The unrecognized mechanism: History of science education in the 19th century

Abstract

Despite the many assumptions that usually surround the historical role of science education in scientific practice, scholarship on the subject has been scattered, disjointed and usually undertaken en route to other pursuits. It is the purpose of this paper to show that science education is very often implied in much of the recent scholarship in the history of science and to bring to the fore science education as an unrecognized integrating mechanism within 19th century science. It proposes to do so, firstly, by highlighting some ways that established historiographical narratives centered in the 19th century are enriched by taking into consideration the role of science education and, secondly, by underlining how science education facilitated and contributed to the circulation and appropriation of scientific practices within 19th century European space. To achieve these goals, specific case studies will be presented from the German lands, post-Napoleonic France, England and early Modern Greece, each one focusing on different aspects of the interplay between science and education, across different national and institutional spaces.