The Foundation and the First Decades of the Activity of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences in the Works of Russian and Foreign Historians of Science. Part 2

Abstract

The article is devoted to the critical analysis of the foreign historiography of the foundation of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. The authors focus on German and Anglo-American historiographic traditions. The authors analyze the works of M. Posselt, V. Stieda, A. Vucinich, S. Werrett, M. Gordin and others. The article shows the the development of approaches to the highlighting of the problem of the foundation of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. The Western historiography was initially dominated by German historians of science who were mostly interested in the role of foreigners (primarily Germans) in the history of the foundation of the Academy of Sciences. The authors of the article show that German historians followed the approach developed in Russian pre-revolutionary historiography. However, both British and American historians of science worked within this approach in the 1950–1970s. In this regard, the authors of the article draw attention to the interpretation of the history of Russian science by A. Vucinich and show its relations to the positivist historiography. An important result of the study concerns the identification of the fact that transformation in the Western historiography of the foundation of the Academy of Sciences was associated with new posmodern methodological strategies in cultural studies and in sociology. Theauthors show that contemporary Anglo-American historians tend to use the social analysis of M. Foucault, N. Elias and other influential contemporary sociologists, which significantly enriches the historiography of the foundation of the Academy of Sciences.