History of scientific organizations and institutions

Science As Organized Endeavor

There is a tendency to view the history of science as a series of individual achievements, with scientific knowledge moving directly from investigator to investigator, one mind to another mediated only by the awareness of individual researchers of the work of their predecessors. Yet, modern science is often as much a collective as an individual effort and the history of science contains a number of important instances in which institutions, membership associations, groups and networks of collaborating and competing investigators and other collective efforts figure importantly. And it isn’t just formal insstitutions and organizational and bureaucratic ties that bring this about. Also important are informal associations and collegial, reputational and other networks.

Awareness of such networks is not only important in contemporary terms. It also counters many conventional images of sciences originating in the minds of individual investigators working alone.

Aristotle's Lyceum

Aristotle was the son of the court physician at Macedon. He is thought to have entered Plato's Academy at about the age of 17 and remained there for 20 years until after Plato's death in 347 BC. Following a few years absence, which apparently included various philosophical, biological and zoological research activities he undertook supervising the education of Alexander the Great for three years, and about 335 BC returned to Athens to open his own philosophical school, which he called the Lyceum.

Like Plato's Academy, the Lyceum was probably located outside Athens, a short distance northeast of the city. (Kerferd, 151-2) Matson (1968) reports a long-standing rumor that Aristotle left Athens upon the death of Plato after not being named to head the Academy, and opened the Lyceum after being passed over a second time upon the death of Speusippius. (115) Whether or not this is historically accurate matters primarily to ancient historians. From the standpoint of organizations and institutions, the rumour has a certain ring of authenticity to it, as anyone familiar with programmatic struggles and leadership succession issues in contemporary scientific organizations and associations can attest.

The curriculum of the Lyceum was decidedly Aristotelian with a strong emphasis on natural science, particularly biology, and natural history. According to Matson (115), the Lyceum contained an extensive library and collection of plant and animal specimens. It also may have been the base of operations for a large research network of biological investigators. Moses Finlay notes that at one time, Aristotle is reputed to have had a network of at least 1,000 researchers in the field gathering data throughout the Mediterranean region. (19XX)

The Fellowship

One of the most important and interesting of early modern scientific networks is found in 17th century British history of science in what John Gribbin calls “the fellowship” .

His is a tale involving both nationally important organizations and international networks. Gribbin traces a remarkable set of relationships mediated through the Royal Society of London and Oxford of many of the most prominent 17th century scientists. William Gilbert , Francis Bacon , William Harvey , Robert Hooke , Robert Boyle, Samuel Pepys, John Wilkins , Christopher Wren, and Isaac Newton were among the many who formed what might be termed the social organization of 17th century English science. And their awareness of and communication with other, non-British investigators, including Galileo is also well documented by Gribbin and other historians of science.