2000 HSS/PSA Program 1 - History of Science Society

HSS Abstracts
the Horologium Oscillatorium, Huygens’ magnum opus, published in 1673. I first
discuss the content of both of these works, using them as examples of how Huygens
shaped the content his books in order to reach multiple audiences. I then take up
the issue of dedicatory copies of texts, examining Huygens’ lists of recipients
which I have found for both editions of the Horologium. By evaluating these lists
in conjunction with each book’s content, I will argue that Huygens not only targeted
a different audience in each part of his book, but he also reached a further audience
by using the object of the book as a gift, which some of his recipients might never
actually read, but would appreciate. From my discussion I hope to make clear the
notion that early modern texts such as Huygens’ were not written for a single
audience of mathematicians or natural philosophers, but that the book—both as
text and as object—was consciously directed toward many groups, including
patrons, mathematicians, technicians, and men of letters.
Florence␣ C. Hsia Wayne State University
Missionaries, Monks, and Mathématiciens du roi in the Ancien Régime
Much recent work in the history of science has focused on how self-proclaimed
experts in natural knowledge, especially members of the new scientific societies
and academies, winnowed the reports of early modern European travelers for
credibility and inclusion in the growing stock of knowledge about the natural
world. Unlike the ideal Merchants of Light who sailed from Francis Bacon’s
Bensalem in search of knowledge, early modern travelers—sailors, merchants,
soldiers, missionaries—spanned the globe for more instrumental purposes,
from trade in silks and spices, to the conquest of lands and souls. Yet despite
their diverse motivations, skills, and interests, such travelers often voyaged,
like Bacon’s Merchants of Light, in service to the state. Journeying from
metropolitan France to the furthest reaches of French expansionist ambitions
in Asia and the Americas, members of Catholic religious orders traversed an
unstable terrain of official French endorsement dominated by the Parisian
Académie des Sciences, whose doors were closed to members of the religious
orders. This paper examines the complex processes by which these religious
travelers sought, acquired, or claimed recognition from the French monarchy
as expert scientific travelers.
98
Danian Hu Yale University
The “Great Proletarian Scientific Revolution”:
Einstein and his relativity during China’s “Cultural Revolution”
Einstein’s special theory of relativity was first introduced into China in 1917.
Within only a few years, relativity had become widely known among Chinese