Kostas Tampakis

This chapter first explores the constitutive role that science and religion historiographies played for the establishment of the history of science as a discipline, in general, and the parallel and codepended introduction of the first major theories on the relations of science and religion. The second part discusses more recent proposals on the historiography of science and religion, from the “complexity thesis” attributed, to John H. Brooke, to Peter Harrison’s work on Protestantism, secularism, and the historicity of the concepts themselves. Finally, the third part argues that the historiography of science and religion should continue to play a constitutive part in history of science, by proposing and integrating novel historical lines of inquiry. To that end, a historiography that would tackle science, religion, and the state is tentatively described.

In this paper, I intend to describe an example where the study of science education in two specific national contexts can illuminate the formation and character of the respective scientific communities. Thus, I will try to compare the educational structures and institutions created in nineteenth century US and Greece and show how they interacted with scientific practice in each case. At first glance, these two social and political formations had almost nothing in common. USA was a huge but fragmented state, with abundant natural resources and clear ties with a European superpower. On the other hand, Greece was a devastated small country, emerging after four hundred years of Ottoman rule and struggling to modernize under heavy European influence and interference. Despite their many differences, I aim to show how both American and Greek science education drew aspirations from the same European pedagogical models and how this process contributed to the character of scientific practice ...

During the last years, computers have found their way into Greek secondary education. At the same time, environmental education has also received special attention in both primary and secondary education, due in part to the cross-disciplinary curriculum introduced. This paper presents a web based course on ‘Renewable Energy sources’, created through the ELearn platform, for the use of students in Technical Vocational Educational Secondary Education Schools (TVE).The course presented in this paper is part of a larger project, commissioned by the Greek Manpower Employment Organization to supplement specific aspects of the curriculum taught at TVE with web based courses. The course consists of five autonomous chapters, selected from the relevant textbook taught in TVE. The first covers general principles and concepts relevant to renewable energy sources, while the second focuses on solar energy and its applications. The third presents hydraulic and wind energy, the fourth geothermal en...

Συμπεράσματα: Η εργασία αυτή ήταν μια προσπάθεια να τεκμηριωθεί, να μελετηθεί και ουσιαστικά να εξηγηθεί η πορεία των Φυσικών Επιστημών στον ελλαδικό χώρο και ειδικότερα στην εκπαίδευση, από την εποχή της ίδρυσης του νέου ελληνικού κράτους, το 1824, μέχρι και έναν περίπου αιώνα αργότερα, το 1932. Το θεωρητικό πλαίσιο που χρησιμοποιήθηκε ως εργαλείο έρευνας επέβαλε τον θεματικό καταμερισμό της παρούσας μελέτης σε αυτάρκεις αλλά όχι και αυτόνομες μονάδες ανάλυσης. Είναι όμως αναγκαίο να συνθέσουμε τις μέχρι τώρα μερικές αναλύσεις σε ενιαίο πλέγμα, ώστε να φανούν και να υπογραμμισθούν τα κυριότερα αποτελέσματα της μελέτης και να αναγνωρισθούν οι παράγοντες που οδήγησαν ή επέτρεψαν την δημιουργία των φαινομένων που παρατηρήσαμε. Στο κεφάλαιο που ακολουθεί, θα ανατρέξουμε χρονικά την περίοδο της μελέτη μας, συνδέοντας τα διάφορα μερικά συμπεράσματα των κεφαλαίων σε ένα ενιαίο όλο. Η μελέτη μας ξεκινάει από την ίδρυση των Σχολείων της Αίγινας από τον Ι. Καποδίστρια, αλλά υπάρχουν στοιχεία...

