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In this article I will be arguing that the period between about 1750 and 1875 forms a distinct era in the history of Dutch science. It was preceded by the famous Golden Age of the Dutch Republic, a time when such conspicuous scholars as Van Leeuwenhoek and Huygens entered the stage, and was followed by the sudden, spectacular rise of the (somewhat less famous) Second Golden Age of the Dutch sciences. The period under discussion was characterized by a particular scientific culture that distinguishes it from the two ‘Golden Ages’. The period I will be discussing is — somewhat anachronistically — considered a period of stagnation, in the sense that relatively few scientists emerged who made lasting contributions to science. The first part of the nineteenth century in particular is more or less thought of as the nadir in the history of Dutch science. It was in this period that the Dutch sciences apparently remained unaffected by the fundamental changes taking place in scientific practice in other countries. Traditionally, Dutch historiography has in the main attributed this ‘stagnation’, along with its end, to institutional factors, such as the (change in) circumstances in which professors could practise science at the universities. In more recent times, however, this approach has met with criticism. In addition, historians have identified a remarkably vibrant scientific culture during this period, especially in the decades around 1800. So how can this vigour be reconciled with the image of stagnation? And how could the period of stagnation quite suddenly transform into a ‘Second Golden Age’? This latter issue — which is in fact closely related to the rise of the research ethos in the Dutch sciences — will be given particular consideration. As I will be arguing in the first section, the emphasis in traditional historiography on institutional arrangements and regulations underestimates the autonomy of the scientists themselves to initiate, to adapt or to resist changing circumstances. In my view, then, a good way to arrive at a general interpretation of the period is to look at the scientists themselves. The focal point of this study will be the orientation, the attitude and the actual activities of Dutch scholars engaged in the study of nature. By about 1750, the starting point of this study, a scientific culture had begun to take shape that profoundly influenced the orientation and activities of the Dutch learned men engaged in the natural sciences. The spirit of the Enlightenment, strengthened by the particular configuration and history of Dutch society, created a Dutch scientist who developed a remarkably outward-oriented attitude. This ‘civil scientist’ – as I will dub him — above all wanted to place himself in the service of society and he developed a variety of activities aimed directly at his fellow citizens. The civil

In this paper the emergence of objectivity as a leading epistemic virtue in the Dutch academic sciences is discussed in the context of the social-political developments that took place in Dutch society in the nineteenth century. I argue that the emergence of objectivity was closely connected to the rise of a formally-ruled and integrated nation state. My analysis is based on a case study, which involves three historians: Philip Willem van Heusde, Johan Rudolph Thorbecke, and Robert Fruin. For each historian, I show how their epistemic virtues (more particularly, those involved in the rise of objectivity) reflected, or contradicted, the Dutch social-political organization.

This paper examines the role of book reviews in the discipline of the history of science by comparing their appearance in two periodicals, Isis, the flagship journal of the discipline that was founded in 1913, and the Journal for the History of Astronomy, founded in 1970 to serve a newly emerging, specialized subfield within the broader discipline. Our analysis of the reviews published in selected slices of time finds differing norms and reviewing practices within the two journals. Despite important changes during the past century in the conceptualization of the history of science and its research methods, reviewing practices in Isis remained remarkably consistent over time, with reviewers generally defending a fixed set of norms for “good” scholarship. More change appears in reviews of the Journal for the History of Astronomy, as its audience shifted from a mix of the laity, working astronomers, and historians to a specialized group of professional historians of astronomy. Scholarl...

This essay is an introduction to an Isis Focus section on the social and scientific relevance of history of science museums: “Why Science Museums Matter: History of Science in Museums in the Twenty-First Century.” Using the history of Museum Boerhaave, the Dutch National Museum for the History of Science and Medicine, as a guideline, the essay shows that over the course of time addressing a variety of audiences became a major worry for science museums, which also had to bridge a widening gap between popular views on history of science and those developed by professional historians of science.

... 15 Zie: Xandra van Gelder, 'Gevallen steen', Oog. Magazine van het Rijksmuseum (2009:4), 2. De doos van Pandora / La boîte de Pandora Maan op aarde Het overgrote deel van de hoeveelheid maan op aarde, 382 kilo, is afkomstig van de zes bemande Apollovluchten 11-17 ...

This paper examines the role of book reviews in the discipline of History of Science by comparing their appearance in two periodicals, Isis, the flagship journal of the discipline that was founded in 1913, and the Journal for the History of Astronomy, founded in 1970 to serve a newly emerging, specialized subfield within the broader discipline. Our analysis
of the reviews published in selected slices of time finds differing norms and reviewing practices within the two journals. Despite important changes during the past century in the conceptualization of History of Science and its research methods, reviewing practices in
Isis remained remarkably consistent over time, with reviewers generally defending a fixed set of norms for “good” scholarship. More change appears in reviews of the Journal for the History of Astronomy, as its audience shifted from a mix of laity, working astronomers and
historians to a specialized group of professional historians of astronomy. Scholarly norms, reflected in the reviews, shifted with these changes in readership. We conclude that book reviews offer rich sources for analyzing the evolution of scholarly disciplines and norms.

ABStrACt this paper is an introduction to the Studium issue De Hogere Burger School: onderwijs en emancipatie (the Higher Burger School: education and emancipation). Besides introducing the papers of this issue, we provide a historiographic outline of this form of education, which was founded in 1863 and played an important role in the emancipation of the Dutch middle classes. the Higher Burger School is also reknowned for its role in the rise of the Dutch natural sciences. In the course of the twentieth century this school gradually became regarded as outdated. In 1968 it was replaced by new forms of secondary education.

In this paper the emergence of objectivity as a leading epistemic virtue in the Dutch academic sciences is discussed in the context of the social-political developments that took place in Dutch society in the nineteenth century. I argue that the emergence of objectivity was closely connected to the rise of a formally-ruled and integrated nation state. My analysis is based on a case study, which involves three historians: Philip Willem van Heusde, Johan Rudolph Thorbecke, and Robert Fruin. For each historian, I show how their epistemic virtues (more particularly, those involved in the rise of objectivity) reflected, or contradicted, the Dutch social-political organization. Keywords Epistemic virtues • Objectivity • Philips Willem van Heusde • Johan Rudolph Thorbecke • Robert Fruin • History of historiography • Dutch history

Zeeman and Einstein This article discusses an early example of interferometric, experimental research related to Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity. This research concerned two series of experiments on the velocity of light in moving media, conducted between 1914 and 1921 by the Amsterdam physicist Pieter Zeeman. With the first of these series, on the velocity of light in moving water, Zeeman obtained an important result that validated the so called 'dispersion term' of the formula for the velocity of light in moving media. Less clear is the scientific objective of the second series, in which Zeeman measured the velocity of light in moving solid media. It seems that Zeeman's interest in this second series was triggered mainly by the technical challenges posed by these experiments. In this way, they reveal the increasing tendency of Zeeman's later research to be led by technical and experimental challenges, rather than by the actual scientific developments.

... Therefore Clay had to analyse all processes involved in the measurement. Among other things, the influence of pressure and temperature on the instruments was studied (for instance: Clay and Van Tijn 1935). In Clay's research, every subject evoked another one. ...