National Physical Laboratory- Science and Technology in Wartime, Teddington, Middlesex, England, UK, 1944 In the Photometry Section of the Light Division at the National Physical Laboratory, a technician examines a selection of electric light bulbs which are used as standards in various photometric tests.

The History of Science and Technology in Times of Crisis – Call for Papers

[version française]

From November 17 to 19, 2025, the iRHiST will hold its second International Meeting at Sorbonne University. This year's theme is: "The History of Science and Technology in Times of Crisis." We invite all interested people who want to take part in this event to submit a proposal in response to this call for papers by September 8, 2025.

Published on 11/07/2025 - Mis à jour le 17/07/2025

Rationale

The current crisis undergone by science in the United States has mobilized scholars in the history of science and technology (HST) who sought to situate it in a broader historical perspective (Olesko 2025). Attention to the notion of crisis of course is not new: it was already a key concept in Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions for understanding the dynamics of knowledge, after having been frequently invoked by scientists themselves in the first half of the twentieth century. While this concept of crisis is now reexamined by some historians of science (Giovannetti-Singh 2024), it is also being illuminated by new studies in sociology and political science (Heurtaux 2023), as well as by work on the term’s ancient Greek origins that underscored its origins in the medical domain (Longhi 2023).

For its second meeting, the iRHiST wishes to examine the ways in which HST can  presently face the crisis. One goal is threefold:

  1. The first task is to understand how HST as an academic discipline can or must respond to the multiple (geo)political, social or environmental crises facing today's societies; in particular, what kind of history of science should be taught today, and with what objectives in mind?

  2. It then seems urgent to bring together historical studies from different eras and fields in which science and technology have had to deal with crisis situations (wars, persecutions, financial attrition, etc.): taken together, do these case studies provide useful lessons?

  3. Finally, we need to rethink our use of the notion of crisis in the history of science: is the disciplinary experience acquired by specialists in the field of science and technology relevant to specialists in other fields? Conversely, what can the latter bring to bear on issues specific to HST

 

Selected Bibliography

  • Olesko K. M., Eames A., Mody C. C. M., Löwy I., Zeller T., Walker M., Ash M. G., Haraway D. (2025). The crisis in American science. History of Science, 63(2), 125-165. https://doi.org/10.1177/00732753251343655 (Original work published 2025)
  • Giovannetti-Singh G., Kent R. (2024). Crises and the history of science: A materialist rehabilitation. BJHS Themes, 9, 39-57. https://doi.org/10.1017/bjt.2024.4
  • Heurtaux J., Renault R., Tarragoni F. (2023). États de crise. Tracés. Revue de sciences humaines, 44, 9-27. https://doi.org/10.4000/traces.15059
  • Longhi V. (2023). Crise : du grec krisis ? Tracés. Revue de sciences humaines, 44, 127-140. https://doi.org/10.4000/traces.15314

Organizing Committee

David Aubin, Charlotte Bigg, Cécilia Bognon-Küss, Florian Mathieu, Nathalie Rousseau, Benjamin Thierry.

Scientific Committee

David Aubin, Charlotte Bigg, Cécilia Bognon-Küss, Guillaume Carnino, Renaud Debailly, Joëlle Ducos, Rémi Gaillard, Néstor Herran, Stavros Lazaris, Amandine Pequignot, Jean-Baptiste Rauzy, Nathalie Rousseau, Christophe Schmit, Benjamin Thierry.

To Answer to Call

Proposals for papers in French or English, with a maximum of 300 words excluding bibliography, can be sent by September 8, 2025 at the latest, to coord- irhist@groupes.renater.fr. An answer will be given before September 21, 2025.

Speakers' expenses (travel, accommodation, meals) will be fully covered by iRHiST.