ABSTRACT In this paper, I describe the strong and reciprocal relations between the emergence of the specialized expert in the natural sciences and the establishment of science education, in early Modern Greece. Accordingly, I show how science and public education interacted within the Greek state from its inception in the early 1830, to the first decade of the twentieth century, when the University of Athens established an autonomous Mathematics and Physics School. Several factors are taken into account, such as the negotiations of Western educational theories and practices within a local context, the discourses of the science savants of the University of Athens, the role of the influential Greek pedagogues of the era, the state as an agent which imposed restrictions or facilitated certain developments and finally the intellectual and cultural aspirations of the nation itself. Science education is shown to be of fundamental importance for Greek scientists. The inclusion of science within the school system preceded and promoted the appearance of a scientific community and the institution of science courses was instrumental for the emergence of the first trained Greek scientists. Thus, the conventional narrative that would have science appearing in the classrooms as an aftermath of the emergence of a scientific community is problematized.

This is an introduction to the thematic section on “The Historiography of Science and Religion in Europe,” which resulted from a symposium held at the eighth Conference of the European Society for the History of Science, University College London, UK, from September 14–17, 2018. The introduction provides a brief argument for the decentering of science and religion from the Anglo‐American discourse. It concludes by previewing the contributions of the section's essays.

This essay offers an overview of the history of the relations between science and Eastern Christianity based on Greek-language sources. The civilizations concerned are the Byzantine Empire, the Christian Orthodox communities of the Ottoman Empire, and modern Greece, as a case study of a national state. Beginning with the Greek Church Fathers, the essay investigates the ideas of theologians and scholars on nature. Neoplatonism, the theological debates of Iconoclasm and Hesychasm, the proposed union of the Eastern and Western Churches, and the complex relations with the Hellenic past all had notable impacts on the conception of science held by the Byzantine Orthodox. From the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries, the Christian Orthodox world did not actively participate in the making of the new science that was developing in modern Europe. It had to deal with the assimilation of scientific ideas produced by Western Christianity, and its main concern was the “legitimacy” of knowl...

The fourteen chapters of this volume directly challenge the strong historiographical opposition between science and domesticity by analysing the role of domesticity in the making of the modern sciences, especially astronomy, chemistry, horticulture, engineering, meteorology, natural history, oceanography, physics, and radio technology. The authors offer a pioneering reorientation of the traditional emphasis on scientific developments associated with institutional and professional realms, by placing at the centre of their analyses such notions of domesticity as the domestic sphere, the household, the home, the family, and kinship - both biological and 'fictive.' This reorientation, the editors argue, exposes the centrality of domesticity as a material, social, and symbolic substrate that critically shaped the historical development of the modern sciences globally.

The aim of this paper is to show how the Greek men of science negotiated a role for their enterprise within the Greek public sphere, from the institution of the modern Greek state in the early 1830s to the first decades of the twentieth century. By focusing on instances where they appeared in public in their official capacity as scientific experts, I describe the rhetorical schemata and the narrative strategies with which Greek science experts engaged the discourses prevalent in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Greece. In the end, my goal is to show how they were neither zealots of modernization nor neutral actors struggling in isolated wastelands. Rather, they appear as energetic agents who used scientific expertise, national ideals and their privileged cultural positions to construct a rhetoric that would further all three. They engaged eagerly and consistently with emerging political views, scientific subjects and cultural and political events, without presenting themselve...

This essay offers an overview of the history of the relations between science and Eastern Christianity based on Greek-language sources. The civilizations concerned are the Byzantine Empire, the Christian Orthodox communities of the Ottoman Empire, and modern Greece, as a case study of a national state. Beginning with the Greek Church Fathers, the essay investigates the ideas of theologians and scholars on nature. Neoplatonism, the theological debates of Iconoclasm and Hesychasm, the proposed union of the Eastern and Western Churches, and the complex relations with the Hellenic past all had notable impacts on the conception of science held by the Byzantine Orthodox. From the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries, the Christian Orthodox world did not actively participate in the making of the new science that was developing in modern Europe. It had to deal with the assimilation of scientific ideas produced by Western Christianity, and its main concern was the “legitimacy” of knowledge that did not originate directly from its own spiritual tradition. Finally, with regard to the Greek state, beyond the specific points of contact between the sciences and Orthodox Christianity—pertaining, for example, to materialism, evolution, and the calendar—the essay presents the constant background engagement with religion visible in most public pronouncements of scientists and intellectuals.

