The present volume, compiled in honor of an outstanding historian of science, physicist and exceptional human being, Sam Schweber, is unique in assembling a broad spectrum of positions on the history of science by some of its leading representatives. Readers will find it illuminating to learn how prominent authors judge the current status and the future perspectives of their field. Students will find this volume helpful as a guide in a fragmented field that continues to be dominated by idiosyncratic expertise and that still lacks a methodical canon. The essays were written in response to our invitation to explicate the views of the authors concerning the state of the history of science today and the issues we felt are related to its future. Although not all the scholars invited to write have contributed an essay, this volume can nevertheless be considered as a rather comprehensive survey of the present state of the history of science. All the papers collected here reflect in one wayor another the strong influence Sam Schweber exerted during the past decades in his gentle way, on the history of science as well as on the lives of many of its protagonists worldwide. All who have had the opportunity of encountering him have benefited from his advice, benevolence, and friendship. Sam Schweber's intellectual taste, his passion for knowledge, and his erudition are all encompassing. It, therefore, seemed fitting to honor him with a collection of essays of comparable breadth; nothing less would suffice.

Unique in assembling a broad spectrum of positions on the history of science by some of its leading representatives Readers will find it illuminating to learn how prominent authors judge the current status and future perspectives of their field Historians of science will find this volume essential as a guide in a fragmented field

Autorentext
Professor Jürgen Renn ist "Einstein-Experte" und Direktor am Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte in Berlin. Zu seinen Arbeitsschwerpunkten zählen die Entstehung der Mechanik in der Antike, Wechselwirkungen von praktischem und theoretischem Wissen seit der Renaissance, der Übergang von der klassischen zur modernen Physik, die Entstehung der Relativitätstheorie und der Einsatz neuer Medien in der Wissenschaftsgeschichte. Professor Renn war Koordinator der Ausstellung 'Albert Einstein - Ingenieur des Universums', die von Mai bis September 2005 in Berlin stattfand.

Inhalt
Big History?.- Big History?.- Suggestions for the Study of Science.- Will Einstein Still be the Super-Hero of Physics History in 2050?.- For a History of Knowledge.- Working in Parallel, Working Together.- Challenges in Writing About Twentieth Century East Asian Physicists.- Why Should Scientists Become Historians?.- From the social to the moral to the spiritual: the postmodern exaltation of the history of science.- Between Science and History.- The Search for Autonomy in History of Science.- Without Parallels?: Averting a Schweberian Dystopia.- The Intellectual Strengths of Pluralism and Diversity.- On Connoisseurship.- Concerning Energy.- Reflections on a Discipline.- The Woman in Einstein's Shadow.- The Mutual Embrace: Institutions and Epistemology.- History, Science, and History of Science.- Parallel Lives and The History of Science.- Discarding Dichotomies, Creating Community: Sam Schweber and Darwin Studies.- Public Participation and Industrial Technoscience Today: The difficultquestion of accountability.- The Character of Truth.- Schweber, Physicist, Historian and Moral Example.- What's New in Science?.- On The Road.- Plutarchian Versus Socratic Scientific Biography.- Problems Not Disciplines.- Physicist-Historians.- Letting the Scientists Back In.- Science As History.- Postscript.