the Institute for the History of Science (IEE) in 1944–1945 on the initiative of V. L. Komarov, President of the USSR Academy of Sciences, and with the personal permission of I. V. Stalin. The paper reviews the main stages in the development of IHS that had to go through several crises and periods of relatively normal development in an extremely difficult sociopolitical environment where Soviet science was being badly shaken by numerous ideological or, rather, repressive campaigns. The paper shows the role of IEE leaders (Kh. S. Koshtoyants, Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences who succeeded Komarov as director of the Institute, and N. A. Figurovskii who was deputy director under Koshtoyants) and research fellows (S. L. Sobol, A. P. Yushkevich, and others) in the Institute’s work and development. The evolution of the attitude of S. I. Vavilov, President of the USSR Academy of Sciences, towards IHS and the history of science in general is analyzed. Initially, S. I. Vaviliov was extremely negative about the creation of the Institute. A number of previously unknown events are reconstructed based on the archival material, introduced for scientific use for the first time: the relocation of IEE from Moscow to Leningrad in 1948, which could have led to its dissolution, and a memorandum on the development of the history of science in the USSR, prepared on the instruction of B. D. Grekov, Academician-Secretary of the History and Philosophy Division (OIF) of the USSR Academy of Sciences. This is an important document that captures the historiographic situation in the studies on the history of science. A 1952 event that, in the end, determined the fate of IHS was a failed attempt to create the Institute for the History of Technology under the auspices of the USSR Academy of Sciences. This failure led to a forcible merger of the Commission for the History of Technology (KIT) with IEE and the latter’s transformation into the Institute for the Hof the USSR Academy of Sciences on the initiative of V. A. Golubtsova, Deputy Chair of KIT. This had led to yet another crisis that lasted a decade.

Keywords

Institute for the History of Science, history of science, V. L. Komarov, Kh. S. Koshtoyants, S. I. Vavilov, N. A. Figurovskii, S. L. Sobol, A P. Yushkevich, Commission for the History of Technology, Institute for the History of Technology, V. A. Golubtsova

Received

28.09.2020

Publication date

29.09.2020

Number of characters

85167

Cite

GOST	Ilizarov S. The Eves: From the Institute for the History of Science to the Institute for the History of Science and Technology of the USSR Academy of Science // Voprosy istorii estestvoznaniia i tekhniki – 2020. – V. 41. – 3 C. 519-559 [Electronic resource]. URL: https://vietmag.org/S020596060010871-0-1 (circulation date: 03.07.2024). DOI: 10.31857/S020596060010871-0
MLA	Ilizarov, Simon "The Eves: From the Institute for the History of Science to the Institute for the History of Science and Technology of the USSR Academy of Science." Voprosy istorii estestvoznaniia i tekhniki 41.3 (2020):519-559. DOI: 10.31857/S020596060010871-0
APA	Ilizarov S. (2020). The Eves: From the Institute for the History of Science to the Institute for the History of Science and Technology of the USSR Academy of Science. Voprosy istorii estestvoznaniia i tekhniki 41(3), pp.519-559 DOI: 10.31857/S020596060010871-0

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