Early modern science

The history of science used to be a story of progress and discovery, centred on the achievements of so-called ‘great men’. Drawing predominantly on scientific treatises and other published primary sources, historians explored the genesis of key concepts and ideas to present a ‘Whiggish’ ¹ narrative of scientific progress culminating in the ‘Scientific Revolution’ ² of the late seventeenth century. Studies of natural philosophy focused on pivotal individuals such as Robert Boyle (1627–91) and Isaac Newton (1642–1727). Histories of medicine adopted a similar approach, concentrating on ‘biographies, bibliographies, medical theory and the practice of physicians’. ³ Natural history, more about incremental change and cumulative knowledge than sudden conceptual breakthroughs, was largely ignored.