Commission on the History of Science

The commission was established in 1998 on the initiative of Faculty III. Here, the physicist and PAU member Andrzej Białas played an active role. He was then director of Faculty III and, in 2000–2018, he served as PAU’s president. Its first chair and organiser - until 2006 - was the physicist and PAU member Adam Strzałkowski. He was succeeded by the mathematician and PAU member Andrzej Pelczar and then by the geologist and PAU member Witold Alexandrowicz, by the philosopher, logician, lawyer, and PAU member Jan Woleński (2014–2018), and by the physicist, historian, philosopher of science, and correspondent member of the International Academy of the History of Science Michał Kokowski.

Its task is to stimulate research into the history of the various scientific disciplines carried out by their exponents rather than by historians, who lack the knowledge required to grasp the substantive issues involved in specialised fields.

The commission found itself on fertile ground, as there had already been considerable interest within PAU in the history of the organisation of science (see, e.g. Julian Dybiec, PAU 1872–1952 (1993); Piotr Hübner, Siła przeciw rozumowi (1994) [Force against Reason: PAU in 1939-1989]; Danuta Rederowa, Z dziejów Towarzystwa Naukowego Krakowskiego [Episodes in the History of the Kraków Learned Society]; Jan Piskurewicz, Prima interpares. Polska Akademia Umiejętności w latach II Rzeczypospolitej (1998) [PAU in the years of the Second Polish Republic], and in profiles of scholars: a number of symposia and exhibitions devoted to scholars and the first two volumes of the In the Service of Learning series (1998); 29 volumes have so far been published in this series).

The commission is very active, organising monthly meetings with papers and discussions, in addition to scientific sessions. Its findings are reported in the journal Studia Historiae Scientiarum (formerly Prace Komisji Historii Nauki PAU [Proceedings of the PAU History of Science Commission]) and in the following series:

Go to the webpage of „Studia Historiae Scientiarum”

See also the archive webpage of this journal.

 The purpose of the commission is:

• to initiate and stimulate research into the history of individual scientific disciplines by both their representatives and historians of science using source material collected in specialist scientific archives, including Archiwum the PAU and PAN Scientific Archive in Kraków;
• to research and promote outstanding achievements of Polish science and of the science of the countries of central and eastern Europe;
• to promote the idea of international dialogue based on the history of science (continuing the tradition begun by Samuel Dickstein (1851–1939), Ludwik Birkenmajer (1855–1929), and Władysław Natanson (1864–1937), who were the AU (Academy of Arts and Sciences) or PAU (Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences) members that had already seized upon the idea of forming an inter-faculty history of science commission at the end of the nineteenth century); to analyse the methodological questions involved in the historiography of science;
• to promote the idea of the reliable citation of publications (not discriminating against any authors) and the modernisation of journals of the history of science and associated disciplines (using DOI, ORCID, open access free mode, social media and repositories; indexation of journals, including in International DOI Foundation, Crossref, Scopus, Web of Science, Directory of Open Access Journals, SherpaROmeo).

The commission refers here to the activities of previous AU and PAU commissions (see R. Makowski 2003; A. Strzałkowski et al. 2003; M. Kokowski 2019), such as:

• The AU/PAU Commission for the History of Literature and Education in Poland (established in May 1875 as the philology and literature section of the Bibliographical Commission of the AU’s Philology Faculty (1872–1887); it became independent in November 1875).
• The AU Commission for the Publication (with commentaries) of the Work of Copernicus and of a Biography of Copernicus (XIX/XX);
• The Bibliographic Commission of the AU’s Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences (1900–1904; a section of the AU’s Bibliographic Commission);
• The AU’s Commission of History and Commission of the Bibliography of Mathematics and Natural Sciences (1904–1909; a section of the AU’s Bibliographic Commission);
• The AU’s Commission of the Bibliography of Mathematics and Natural Sciences (1909–1918);
• The AU and PAU History of Mathematical and Natural Sciences Commission (1909–1932);
• The PAU History of Medicine and of Mathematical and Natural Sciences Commission (1932–1952);
• The PAU Commission for Classics in the Natural Sciences and Medicine (1946–1952).

The commission organises a monthly meeting for discussions and delivering papers (see PAU Events Archive; see PAU Events Archive; PAU Scientific Exchange Platform – History of Science Commission PAU (KHN PAU), (a list of papers is published in the commission’s annual report – see below). The commission furthermore organises or co-organises regular scientific conferences (see List of events ).

The commission’s findings are reported in the following series:

• Komisja Historii Nauki Polskiej Akademii Umiejętności. Monografie [PAU History of Science Commission: Monographs], Volumes 1 ( 2000) – 23 (2016),
• Studia i Materiały do dziejów Polskiej Akademii Umiejętności [Studies and Materials for the History of PAU], Volumes  I (2002) – VI (2010),

in the journal Studia Historiae Scientiarum from volume 15 (2016);

• earlier names: Prace Komisji Historii Nauki PAU [Proceedings of the PAU History of Science Commission], volumes 9 (2009) – 14 (2015); Prace Komisji Historii Nauki Polskiej Akademii Umiejętności [Proceedings of the History of Science Commission of the Polish Academy of Sciences], volumes 1 (1999) – 8 (2007);
• this journal existed previously as Prace Komisji Historii Medycyny i Nauk Przyrodniczo-Matematycznych [Proceedings of the History of Medicine and Natural and Mathematical Sciences Commission]: volume 1 (1939); volume 2, fascicles 3.1 and 3.2 (1949); fascicle 3.3 (1950); fascicles 4.1 and 4.2 (1952); fascicle 3.4 (1953; published after the suspension of PAU in 1952).

The journal Studia Historiae Scientiarum is indexed in International DOI Foundation, Crossref, Scopus, DOAJ, ERIH+, ICI Master List, MIAR: Information Matrix for the Analysis of Journals and EBSCO.
It is distributed in diamond open access mode, i.e. free access without a time embargo for both readers and authors.

The articles published in it, including the commission’s annual report, appear in Polish and English (see Author Index; Thematic Index).

Please note: these indexes contain articles published in the following journals:

• Studia Historiae Scientiarum, which appears beginning from volume 15 (2016);
• Prace Komisji Historii Nauki PAU [Proceedings of the PAU History of Science Commission], volumes 9 (2009) – 14 (2015);
• Prace Komisji Historii Nauki Polskiej Akademii Umiejętności [Proceedings of the PAU History of Science Commission of the Polish Academy of Science], volumes 1 (1999) – 8 (2007);
• Prace Komisji Historii Medycyny i Nauk Przyrodniczo-Matematycznych. Polska Akademia Umiejętności [Proceedings of the PAU History of Medicine and Natural and Mathematical Sciences Commission], volume 1 (1939); volume 2, fascicles 3.1 and 3.2 (1949); fascicle 3.3 (1950); fascicles 4.1 and 4.2 (1952); fascicle 3.4 (1953).

Michał Kokowski is the journal’s editor-in-chief.

Go to the webpages of the journal „Studia Historiae Scientiarum” (free access to all volumes from 2015), see also the archive page of the journal (free access to all volumes from 1999).

 The commission works together with national institutions, institutions from abroad, and international institutions:

• Archiwum Nauki PAN i PAU;
• Instytut Historii Nauki im. Ludwika i Aleksandra Birkenmajerów PAN;
• Komitet Historii Nauki i Techniki PAN;
• European Society for the History of Science;
• International Academy of the History of Science.

Commission Members