Translating textbooks: Russian, German, and the language of chemistry.
Using the cases of three Russian chemistry textbooks from the 1860s--authored by Freidrich Beilstein, A. M. Butlerov, and D. I. Mendeleev--this essay analyzes their contemporary translation into German and the implications of their divergent histories for scholars' understanding of the processes of credit accrual and the choices of languages of science.
Department of History, 136 Dickinson Hall, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA. mgordin@princeton.edu
Michael D
MD
Gordin
D002621:Chemistry / Q000193:education* / Q000266:history; D005858:Germany; D049672:History, 19th Century; D006801:Humans; D012426:Russia; D013782:Textbooks as Topic / Q000266:history*; D014175:Translating