Repositório RCAAP

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This paper discusses the role of online encyclopaedias as a specific component of the scientific infrastructure, using the example of the Croatian encyclopaedistics. The functionalities of digital media generated new epistemic characteristics of encyclopaedias by transforming them into the active platforms for dissemination and generation of new knowledge. Thanks to their role in synthesis, networking and generation of knowledge, online encyclopaedias might be applied to history of science and technology research, in which multi-layered, interdisciplinary approach is obligatory. The recently initiated open-access Croatian Encyclopaedia of Technology and its role in elaborating the field’s knowledge are described. This encyclopaedia is the framework for the development of the Portal of Croatian Technology Heritage, which will serve as a platform for networking and sharing information from various sources. The portal will contribute to the development of research in history of technology, but also to the revalorisation and the sustainability of the national technology heritage and the positioning of Croatian technology in the global context.

With more resources becoming freely available online through the digitisation projects and the publication of online public knowledge resources, the possibilities for connecting previously separate pieces of information have increased and some of the untold stories in the history of science can emerge. However there can be problems in relying on external knowledge services to connect pieces of the story. There are also gaps in the scientific biographies of many notable people, which may be filled by resources from other. This paper will explore some of the possibilities and challenges associated with producing and sustaining online knowledge resources.

The Historical Dictionary of Switzerland (HDS) covers the history of humankind in the geographical area of today's Switzerland from the very beginning in Paleolithic times up to the twenty-first century. The HDS comprises articles in four broad categories: biographies (35%), articles on families and genealogy (10%), geographical entries (30%) and articles on thematic contributions (25%). The HDS was published in parallel in each of the three major Swiss national languages German, French, and Italian from 2002 to 2014. Each edition comprises 13 volumes of about 10,000 pages. In 1997, the HDS Board of Trustees decided to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Swiss Confederation in 1848 with an internet publication of the HDS, which was simultaneously being published and which will now be augmented by multimedia and linked data (cf. www.hls-dhs-dss.ch). Our contribution describes the complex editorial processes of the whole subject area of mathematics and natural sciences in the HDS—covering about 1,200 biographies and approximately 40 thematic articles—supervised by the author and his working group in the years 1994−2014. As a trained mathematician and historian of science, and as scientific advisor for the HDS’s entire subject area of mathematics and the natural sciences, I wrote this article with the aim of sharing my experiences in representing the history of science in a general historical encyclopedia. The processes described below may perhaps be useful to other natural scientists or proper historians who intend to undertake similar projects.

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Ludwig Binswanger (1881-1966) was one of the pioneers in the approach of the psychiatric psychopathology and the phenomenological philosophy field. A panoramic historiographical review of the author reveals the methodological development of his phenomenological work in three phases of distinct philosophical inspirations. The first one is the Husserlian phase with the application of the concept of intentionality of consciousness; the second one is the Daseinsanalytic of the Heiddeguerian inspiration phase, followed by the last phase, which is the return to Husserlian thought in his late writings. The present study will focus on the analysis of dialogues and the articulations between the phases of Binswanger’s thinking, proposing the hypothesis of a continuous axis in the methodological itinerary of his work, with the objective of creating a scientific epistemological framework for the field of psychiatry.

In this paper we argue that the motif underlying Ronald Aylmer Fisher (1890-1962) scientific endeavors was eugenics and the notion of differential fertility. Fisher’s contribution to Neo-Darwinian synthesis and the development of several basic concepts of modern statistics, among others, derived from his interest in providing sound grounds to the hypothesis that the reproduction of the ‘well-born’ ought to be encouraged, while individuals “unfit for civilized society” were to be financially and socially discouraged from bearing children. Fisher believed that all striving notwithstanding, all human societies were doomed to decadence and collapse due to purely biological reasons, being eugenics the only approach likely to prevent such sorry fate. In Fisher’s work statistics, evolution theory, genetics and eugenics form one single logical structure, since all of them directly concern a more general problem, i.e., the biological improvement of humankind. Eugenics did not disappear after the end of World War II, but was reframed at least partially as present-day genetics, including clinical genetic counseling.

