Open AccessThe objectives of studying the history of science in the USSR: the situation in 1952
Author(s) -
I R Grinina,
С.С. Илизаров
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
iop conference series. earth and environmental science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.179
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1755-1307
pISSN - 1755-1315
DOI - 10.1088/1755-1315/579/1/012161
Subject(s) - history of science , isolationism , period (music) , scope (computer science) , natural science , ideology , social science , political science , history of science and technology , history , sociology , epistemology , law , politics , art , philosophy , computer science , foreign policy , programming language , aesthetics
The historiographic situation in the history of natural sciences in 1952 is reviewed based on the archive documents that are introduced for scientific use for the first time. A previously unknown fact from the history of science is established, which is important for understanding the processes occurring in social sciences and the humanities in the USSR in the mid-20 th century. The paper describes the conditions characteristic of the period of late Stalinism that had very negatively affected the work of Soviet historians of science, narrowed the scope of research, and sought to turn the history of science into an instrument for ideologically manipulating the society. At the same time, the archive documents we have studied indicate that the Soviet community of historians of science has been striving to overcome the isolationism and dogmatism forced on them by the regime. The analytical memorandum on the state of the studies on the history of science in the USSR and the tasks faced by this discipline, created at the Institute for the History of Science of the USSR Academy of Sciences at the end of 1952, is a valuable source.