title: Representing scale: What should be special about the heritage of mass science?
abstract: This symposium marks the achievement of a transformation in the history of science. Whereas in the 1960s, the study of modern developments was marginal to the field, it has now become a key part of the discipline's central concerns. The contrast between this conference and a 1960 symposium is illuminating. The paper reflects on the tensions over the future direction of the discipline expressed at the 1974 semi-centenary conference of the History of Science Society. Today, genomics with its vast demand for resources and its challenges to traditional boundaries is not untypical of a wide range of scientific activities. Its study can serve as a pioneering case study interesting for itself and important for a wider understanding of science. Papers at this meeting show the implications for the understanding of methods, appropriate targets of study, the interpretation of images and the preservation of archives.
authors.affiliation: The Science Museum, United Kingdom. Electronic address: robert.bud@sciencemuseum.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bud
mesh_terms: D023281:Genomics / Q000266:history; D049674:History, 21st Century; D008967:Molecular Biology / Q000266:history; D012586:Science / Q000266:history
keywords: Genomics history; Recent science; The history of science