What was science for the Orthodox Greek theologian of the nineteenth century? How did it feature in his (theologians were all men at the time) own work? This article is an attempt to describe the science and religion interactions by placing Greek Orthodox theologians of the nineteenth century in the center of the historical narrative, rather than treat them as occasional deuteragonists in the scientists’ historiography. The picture that emerges is far more complicated than one of antagonism, indifference, conflict, or coexistence. Greek theologians saw themselves as scientists and treated theology as a positive, rational science. They developed strategies to delineate their disciplinary borders and safeguard their identity as expert scholars by harnessing their university and academic credentials. For that reason, they had to invoke famous German and other Western theologians, while ensuring that they were seen as true defenders of Orthodox Christianity. The idea of science was an integral part of this achievement.

AbstractPierre Bourdieu is one of the most celebrated and widely known French sociologists of his time. During his long and very productive career, Bourdieu worked not only on very diverse areas of sociology, such as art, religion, the legal system, and education, but also on the culture of the Kabyle, on the marriage strategies of bachelors in Southern France, and on the sociology of the French intellectuals of his era. However, despite his international influence, his work has remained virtually unutilized within most contemporary historiography of science. This article aims to fill this lacuna. After a short presentation of his main theoretical concepts, I discuss Bourdieu's work on scientific practice. I then present his more historically oriented work and finish by suggesting some ways Bourdieu's insights can be useful for history of science.

Much of the scholarship in the history of science has undervalued the significance of the debates around language choice and language use. After surveying various historiographical trends characterizing the relationship of science to language, this introduction explores the role of language-choice in nation-building, education, publication and transnational exchanges. It concludes with a brief summary of the four case studies in this special issue, which explore the German, Greek, English and Russian languages in the context of the sciences in nineteenth-century Europe.

Science appeared in modern Greece in the first decades after its establishment as a sovereign state in 1828. The University of Athens, the Royal Observatory, the Botanical Garden, and the Natural History Museum were quickly established as spaces of scientific activity. Greek scientists were enthusiastic participants in the emerging Greek public sphere, often not only as science experts, but also as poets, intellectuals and political personae. In a space whose cultural, intellectual and historical boundaries were still being negotiated, the choice of language was not a given but a pressing, sensitive national desideratum. This article examines how Greek scientists used languages to communicate with their peers and with their publics, how they handled terminology and nomenclature, and how the issues surrounding the Greek language in particular affected their practice as scientists. The article aims to show that, in nineteenth-century Greece, languages were not passive, neutral vehicles of communication, but rather integral (though tacit) components of the practice of science.

Institute of Historical Research, National Hellenic Research Foundation, Department of Neohellenic Research, 8 Vassileos Constantinou Avenue, 11635 Athens, Greece. Email: ktampakis@primedu.uoa.gr.The aim of this paper is to show how the Greek men of science negotiated a role for their enterprise within the Greek public sphere, from the institution of the modern Greek state in the early 1830s to the first decades of the twentieth century. By focusing on instances where they appeared in public in their official capacity as scientific experts, I describe the rhetorical schemata and the narrative strategies with which Greek science experts engaged the discourses prevalent in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Greece. In the end, my goal is to show how they were neither zealots of modernization nor neutral actors struggling in isolated wastelands. Rather, they appear as energetic agents who used scientific expertise, national ideals and their privileged cultural positions to construct a rhetoric that would further all three. They engaged eagerly and consistently with emerging political views, scientific subjects and cultural and political events, without presenting themselves, or being seen, as doing anything qualitatively different from their peers abroad. Greek scientists cross-contextualized the scientific enterprise, situating it in the space in which they were active.(Online publication August 01 2013)

