La storia della scienza nell'epoca delle accademie scientifiche. Da Cassini a D'Alembert (1693-1758)

The dissertation provides an account of the impressive increase in the output and uses of historical writings concerning the mathematical sciences that took place in Western Europe starting from the second half of the 17th century. Working extensively on a large corpus of mostly unpublished archival sources, the dissertation focuses on two monumental historiographical projects fostered by some members of the Parisian Académie royale des sciences. Historical renditions of science's origins and progress were promoted by the royal institution since its very foundation in 1666. At first, as shown by the case of Giovanni Domenico Cassini, histories of science were conceived as a means to coagulate consensus among conflicting views that concerned both the Academy's general goals, as well as the best methods, instruments and inquiries that ought to be collectively pursued. In a later phase, characterized by the advent of Netownian theories in France, the rise of the encyclopedic movement and the emergence of new social tensions related to the stance that the “gens de lettres” should assume towards political power, key-figures withing the Academy such as Jean Le Rond D'Alembert started using history in a different way. Most notably, D'Alembert pushed his protégé Jean-Étienne Montucla to write his Histoire des mathématiques to promote a universal or “philosophical” view of science and its function within society that could spread the Enlightenment's values and orient the ever-growing public opinion to support the philosophes' venture. In both of the cases examined, histories of science are treated primarily as ideological accounts that were meant not only as ways to achieve consensus among scientists' conflicting views by coalescing them under one overarching narrative, but also to convey this consensus (which was often far from being perceived as such by the broader scientific community itself) onto the public and the patrons.