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O processo de institucionalização da Pediatria na Bahia deu-se com a criação da cátedra na Faculdade de Medicina da Bahia. Todas as ações decisivas foram movidas pelos professores da disciplina na faculdade, criando instituições filantrópicas de assistência à saúde da infância, desenvolvendo pesquisa, divulgando conhecimento. É sobre a trajetória de um desses personagens que o presente artigo irá se debruçar. Martagão Gesteira, titular da ‘Clínica Pediátrica e Higiene Infantil’, fundador da Liga Bahiana Contra a Mortalidade Infantil e da Sociedade de Pediatria da Bahia, teve uma atuação importante no estado para consolidação da Pediatria enquanto campo científico

Globalization, in its earlier stages, was expected to erode national and ethnic identities. In contrast, ethnicity and ethnic affiliations persisted, growing socially and politically. This paper examines the role of the globalizing new communications technologies on this process, focusing on Diasporas. The study of trans-state networks based on ethnic solidarity, connections and affinities in the framework of social and political science is quite recent. Following a clarification of the distinction between classical and modern Diasporas we analyse a particular case study, that of the Jewish Diaspora. This diaspora was an early adopter of computer-based communications and the Internet for a wide range of purposes. Early events are described including the diffusion of the Internet to Israel, the planning of a Global Jewish Information Network, Israel 2020 macro scenarios for Israel and the Jewish People and the decision on Jewish Peoplehood through communication technologies. A survey of historical systems (Responsa, BBS, and Usenet) follows by a description of the Jewish population and the wide variety of Jewish Web based activities today. These include the Institutional landscape; Jewish media — press, radio, video and blogs; the impact on Jewish religious observance; Jewish genealogy; Online dating; Social networks; Jewish education; Online learning; Jewish Studies and Digital Humanities; Jewish memory. Judaica Europeana supports the activities previously described by aggregating and facilitating the access and the re-use of Jewish digital culture. Europeana is the leading global digital library for cultural heritage as well as a lively eco-system for relevant stakeholders.

Mineral waters were a delicate and unstable product whose value as a remedy increased in early modern France. If it was once the prised luxury of the nobility travelling to the spa, the eighteenth century slowly watched it turned into a commodity. The waters became widely available in bottles and were sold in bureaus of distribution. Despite the logistical challenges of selecting and carrying the waters to their new urban public, many different springs made their way into most of France’s cities. This took place under the watch and regulation of a uniquely dedicated institution, the Société de Médecine. This Société eventually settled its authority over the management of mineral waters, thanks to the backing of state power, the influence of the Academy and the newly recognized authority of chemists as analysts of waters. The purpose of this paper is to bring to light this overlooked institution and its essential role in the administration of mineral waters. Though it never eradicated fraud or succeeded in creating a full scientific and economic monopoly, it greatly broadened the budding trade of bottled water in France and gave a powerful incentive for chemists to better their mastering of the particularly challenging analysis of water.

In search of a fruitful relationship between Psychoanalysis and History, this article aims to evaluate how Carlo Ginzburg, throughout his intellectual and academic career, discussed Psychoanalysis in the light of Micro-History. Thus, the work of Ginzburg Mitos, emblemas, sinais: morfologia e história was a rich source for this search. In the chapters Sinais: raízes de um paradigma indiciário and, especially, Freud, o homem dos lobos e os lobisomens, Ginzburg critically discusses Freud`s interpretations on his most important clinical case, a Russian patient named Serguei Constantinovitch Pankejeff (1887-1979), known as the Wolf man. Ginzburg recognizes the magnitude of Freud’s work, but he shows its limitations indicating that the author did not sufficiently consider his patient’s cultural background and gave a greater focus on individuation. Also, Ginzburg allowed demonstrating in his work the importance of Psychoanalysis in the development of the evidentiary paradigm concept, which is fundamental to Micro-history.

This work aim to analyse relations between Arithmetic and Geometry indicated by Piero della Francesca (c.1412 - 1492) in his treatise Libellus de quinque corporibus regularibus. Piero della Francesca was a painter and scholar of perspective, geometry and arithmetic, in his time. He carried out investigations on pictorial, geometric and architectural issues. Of the treatises he wrote, only three are preserved, on perspective (De Prospectiva Pingendi), Geometry (Libellus de Quinque Corporibus Regullaribus) and Arithmetic (Trattado d’Abaco). The central document selected for this research was the manuscript Libellus de quinque corporibus regularibus, deposited in the Vatican Apostolic Library in digitized copy. Throughout this work we have tried to understand the Libellus de quinque corporibus regularibus as a result of the work of an artist and scholar who proposed ways of relating Arithmetic and Geometry using both his practical knowledge and the works of authors of antiquity.

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