The relationship of Orthodox Christianity to the modern sciences has received scant attention in the last fifty years. While important contributions have been made in history, theology and philosophy, there have been very few attempts to highlight the importance and fruitfulness of the field for an international audience. This volume brings together contributions from scholars of different disciplines to discuss the past, present and future of the relations between Orthodox Christianity and the sciences. The topics covered range from theological discussions of miracles to the importance of seminary work on science and religion and from a practitioner’s view of addressing medical suffering to a historical discussion of the Scientific Revolution in Orthodox spaces.  The volume is addressed to historians, philosophers, theologians, scientists and members of the clergy, but also to any scholar that is interested in discovering the vibrancy of the emerging field of Science and Orthodox Christianity Studies.

This volume also aims to tackle the emerging and vibrant theme of” Science and Literature”. Its fifteen original essays study all kinds of written works of art, such as novels, plays and poems. What would be a rather pedestrian view of literature acquires further depth when considered through its interaction with the physical sciences. Scholars from such diverse fields as Philosophy, History of Science, Literary Analysis and Science Education take up the question of parallel strategies used by scientists and novelists, or even of similar modes of expression and identity formation in scientific and artistic circles. Once again, a plethora of ideas and questions open up.
As is true with its sister volume “Imagination, Medicine and Space”, the essays collected in this publication are organized around the specific themes, which here are Poetry and Prose. The contributors use a multitude of voices, narratives and methodologies, from the most formal to some that challenge the limits and norms of academic discourse. While by no means a full map of the diverse field that is Science and Literature, the variety of viewpoints helps underline the expanding space of differing approaches. Some run in parallel, others diverge, and at times, they are paradigmatically incommensurable, but taken together, they show the diversity which is the true strength of the field.

The Institute of Historical Research of the National Hellenic Research Foundation (Greece), the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Erfurt (Germany), the Leibniz Institute for the History and Culture in Eastern Europe (Leipzig), the Faculty Center for Transdisciplinary Historical and Cultural Studies at the University of Vienna (Vienna) and the Masaryk Institute and Archives of the Czech Academy of Sciences (Czech Republic) organize an international conference on the intersections of sciences, ideologies, and religions in the 20th century in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe.
The aim of the conference is twofold. First, it aims to study historical cases, in which sciences, ideologies and religions seem to intersect, or in which boundaries were explicitly set. Secondly, from an epistemological perspective, we will investigate the practices and effects of delineation, the “boundary making” (Gieryn). How do making and doing “science”, “ideology”, and “religion” influence one another, how do they change during contact?
Thus, we invite papers that study boundaries and their making, shifting and acting in historical and epistemological dimensions. We take a strong interest in approaches to rewrite and redraw connections among different spaces, fields, and temporalities. We are also interested in research highlighting and problematizing the possible interaction and/or co-productions of knowledge among and across communities and epistemes and specific practices or agendas, on which they could emerge or that they brought forth. An explicit theme of the conference is that sciences, ideologies and religions are not only intellectual fields, but that they appear in action, and thus produce and interact with political and gender epistemologies. We especially welcome contributions focusing on how the framework and case studies developed for/by the geographical area of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe can interact with scholarship in subaltern areas and the global South.
We invite paper proposals, including a title and an abstract of max. 300 words, name(s), and affiliation(s) of the author(s), as well as contact information. The presentation time will be 20 minutes, with an additional time of 10 minutes for discussion. The conference's language will be English.
Please submit your proposal via email (ktampakis@eie.gr; friedrich.cain@univie.ac.at) by Monday the 18th of December, 2023. We especially encourage young scholars to apply. Notification of acceptance will be sent by Monday, the 19th of January, 2024.
The attendance is free of charge. Organizers can cover the costs of travel and accommodation for those without institutional support.

The venue of the conference will be the National Hellenic Research Foundation in Athens.